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Fender P Bass '51-'55 wiring mod - help needed please


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Hello folks,

The pre 1956 (i think) Precision tone control slightly lowers the volume when the treble is cut.

I remember there being a mod whereby adding one extra wire means that the volume stays the same when the tone is altered, but I can't remember where the wire goes!

Does anyone know please?

Cheers :)

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[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1400535210' post='2454833']
There is a 15 K resistor on the tone control of '51 P basses, for reasons I cannot fathom. Maybe Leo worried that the fatter tone, and mild 'boost' coming from the resonant peak created by a rolled down tone control (for reasons too complex for me to really understand) would blow up the amps of the day...

If, the pickup is connected to one of the outer lugs of the tone pot, on your bass, AND, if the same outer lug is connected to the middle lug via the 15 K resistor, then you could bypass the resistor with a new wire. It appears that the 15 k resistor is used so that, at one extreme of the pot, the signal flows through the resistor to the lug that the capacitor is hooked to, that then feeds treble to ground. At the opposite extreme of the pot the resistor is out of the circuit, as signal passes straight from the outer lug to the middle lug, and back to the volume control.
[/quote]

That's a fantastic answer thanks and very much appreicated :)

My wiring is as you've stated. Just to clarify, would I be right in saying that I need a wire to connect from:[list]
[*]The lug on the tone pot which has the 15k resisitor and ground wire
[/list]
to the[list]
[*]lug on the volume pot which is connected to the tone pot
[/list]

Cheers!

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[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1400614614' post='2455541']
Hello again.

All you need to do is jump the resistor
[/quote]

That's great, thank you once again.

What do you mean by 'jump the resistor'? Is that moving the pickup wire to the middle lug?

I'd like to leave the resistor in place if possible and add / move a wire rather than subtract a part.

Please excuse my ignorance, I'm happy to solder and get stuck into diagrams but the logic of electronics has always completely baffled me. :)

Edited by Chiliwailer
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I think he means add another wire in parallel with the resistor so the signal has two paths to follow; the wire you add will have a low resistance so most of the signal goes via the new route.

EDIT: You beat me to it LOL

Edited by HowieBass
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[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1400615499' post='2455554']
Jumping the resistor would just be to bypass it with a wire. In short, you take a wire of the same length as the resistor and connect it to each end of the resistor. If it is an original '51 to '55 P bass, or you don't want to hurt the resale value, then sticking a wire in parallel with the resistor will be the least obtrusive mod. Otherwise, desolder the resistor and replace it with a wire.
[/quote]

Excellent, I can't thank you enough. All the best!


[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1400615518' post='2455555']
I think he means add another wire in parallel with the resistor so the signal has two paths to follow; the wire you add will have a low resistance so most of the signal goes via the new route.

EDIT: You beat me to it LOL
[/quote]

Cheers anyway!!!

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