Andy Eagle ( Guitar repair tech for 30 years )

[gearJunkie]

it's easily the best feel of all the trems I own. It replaced the BladeRunner trems I had on those two guitars.

Very interesting. I love my BladeRunner, but I'm always game for an upgrade.

 

[Eagle]

Hey Andy I need a new volume pot for my strat and am also going to fit an aluminium screening plate while I'm in there swopping the old pot.

I usually buy pots from Six string supplies but they're out of stock. who would you go to in the UK for a volume put and a screening plate? Are the bare knuckle 280k pots worth the money?

Do you want a little treble push ? If you do the 280k is a good way to get it . I like the dimarzio branded cts for volume because it’s lower friction and tighter tolerances than the common 450 series cts at 7%. I usually just look around to see who is cheaper at the moment. Also it depends if you want a fender shield plate or something similar.
I get Fender direct . Pricing is all over the place, I can often find a part cheaper on line than getting it directly from the distributor even at trade.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Do you want a little treble push ?

Not really, I was mainly interested in the sound of the 30% J taper the bare knuckle pots can be ordered in. What's the taper like on the dimarzio units? I hate volume pots that are useless under 5.

Also it depends if you want a fender shield plate or something similar.
I get Fender direct . Pricing is all over the place, I can often find a part cheaper on line than getting it directly from the distributor even at trade.

The pricing is part of the reason I was looking at bare knuckle. They do shielding plates for £18 but the pricing for the fender branded part seems to be £39 - £45. There's a load of much cheaper brands about but I'm pretty dubious about those.

 

[Eagle]

Not really, I was mainly interested in the sound of the 30% J taper the bare knuckle pots can be ordered in. What's the taper like on the dimarzio units? I hate volume pots that are useless under 5.



The pricing is part of the reason I was looking at bare knuckle. They do shielding plates for £18 but the pricing for the fender branded part seems to be £39 - £45. There's a load of much cheaper brands about but I'm pretty dubious about those.

Taper with or without gain and how much gain has a massive effect on the character. With gain a straight log is best but the cleaner you get the more on off it sounds. I would only use a shield plate on a vintage replica build or a restoration so accuracy would be my concern. They don’t really do much anyway so if accuracy is not important go with the cheapest.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Taper with or without gain and how much gain has a massive effect on the character. With gain a straight log is best but the cleaner you get the more on off it sounds.

I definitely agree with that. With a fuzz face my current pot is usable right the way down but it's pretty much off under 5 with a cleaner amp sound. I've actually got linear volume pots in my les paul and I love the taper.

I'll hunt about and see if I can easily find a dimarzio pot somewhere.

I would only use a shield plate on a vintage replica build or a restoration so accuracy would be my concern. They don’t really do much anyway so if accuracy is not important go with the cheapest.

My scratchplate has the small aluminium section where the pots and switch are. Am I wasting my time getting a full sized plate?

 

[Eagle]

I definitely agree with that. With a fuzz face my current pot is usable right the way down but it's pretty much off under 5 with a cleaner amp sound. I've actually got linear volume pots in my les paul and I love the taper.

I'll hunt about and see if I can easily find a dimarzio pot somewhere.



My scratchplate has the small aluminium section where the pots and switch are. Am I wasting my time getting a full sized plate?

If you want the plate for anything other than “vintage correct “ don’t bother would be my answer.

 

[Eagle]

Ok I put it on here, only to try and it’s not staying but this is my most familiar Strat.

The bar protrudes higher out of the bridge before it bends but the angle compensates and the bar has a similar position in the hand to a perfectly level stock Floyd.
I also didn’t use two specific springs because I wanted to stiffen up the action a little without affecting the equilibrium position.
The quality of the parts is very high, most machined out of stainless steel. No shitty pot metal castings here. Some people comment on the size of the block but it has sufficient mass around the string anchor point and is in no way thinner sounding. In fact the bolted down saddles add to the fullness of the tone. Overall it’s a bit warmer sounding than the vintage bridge .
So far it stays in tune as well as any non locking system would and is largely dependent on the other end.

 

[Eagle]

I will leave it on for a set or two of strings and go back to the original bridge on this guitar not because it’s not a good option but because this guitar is meant to provide me with vintage traditional Strat tone and stock vintage appearance.