how do i wire righty pots in my lefty strat?

[4711shaun]

my left handed USA strat (2001) came with right handed pots wired for left handed operation.. the volume pot probably doesn't matter either way but the tone pots work like on/off switches.. no taper.. :puh

can anyon tell me how to rewire the pots so they work like normal righty pots to provide the correct taper ? (obviously they will turn in the opposite direction but that's ok)

and does the 5 way switch have a polarity or can it go in either way ?

i've tried googling but the diagrams i found are very different between the right and left handed examples and look like a lot of changes so i wonder if i'm on the right track with those....

i'll also try the lefty forum over at FDP..

thanks..
Shaun
:)

[Jack Briggs]

AllParts has your left hand audio taper 250K pots:

http://www.allparts.com/store/lh-250k-audio-pot,Product.asp

[cpsdawg]

i rewired my tele and strat and gretsch all with the original pots. i assume that currently to turn them up they rotate counterclockwise. to make them operate clockwise, resolder them the opposite way they are. i'm not looking at my pots, but whichever lug is soldered to the pot body switch it with the other. the taper has always been the same. my gibsons and 73 fender jazz bass came from the factory "right". personally whoever thought lefties should have the pots wired the other way obviously wasn't a lefty. name me any electronic device that the volume turns up by rotating the knob counterclockwise.

[David Collins]

You need lefty pots. Standard pots simply will not work right wired left handed, no matter how you wire them.

[walterw]

well, they'll "work" in that up will be "on" and down will be "off", but you'll have no sweep, with all three pots acting like on/off switches. the lefty CTS is indeed the way to go.

[4711shaun]

thanks for the replys

i did more digging around and answered most of my own questions... i don't care which way the pots turn, just as long as i get the taper in the tone pots.. so i'll stick with what's in there and swapp the wiring on the lugs.. basically, the two outside lugs need swapping, the middle lug which is the output of the pot stays the same...


i got started with my little weller 25W pen job and as anyone who's done this before will know, i didn't get far!!

[4711shaun]

LOL.. anyway, l just picked up a 100w soldering gun tonight and will tackle it tomorrow... bloody earth blobs... the 25w'er didn't kick a dent in them!!

back to the pots, i just can't believe Fender are this clueless or lack this much consideration for their left handed customers... what's more important to a lefty.. tone tapered pots that works as intended... or knobs that turn in the conventional direction and do little else?


Shaun.

[David Collins]

I just can't believe Fender are this clueless or lack this much consideration for their left handed customers... what's more important to a lefty.. tone tapered pots that works as intended... or knobs that turn in the conventional direction and do little else?

Believe it. The more instruments you examine with a critical eye, the less will surprise you.:rolleyes:

[rooster]

back to the pots, i just can't believe Fender are this clueless or lack this much consideration for their left handed customers... what's more important to a lefty.. tone tapered pots that works as intended... or knobs that turn in the conventional direction and do little else?


It's not Fender's fault, really. Trying to run a batch of pots with a left-handed taper these days could be seriously expensive. The old reverse audio pots are not made very often (the 10M one for the old Fender Brown Vibrato circuit is one example), so they'd have to run a lot of probably at least 5000 to accomodate. Most guitar manufacturers probably don't move enough left-handed guitars to make it profitable.

rooster.

[walterw]

considering how readily available they are from cts, i don't think that's much of an excuse.

[David Collins]

considering how readily available they are from cts, i don't think that's much of an excuse.

Right. I always keep lefty pots in stock, so I don't see why Fender can't. Actually, it's because they don't, that I have to.:rolleyes:

[GtrDr]

LOL.. anyway, l just picked up a 100w soldering gun tonight and will tackle it tomorrow... bloody earth blobs... the 25w'er didn't kick a dent in them!!

back to the pots, i just can't believe Fender are this clueless or lack this much consideration for their left handed customers... what's more important to a lefty.. tone tapered pots that works as intended... or knobs that turn in the conventional direction and do little else?


Shaun.

100w iron is pretty severe for wiring a pot. I use a 40w pencil for all my guitar repair work.

I got used to the direction of standard pots & use them in all my own guitars. Clockwise to increase volume. A left handed volume pot makes as much sense to me as a left handed light switch.

[4711shaun]

i'm not suggesting they use LH pots, just wire them like right handed ones so they at least provide a tone taper or why even bother to put them in in the first place ??

at the moment lefty strats don't have tone pots, just a kind of rotary on/off switch for the neck and middle pups.. tone all up or all down and nothing in between..

[4711shaun]

100w iron is pretty severe for wiring a pot. I use a 40w pencil for all my guitar repair work.

I got used to the direction of standard pots & use them in all my own guitars. Clockwise to increase volume. A left handed volume pot makes as much sense to me as a left handed light switch.

surprisingly, the 100W gun was weak.. i don't have much experience with them but it wasn't any better than the 25W iron which i ended up using after letting it heat up for an eternity.. maybe the tip was bad/cheap (i filed and tinned it).. maybe it doesn't output anywhere near 100W.. i dunno.. but it was very dissapointing.. the brand is Nicholson BTW..

[4711shaun]

anyway... i've done it now and it works as expected but i don't have as good a grounding as i did before in the 1,3,5 positions.. but it's no worse than half the strats i've heard.. it was actually very quiet before...

i just wanted to learn a bit about it all and it was good for that.. i will get an ACME pre-wired harmess made up with a blender pot config... just need to decide on pups.. stewing over whether to get Suhr V60/V60LPs or Fralin VH with SP43 in bridge.. it never ends..

thanks for the input..

Shaun.