Volume knob mistake.

[tfarny]

My 2c...
I'd try a little jbass or little wooden knob as others suggested, if you don't like that, then mount a mini switch there (tap / series / parallel on your HB, or something) and drill a new hole. Pickguard can't happen on that clean design and great top, sorry.

As to the pots issue, this is not really a pot value issue, it sounds like. First off, pickups aren't 'designed' to work with certain pot values, it's just that the 250k pots bleed off a bit more treble than 500k pots, hence 'warming up' a single coil, hence that's what they used back in the day. Nothing wrong with SC pups and 500k pots, and anyhow the pot value doesn't make a huge difference. Sounds like your neck pickup is just too bright for your liking - try adding in a .01 cap to the circuit (maybe on that mini switch), or even just lowering the treble side of the coil away from the strings a bit. If that doesn't work I'd just get a new neck pickup that is more your style. Lots of great guitars have SC and HBs together, and pot values are just not an issue.

I would definitely experiment with knobs, mount rings, caps, and pickup height to solve your issues before doing any drilling to that nice body.

 

[thumb55]

I had a Kramer that the knob stuck up enough my hand would hit it.  It was so bad I had to tighten it every once in a while.  Try lowering the pot.  There are flat washers and lock washers on the pot.  The pot dosen't have to be flush on the inside of the control cavaty.  I have mine set so there is just enough of the pole sticking out to stick the knob on without scrapeing the pickguard or body. 

 

[tfarny]

Oh, we posted at the same time. I had a RG pickup once and I thought it kind of sucked, to be honest - I know a lot of people on here really like them but I'm liking lower winds more and more these days. Especially for a neck pickup if you like clean sounds.

 

[sbk12]

My 2c...
I'd try a little jbass or little wooden knob as others suggested, if you don't like that, then mount a mini switch there (tap / series / parallel on your HB, or something) and drill a new hole. Pickguard can't happen on that clean design and great top, sorry.

As to the pots issue, this is not really a pot value issue, it sounds like. First off, pickups aren't 'designed' to work with certain pot values, it's just that the 250k pots bleed off a bit more treble than 500k pots, hence 'warming up' a single coil, hence that's what they used back in the day. Nothing wrong with SC pups and 500k pots, and anyhow the pot value doesn't make a huge difference. Sounds like your neck pickup is just too bright for your liking - try adding in a .01 cap to the circuit (maybe on that mini switch), or even just lowering the treble side of the coil away from the strings a bit. If that doesn't work I'd just get a new neck pickup that is more your style. Lots of great guitars have SC and HBs together, and pot values are just not an issue.

I would definitely experiment with knobs, mount rings, caps, and pickup height to solve your issues before doing any drilling to that nice body.

What exactly would a mini switch do?I have seen these on guitars before,but thought it was a sustainiac controller or something.

 

[tfarny]

Whatever you wire them up for  -

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=ssp
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiringresources.1wiringdiagrams.zminiswitchusage/

 

[sbk12]

Whatever you wire them up for  -

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=ssp
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiringresources.1wiringdiagrams.zminiswitchusage/

So basically this could be just a cosmetic cover up that would actually serve some sort of purpose but would not solve my single coil problem right?
Also,do the humbucker pups that are in a single coil configuration designed to run off of 250k or 500k?

 

[stubhead]

A treble bleed cap may help to straighten out some of the tonal issues, if you're amp settings for ideal single coil tone are making your humbucking sound too muddy when the volume is turned down.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=110507&highlight=treble+bleed

If you google "treble bleed cap" a bunch of other stuff comes up. Greg Kinman quite brilliantly suggests using a concentric 250K/500K volume pot in this situation - you've simply got two volumes stacked on top of each other, I use these pots a lot to save space and get more control over stuff. The 250/500 pot is Allparts #EP4585-00, and if you search Ebay "guitar parts" for "concentric pot" they'll pop up. However, they will NOT go through your exiting thickness of wood - you ever have to thin it, or go to a small pickguard arrangement. Regardless, I would move the knob away from you.

Personally, I dislike any conventional Strat because it eventually scrapes the skin off the top of my little finger, and there's no point in playing a guitar that you hate. I also would never try to mix single coils and humbuckers without having separate volume controls over each, I just can't get as much out of it as I'd like. I'd rather have complicated controls that give me options than simple controls that don't.

 

[tfarny]

OK, let's clear up a couple of things:
1. I think your SC problem is that you don't like your SC pickup's sound. Pots don't "push" anything.
2. Pot values are very unimportant in the whole scheme of things. Just leave the 300k one in there. I'll bet if you rewire it totally out of the circuit, you won't even notice it's gone except that your volume control won't work.
3. that SD diagram would give your existing humbucker two additional sounds, I have no idea if you would use them or not. It would have no effect on anything else.

Read this: http://www.1728.com/guitar.htm

 

[sbk12]

OK, let's clear up a couple of things:
1. I think your SC problem is that you don't like your SC pickup's sound. Pots don't "push" anything.
2. Pot values are very unimportant in the whole scheme of things. Just leave the 300k one in there. I'll bet if you rewire it totally out of the circuit, you won't even notice it's gone except that your volume control won't work.
3. that SD diagram would give your existing humbucker two additional sounds, I have no idea if you would use them or not. It would have no effect on anything else.

Read this: http://www.1728.com/guitar.htm

Gotcha,but the mini switch would serve as a working cover-up if I put it in the hole that houses my now existing volume knob and drilled another hole for a new volume kno,correct?

 

[Superlizard]

Yeah thats one of the issues.The main issue is with the volume knob placement..The single coil in question is a Rio Grande Vintage tallboy and I didnt think it was really that hot of a pickup.I mean,I am almost willing to bet that the problem lies in the fact that ist getting just slightly to much push from the 300k.

Well, when you say "hot", do you mean "loud" as in "louder than my humbucker"...

...or "hot" like "output" as in "too distorted"?

...or "hot" like "hi end" as in "too trebly"? (my guess)

 

[sbk12]

Yeah thats one of the issues.The main issue is with the volume knob placement..The single coil in question is a Rio Grande Vintage tallboy and I didnt think it was really that hot of a pickup.I mean,I am almost willing to bet that the problem lies in the fact that ist getting just slightly to much push from the 300k.

Well, when you say "hot", do you mean "loud" as in "louder than my humbucker"...

...or "hot" like "output" as in "too distorted"?

...or "hot" like "hi end" as in "too trebly"? (my guess)

I guess what I want to hear is when you are playing lead lines past the 12th fret and want that smooth and  warm tone that you get from the neck position and its sounding a little too over the top.Maybe its just me not being used to playing with single coils in a long time.I know this,when I play clean they sound excellent.I guess you could say they distort too much when used with higher gain settings.One thing too note is,I dont play with a ton of gain and do not like high output pickups.I am playing through a Splawn Nitro with Kt-88`s,but I am not cranking my gain control at all.

 

[Superlizard]

2. Pot values are very unimportant in the whole scheme of things.

Huh?  ???

Au contraire... if that's the case, why not outfit every single coil with a 1MegOhm? (talk about cutting heads with treble LOL)

While it certainly is true there is no "potentiometer-to-pickup law written in stone", standards are there for a reason, and most people don't want to sound like @$$.

 

[sbk12]

What if I did something like this???

Drill another hole for a new volume knob and utilize the old hole for a mini switch for coil splitting.
Route out the single coil cavity to house another humbucker.I know this would involve cutting slightly into the body,but not much at all and it would eliminate the need to cover anything with a pickguard.I could put another pickup ring on for the neck humbucker.

Does this sound like it would be a wise solution?

 

[Superlizard]

I guess what I want to hear is when you are playing lead lines past the 12th fret and want that smooth and  warm tone that you get from the neck position and its sounding a little too over the top.Maybe its just me not being used to playing with single coils in a long time.I know this,when I play clean they sound excellent.I guess you could say they distort too much when used with higher gain settings.One thing too note is,I dont play with a ton of gain and do not like high output pickups.I am playing through a Splawn Nitro with Kt-88`s,but I am not cranking my gain control at all.

KT-88s - groovy!  (KT-66/EL84 guy here) :icon_biggrin:

I can't stand high output pickups myself as well... If I'm doing gain, I let the amp/pedals do all the work.

I've never owned one, but aren't those Rio Grande's supposed to be "Texas-style"... i.e. "hot, sizzle"?

Maybe they're a hair too much for the tone you seek... perhaps a vintage-output type single coil would do the trick.

But therein lies another problem:  matching the single-coil output to the humbucker's output (i.e. pickup volume) - what are you using for the 'bucker?

 

[Superlizard]

What if I did something like this???

Drill another hole for a new volume knob and utilize the old hole for a mini switch for coil splitting.

That'd be a big-@$$ hole to fit a *mini*-switch.  I don't have measurements, but typical mini-switch shaft is much smaller than your typical vol/tone pot hole.

Route out the single coil cavity to house another humbucker.I know this would involve cutting slightly into the body,but not much at all and it would eliminate the need to cover anything with a pickguard.I could put another pickup ring on for the neck humbucker.

Does this sound like it would be a wise solution?

I wouldn't do all that... why cut it up if you don't need to?

I say different single coil pickup for the neck, and a different style knob for the volume.

Do the easy stuff first, then if that isn't enough, try the more elaborate ideas (however, still against cutting up the body).

But that's just me.

 

[tfarny]

Yeah that might work.
SuperL, pot and cap values really aren't a huge deal and the difference between the fender and gibson specs are pretty minor. FYI, Fender sells 'no-load' tone pots that take the pot completely out of the circuit, they don't 'take anybody's head off'. They make a difference which is marginally noticeable in most instances. I used a couple of them, along with a 1 meg volume pot, to get my GFS neovin noiseless to sound acceptably like a single coil. Try before ridiculing.

I agree though that he should change the pickup first, and try different knobs. the min switch takes a 1/4 inch hole, I think most pots are 3/8, so a washer might solve the problem but still, don't drill till you've tried other stuff.

 

[sbk12]

I guess what I want to hear is when you are playing lead lines past the 12th fret and want that smooth and  warm tone that you get from the neck position and its sounding a little too over the top.Maybe its just me not being used to playing with single coils in a long time.I know this,when I play clean they sound excellent.I guess you could say they distort too much when used with higher gain settings.One thing too note is,I dont play with a ton of gain and do not like high output pickups.I am playing through a Splawn Nitro with Kt-88`s,but I am not cranking my gain control at all.

KT-88s - groovy!  (KT-66/EL84 guy here) :icon_biggrin:

I can't stand high output pickups myself as well... If I'm doing gain, I let the amp/pedals do all the work.

I've never owned one, but aren't those Rio Grande's supposed to be "Texas-style"... i.e. "hot, sizzle"?

Maybe they're a hair too much for the tone you seek... perhaps a vintage-output type single coil would do the trick.

But therein lies another problem:  matching the single-coil output to the humbucker's output (i.e. pickup volume) - what are you using for the 'bucker?

The bridge is a Rio Grande BBQ and is not really considered high output either.I actually make sure all pickups on all my guitars are also set rather low.To me it just seems to bring out more of an acoustic quality and more warmth.

 

[sbk12]

All of this info will be considered and I greatly appreciate everyones input.I really really want to get this thing where it makes me happy as this will probably be my last Floyd equipped guitar.I want to get this one squared away and to be a success,so I can justify to my wife my need to start another less complicated Warmoth project,a tele!  I found an email address from this forum to a guy that was highly reccomended and I just may give him a shout and see if he can fix these problems for me.Obviously,I will now be able to go at him with a few ideas to help with the problem.

 

[Superlizard]

Yeah that might work.
SuperL, pot and cap values really aren't a huge deal and the difference between the fender and gibson specs are pretty minor. FYI, Fender sells 'no-load' tone pots that take the pot completely out of the circuit, they don't 'take anybody's head off'. They make a difference which is marginally noticeable in most instances. I used a couple of them, along with a 1 meg volume pot, to get my GFS neovin noiseless to sound acceptably like a single coil. Try before ridiculing.

No ridiculing here... I'm questioning (i.e. "huh?") the reasoning behind someone who insinuates that pot values make hardly any difference in tone, when countless guitar manufacturers over the decades have used a standard which still works to this day.

I mean, if the vast majority of the guitar community (builders, players, etc) over the decades thinks it ***sounds good*** a certain way, why would your (opposite) statement be correct?

It's a very rare case whereupon a certain pickup sounds good with either a 250k or 500k (SD JB being one of them).

The only time your statement would be correct is if one is using so much gain and distortion in their rig that it completely masks any and all tone, or if one is using a totally crap rig where if you were to plug any guitar, even the supposedly "best sounding guitar in the world", it would come out sounding like @$$.

 

[DangerousR6]

You don't really need the tone pots - a pot that's fully rotated in one direction can be replaced by a resistor of the same value.
A tone pot is just used to bleed the highs to ground by means of a cap.

As for moving the vol pot, you're not going to fill the existing hole without it standing out. That body's also far too nice for a PG. How about moving the pot and using the old hole to mount something else? A jack, or just the insert from a knob like you've got on there?

I was thinking the same thing, just redrill for new pot and put a mini toggle switch, it doesn't have to be hooked up, unless you might want to split the hum... :dontknow: