Hide the pots/knobs?

[HipDip]

Heya. ✌

Playing with an idea regarding my MIM Fender Jazz.

Couple things:
I typically have both pups at 100%. Tone control (might as well be a toggle) has the highs rolled all the way down. I keep it all set like that 95% of the time.

In addition sometimes my knuckle hits the neck pup knob when slapping.

So...

Can the pots be kept under the control plate, and can a single volume pot be wired into this?

So the bass would only have one visible knob (volume) but everything else is already dialed in below. I'd get a plate machined with only one hole.

I think it would look cool.

Any thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[fig]

Can the pots be kept under the control plate, and can a single volume pot be wired into this?

Yep. Use trimpots (short for 'trimming potentiometers'). Physically smaller than a regular pot. I, and others in here, use 'em when needed.

Exact same wiring as used on a regular pot. Wire up however many you need, adjust to taste, set 'em inside the control cavity, put the control plate back on the bass. Readjust them whenever you want.

 

[HipDip]

Cool, man. I'll check out those pots. All new to me.

Thanks!

 

[KidAmnesia]

You could wire both pickups to a single volume knob with a cap to ground and just remove the other two knobs.

I'm a big fan of just geting rid of things I don't use on my instruments.

 

[HipDip]

You could wire both pickups to a single volume knob with a cap to ground and just remove the other two knobs.

I'm a big fan of just geting rid of things I don't use on my instruments.

Thanks, man.

If I like the tone I have now, but remove the other pots, just wiring a volume, will the highs still be rolled off, or will the tone be different? Don't know 'til you try sorta thing?

Thanks for the input.

 

[leonard]

The tone will be pretty much the same. Maybe just slightly different if you wire both pickups to only one volume knob with the tone cap always on. Could be even better like that.

 

[Passinwind]

Yep. Use trimpots (short for 'trimming potentiometers'). Physically smaller than a regular pot. I, and others in here, use 'em when needed.

Exact same wiring as used on a regular pot. Wire up however many you need, adjust to taste, set 'em inside the control cavity, put the control plate back on the bass. Readjust them whenever you want.

Yep, but maybe only up to a point since a 200 rotation cycle lifetime is a pretty standard spec for many of them.

 

[HipDip]

Thanks guys.
Off to watch some wiring videos.
Will post pic when done.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Not enthralled by the idea but novel, none the less. We've hidden pots / trim pots in control cavities before. I'd remove the neck volume and cap, install either a stacked vol / vol or vol / blend in #2, keep the tone pot and stick a rubber O ring under the knob. For that fact, you can " sandwich" rubber gaskets or O rings on the stacked pot, as well.

*You keep the original plate...saves hassle & $$ as custom work is never cheap.
*Gets the neck volume out of harm's way. You can camouflage the empty space with whatever meets your fancy.
*The balance of controls remain accessible as opposed to hiding and/or requiring a jeweler's screwdriver.

If you want to be really clever. fabricate a control plate with low profile vertically-mounted rotary thumb wheels.

Riis

 

[fig]

Yep, but maybe only up to a point since a 200 rotation cycle lifetime is a pretty standard spec for many of them.

True, but my impression from HipDip's post is his readjustments will be rare except the lone external Master Volume he would install. I may have the wrong impression, though LOL.

@HipDip, what Passinwind says is true. The trimpots are also know as "set and forget" pots. In other words, for occasional use only. The larger pots we use externally are manufactured for frequent use and made to last a longer time than trimpots.

If you're only gonna occasionally change your two pickup's volumes and occasionally change your tone, then trimpots are for you.

For what it's worth, my standby bass has one external Master Volume. Both pickups are hardwired together in parallel (no pots at all) then wired to the external Master Volume. Any tone changes are done by dialing the Master Volume back. When full on, tone is trebley. When dialing back, the treble starts dropping out (bassier tone). Tone changes are also done according to where I pluck the strings. In other words, I also don't have a tone control installed. Just one Master Volume like you described.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Heya. ✌

Playing with an idea regarding my MIM Fender Jazz.

Couple things:
I typically have both pups at 100%. Tone control (might as well be a toggle) has the highs rolled all the way down. I keep it all set like that 95% of the time.

In addition sometimes my knuckle hits the neck pup knob when slapping.

So...

Can the pots be kept under the control plate, and can a single volume pot be wired into this?

So the bass would only have one visible knob (volume) but everything else is already dialed in below. I'd get a plate machined with only one hole.

I think it would look cool.

Any thoughts?
Thanks.

Yes!
Carvin TBS-4 Timothy B Schmit Signature 4-String Bass Guitar

That's exactly what Timothy wanted, both pickups on always, one mastet volume.

 

[lark_z]

Yeah I took the knob closest to the strings off my early 80's Squier Bullet (guitar). Got tired of hitting it. Seems like it was the volume, so I just canned one of the tones and moved the volume down a hole. Worked fine.

One my first Squier bass (P/J), I added a DPDT switch which in position 1 - did nothing, in position 2 - sent the bridge pickup straight to jack. That also worked fine.

One option other than a trimpot is to use smaller 'regular' pots and just leave them in the cavity sideways. You'd have to be sure they're not going to move around and short something, however.

 

[devnulljp]

Isn't that pretty much how the EBMM Joe Dart sig model is wired?

 

[HipDip]

Good stuff. The pups are Sadowsky from around 2006. Made by DiMarzio. I really dig the tone. Nice through the tone hammer pedal.

I'll post some pics when it's done.

 

[HipDip]

One option other than a trimpot is to use smaller 'regular' pots and just leave them in the cavity sideways. You'd have to be sure they're not going to move around and short something, however.

That's exactly what I was thinking, keeping the pots secured if I go that way. Maybe foam?

@Zooberwerx interesting thought about the stacked volume pot. Hadn't thought of that. I really want just one pot, where the tone is now; more aesthetics than anything else.
I hear ya on the plate. I'll have to look at prices. I know I'll cave eventually. Already put more into the bass than its worth, board sanding, refret...but it's my baby.

@fig You got the right impression. Totally get your point about tonal changes from technique. Never thought about the volume manipulating tone like how you use your standby. A lot more to this than i hoped. Lol

Sorry. Double post. Missed some.

 

[fig]

Never thought about the volume manipulating tone like how you use your standby. A lot more to this than i hoped. Lol

Just a little more about the volume pot reducing treble as you decrease the volume. It's a natural occurrence, because...science LOL.

Some players don't mind it or will use it, like I do, as a 'faux tone control'. Other players don't like the decrease in treble as volume is rolled down, so there's a very simple solution to keep the treble intact as volume pot is rotated. The "Treble Bleed" circuit.

Can consist of only a capacitor or a cap with one or two resistors added.:

They're connected across the input and output terminals of the Master Volume pot. The premise is that since caps are transparent to high freqs (treble), the high freqs bypass (thru the transparent cap) around the volume resistance and continually feed the output. As volume is changed, the high freqs just don't care LOL.

Plenty of info in the forum and online concerning the treble bleed mod. Here's the link where I got the pic:
Installing a Treble Bleed

If you already knew this stuff, I apologize 'cause I don't know what you know. But there might be folk still learning this stuff wandering thru the thread that might find it useful.

 

[HipDip]

Just a little more about the volume pot reducing treble as you decrease the volume. It's a natural occurrence, because...science LOL.

Some players don't mind it or will use it, like I do, as a 'faux tone control'. Other players don't like the decrease in treble as volume is rolled down, so there's a very simple solution to keep the treble intact as volume pot is rotated. The "Treble Bleed" circuit.

Can consist of only a capacitor or a cap with one or two resistors added.:
View attachment 4915183


They're connected across the input and output terminals of the Master Volume pot. The premise is that since caps are transparent to high freqs (treble), the high freqs bypass (thru the transparent cap) around the volume resistance and continually feed the output. As volume is changed, the high freqs just don't care LOL.

Plenty of info in the forum and online concerning the treble bleed mod. Here's the link where I got the pic:
Installing a Treble Bleed

If you already knew this stuff, I apologize 'cause I don't know what you know. But there might be folk still learning this stuff wandering thru the thread that might find it useful.

Wow, this is really cool stuff. Thank you! No apologizes needed, I'm at the kindergarten level with all of this. Bad TBI years ago; lost a lot of the -little- I knew. Lol
But i never dipped my toe in the electrical side of things anyway. Lots of questions, so I'll get my read on. Will check that link.

 

[HipDip]

Pardon my paint skills.

Is this the difference between series and parallel? I omitted the grounds.

Thanks.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

It is not. They’re both parallel. In the top drawing (if I’m correctly interpreting how the grounds would be hooked up) the volume control controls the bridge pickup, the neck is full on all the time. In the bottom drawing, the volume controls both pickups together.

For series, the white wire from the neck pickup would connect to the volume pot, the black wire from the neck pickup would connect to the white wire of the bridge pickup and the black wire of the bridge pickup would connect to ground.

 

[HipDip]

It is not. They’re both parallel. In the top drawing (if I’m correctly interpreting how the grounds would be hooked up) the volume control controls the bridge pickup, the neck is full on all the time. In the bottom drawing, the volume controls both pickups together.

For series, the white wire from the neck pickup would connect to the volume pot, the black wire from the neck pickup would connect to the white wire of the bridge pickup and the black wire of the bridge pickup would connect to ground.

Thank you for the details, man.
For what I'm going for the bottom one oughta do it. Nice.

If for some reason there were 3 J's going to the single volume, they'd all be wired to the center lug?