No load tone pot?

Jimbro66

I've just added a neck pickup and modified wiring harness to change my Esquire to a Tele. In its Esquire config one of the 4-way selector switch settings allowed me to bypass the tone control. I'd like to have the same bypass option with the Tele layout but without any added switches so was thinking in terms of using a CTS no-load pot to achieve a similar result. Has anyone encountered any disadvantages in using a no-load tone pot that I should bear in mind?

ICBM

Jimbro66 said:

Has anyone encountered any disadvantages in using a no-load tone pot that I should bear in mind?

They usually make a click through the amp when you move in and out of the no-load position.

I would use a 1Meg tone pot instead, it's so close to no load at full up it makes no real difference.

Jimbro66

ICBM said:

Jimbro66 said:

Has anyone encountered any disadvantages in using a no-load tone pot that I should bear in mind?

They usually make a click through the amp when you move in and out of the no-load position.

I would use a 1Meg tone pot instead, it's so close to no load at full up it makes no real difference.

OK thanks, that's helpful

bbill335

I have one of these on my strat

no click but, I have to say, no-load 10 sounds pretty damn close to 250k 10 

Jimbro66

bbill335 said:

I have one of these on my strat

no click but, I have to say, no-load 10 sounds pretty damn close to 250k 10 

Now that's an interesting use of a no-load pot. I've seen that previously on a Strat. The no-load part ensures that either the bridge or neck pickup (depending on selector switch position) can be heard without any amount of the other pickup being blended in, i.e. it's the pickup's pure tone. It works well. I have a blend arrangement on one of my Teles but it works on a different principal using a two-element balance pot with centre detent.

The no-load pot use I was considering was as a tone pot but I'll follow @ICBM's advice.

bbill335

Yeah that's the pot i use as a master tone. It works as a blend or no-load-tone-control. 

Jimbro66

bbill335 said:

Yeah that's the pot i use as a master tone. It works as a blend or no-load-tone-control. 

Ah, OK @bbill335. I'd misunderstood. So are you using a no-load pot as master tone on your Strat then a similar no-load pot as a bridge/neck blend control in place of the second tone control? i.e. the 'Lindey Fralin' mod?

And you don't experience the amp click mentioned by ICBM on the tone control?

bbill335

Jimbro66 said:

bbill335 said:

Yeah that's the pot i use as a master tone. It works as a blend or no-load-tone-control. 

Ah, OK @bbill335. I'd misunderstood. So are you using a no-load pot as master tone on your Strat then a similar no-load pot as a bridge/neck blend control in place of the second tone control? i.e. the 'Lindey Fralin' mod?

And you don't experience the amp click mentioned by ICBM on the tone control?

I have a toggle switch for the neck + bridge "blend", master vol (normal 250k), master tone (no load 250k). And no amp click BUT, as I said, it's hard to tell whether there's a substantial difference between a no-load tone pot on 10 and a regular tone pot on 10

Jimbro66

bbill335 said:

I have a toggle switch for the neck + bridge "blend", master vol (normal 250k), master tone (no load 250k). And no amp click BUT, as I said, it's hard to tell whether there's a substantial difference between a no-load tone pot on 10 and a regular tone pot on 10

Interesting. The bypass switch I previously had in the guitar made a difference compared to the sound of the 250k tone pot on 10, the bypass sound being that bit brighter. Useful at times but often just a little too bright. In the guitar’s conversion from Esquire to Tele I thought the bypass setting might be useful in the pickup mix (middle) position but maybe it’s not worth the trouble. Thanks for your comments.

Octafish

I've had Fender no-load pot in my strat for 3-4 years and never had a click. Just went to check to make sure I wasn't imagining it, but definitely no click audible.

I can definitely notice a difference between a no-load pot and and an ordinary pot on 10, particularly if used with a higher output/darker sounding single coil such as a Seymour Duncan SSL5.

You can mod an ordinary pot to be no-load, it will have no notch for the no-load position. I have done this, but preferred the 'notched' version as it's more definite you are/aren't in no-load.