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Post subject: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:39 am
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Hi guys
I have a Fender Stratocaster Black Top HH and I want to change the potentiometer knobs to classic strat, but as I found out BlackTop knobs are held with a screw. Do I have to do some extra work to change these knobs to classic ones?


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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:50 am
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Hellix552 wrote:
Hi guys
I have a Fender Stratocaster Black Top HH and I want to change the potentiometer knobs to classic strat, but as I found out BlackTop knobs are held with a screw. Do I have to do some extra work to change these knobs to classic ones?


Welcome!

To answer your question, yes. The OEM solid shaft pots will have to be replaced with split shaft ones.

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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:40 am
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Thanks :)


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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 12:00 pm
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Location: On the bank of the West Fork of the Susquehanna River in N. Central Pennsylvania
What I did to my black Blacktop strat is to get rid of those unsightly, to me, amp knobs, and I replaced them with Fender P Bass black knurled flat top barrel type knobs. They have a great feel to them due to the machining of the knurling, and they come in chrome too.

My black Blacktop is now a very stealth type guitar with the black knobs blending in nicely, and the black open coil Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz humbuckers I installed in it. It sounds incredible and looks very discretely laid back until you play it and then it screams.

No new pots were necessary and the stock pots are decent.

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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 12:16 pm
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Location: On the bank of the West Fork of the Susquehanna River in N. Central Pennsylvania
Also, if the standard strat knobs are too loose, you could wrap the pot posts with some Teflon tape or dental floss and then press the strat knobs on, possibly.

Another option might be to apply a thin layer of silicone sealant, like GE Silicone II, to the pot posts and a small dab to the top of the hole in the standard strat knob and position them on there. Wait for the silicone to harden up and it might work great.

Silicone, by the way, is always flexible and doesn't harden rock solid, because it is a rubber type substance. It would always be easy to remove the knobs and remove the silicone from the pot shafts. It is just like soft, pliable rubber.

By the way, the Fender P Bass knurled barrel knobs I mentioned before, have set screws on them.

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Duffy Bolduc
On the South Bank of the W. Branch of the Susquehanna River

". . . all the things that use to mean so much to me, have made me old before my time."

Gregg Allman, "Old Before My Time", "Hittin' the Note" cd.


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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:14 pm
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Hellix552 wrote:
Thanks :)


Any time!

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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:32 am
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I think I will apply theese bass knobs... I don't want to change anything in the guitar as it somes to electronics, hardware etc.

Thank you both for advices Martian and 1Duffy1 :)




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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:15 pm
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Location: On the bank of the West Fork of the Susquehanna River in N. Central Pennsylvania
Here is a picture of my Fender Marauder with the P Bass knurled chrome barrel knobs that have the set screws. They replaced the unsightly, in my opinion, amp knobs.

Image

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Duffy Bolduc
On the South Bank of the W. Branch of the Susquehanna River

". . . all the things that use to mean so much to me, have made me old before my time."

Gregg Allman, "Old Before My Time", "Hittin' the Note" cd.


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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 5:09 am
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Did you ever get the P Bass knobs, and how do you like the way they look and feel?

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Duffy Bolduc
On the South Bank of the W. Branch of the Susquehanna River

". . . all the things that use to mean so much to me, have made me old before my time."

Gregg Allman, "Old Before My Time", "Hittin' the Note" cd.


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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:13 pm
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Nah, in fact i decided to change the whole potentiometers... as i get it done i'll upload a pic of it :D


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Post subject: Re: Changing potentiometer knobs from Strat BlackTop
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 12:45 pm
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1Duffy1 wrote:
Did you ever get the P Bass knobs, and how do you like the way they look and feel?


Make sure you get "audio taper" pots for the tone pots. If the place you are getting the pots from doesn't know what you are talking about that means they probably only have "linear taper" volume control pots and don't know the difference. Order "audio taper" pots for the tone controls if you have to.

The audio taper pots will allow you to turn the pots and immediately notice a change in the tone of the guitar, consistently thru the sweep of the knob. With a linear pots, meant for volume control, when you turn the pots you won't notice any change in tone until you turn it almost all the way open and then all of the change will take place in a very small arc of the turn of the pots at the end of the sweep - all the change will happen at once, so controlling your tone will be very difficult and not evenly spread out over the entire turn of the knob.

Good luck with it and I hope you find a good source or tech to do it that knows about audio taper pots for the tone control.

I'm sure your ideas is to upgrade the guitar. A lot of these so called techs don't know about audio taper pots. They just know that they have pots on hand, usually only linear taper, unless the place really knows what they are doing. Otherwise you would probably be better off keeping the stock pots and installing the Fender P Bass knurled chrome or black flat top barrel control knobs, available from any Fender dealer as probably a part you have to order. It took me a few days to get mine in and I ordered them twice. I like the look.

By the way, if you decide to definitely go with the traditional strat knobs and get the potentiometers for those type knobs, be sure to get "one linear pot for the volume control knob, and two audio pots for the tone control knobs. Linear for volume control and audio taper for tone control. 500kOhm pots.

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Duffy Bolduc
On the South Bank of the W. Branch of the Susquehanna River

". . . all the things that use to mean so much to me, have made me old before my time."

Gregg Allman, "Old Before My Time", "Hittin' the Note" cd.


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