Stupid Question: Blender Pot

[Johnhamdun]

Found this in an article:

At this point it would be cruel and unfair not to alert you to one of the best finds on the planet for tone freaks... Acme GuitarWorks. Yes! These people (George is the founder/ owner) specialize in creating pre�wired pickguards and wiring harnesses loaded with your pickup de jour. Acme uses all the good stuff, too... real Fender pickguards, vintage cloth covered wire, Orange drop caps, CTS pots, CRL toggle switches, vintage-style metal shielding plates, and a specially-designed blender pot for the second tone on Stratocasters that enables you to blend the neck and bridge pickups (the first tone control serves as a Master tone for all settings).

I have heard otherwise as to the quality of acme stuff, but how can I build a "specially-designed blender pot for the second tone on Stratocasters that enables you to blend the neck and bridge pickups" into my next project? Are you guys aware of anything like this?

Also, are the pots from StewMac good or is there a better place to get the wiring, pots, and switches?

Thanks Again Guys, this is the most helpful guitar forum on the net

 

[Tonar8352]

I use Fralin blender pots on all my strat builds.  I get them from Callaham Guitars.  The thing I like about them is if you roll it all the way off when you are using any one of your pick-ups by it’s self they tend to take the harshness off the top end.  This is especially good on the bridge pick-up.  It makes the bridge less harsh and more users friendly and gives it a somewhat unique tone.  There are other cool tones that you get out of a strat using one that are not available with a regular 5-way.  I suggest you put one in and experiment away!

 

[Johnhamdun]

I use Fralin blender pots on all my strat builds.   I get them from Callaham Guitars.  The thing I like about them is if you roll it all the way off when you are using any one of your pick-ups by it’s self they tend to take the harshness off the top end.  This is especially good on the bridge pick-up.  It makes the bridge less harsh and more users friendly and gives it a somewhat unique tone.  There are other cool tones that you get out of a strat using one that are not available with a regular 5-way.  I suggest you put one in and experiment away!

So would I have a V/T/Fralin Blender and a 5-way or would it replace the 5-way and keep both tones?

Thanks!

 

[GoDrex]

I got a pickguard from ACME with the blender pot. My only complaint is they're super swamped with orders it seems, and they've got zero customer service. Had to open a dispute with them through Paypal in order to get their attention. Had the pickguard in 3 days after that - after waiting for 7 weeks for what they say is a 5 day plus shipping turn around time.

As for the gear - I feel like it's top notch. I like the blender pot a lot. I think others prefer having a switch to combine the bridge and neck, but I like the blender for the exact reason Tonar mentioned. Rolling a tiny bit of neck into the bridge mix sounds great to me. It's also great full on with a clean tone - and I've got no problems turning a knob all the way up. I think the subtle adjustments are nice and easy to do even when playing.

The way mine is set up, the blender replaces one of the tones and the other tone becomes a master tone for all pickups. 5 way switch works exactly the same as usual. The blender only does anything on the 1,2,4 and 5 positions. Middle is unaffected.

 

[Johnhamdun]

I got a pickguard from ACME with the blender pot. My only complaint is they're super swamped with orders it seems, and they've got zero customer service. Had to open a dispute with them through Paypal in order to get their attention. Had the pickguard in 3 days after that - after waiting for 7 weeks for what they say is a 5 day plus shipping turn around time.

As for the gear - I feel like it's top notch. I like the blender pot a lot. I think others prefer having a switch to combine the bridge and neck, but I like the blender for the exact reason Tonar mentioned. Rolling a tiny bit of neck into the bridge mix sounds great to me. It's also great full on with a clean tone - and I've got no problems turning a knob all the way up. I think the subtle adjustments are nice and easy to do even when playing.

The way mine is set up, the blender replaces one of the tones and the other tone becomes a master tone for all pickups. 5 way switch works exactly the same as usual. The blender only does anything on the 1,2,4 and 5 positions. Middle is unaffected.

That sounds perfect! But I've already ordered my Lollars from the shop itself. This seems like Jack's area of expertise but can I buy a blender pot like that and install it myself? I can't imagine it is something exclusive to Acme.

 

[GoDrex]

yeah you can buy one - -just search around a bit...

here's some clips - - clean and dirty. Start off totally bridge, then roll up a little neck, then totally mixed, then switch to neck and roll off some bridge and then totally on the neck pickup.

clean

dirty

 

[MikeW]

I'd been curious about blenders too, so when I built Snow White I got one from HAS Sound and dropped into the 2nd tone position. (I got it from HAS since they were the only ones that I'd found that had a 500K blender.)

They work just as described here, rolling off some of the treble, and blending some of the neck p-up in with the settings for the middle/bridge. Or adding some of the sparkle and bite from the bridge to the thickness of the neck p-up. The one drawback I've found is that the effect is subtle when you're using high-gain settings on the amp. Everything from clean through blues-type crunch is very cool though. My new favorite setting on the strat is to put the switch in 2nd position (bridge-middle) then roll in some of the neck p-up to thicken the sound some. It sounds great when you're hitting those SRV inspired licks and want to have the top end bite from the bridge, but keep the depth of the neck. (Think 'Cold Shot' type tone.)

I like it so much that I bought a second one that I'm going to drop into my American Standard.