Do I Have To Buy Special Left-Handed Electronics For My Guitars?
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
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Here's another #AskPerky for you! Do I have to buy left-handed electrical components for my lefty guitars? Or can I get away with using 'normal' electronics? Let's have a look :-)
What do you think? Are you a lefty and you've struggled with electronics? Do you use the knobs 'backwards' like I do? Comment below!
joeperkinsmusic
jp@joeperkins.co.uk
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Without you I’m lost . Thank you from another lefty .
From another lefty - very helpful Joe, thank you!
Thanks Ian - glad to help :-)
Great vid as always Joe. This has been a bugbear of mine for years. I do the same as you do, ie. Wire pots so the taper is correct but the rotation is 'backwards'. What I have found is most manufacturers just wire standard pots in reverse so the taper is useless. As you say Gibson do wire them so the taper is correct. The old Gordon Smith's were the same. Fender have recently used reverse (antilog) taper pots in the American professional lefty guitars but not in the American Original series or any other series for that matter. Surprisingly my squier classic vibe Tele came with left handed pots. G&L, Suhr, Reverend, PRS SE all came with standard log pots wired backwards. Harley Benton LP junior, came with log tone pot and linear volume pot both wired backwards. I find it much more useful to have the taper working correctly than having the correct rotation. The only real problem I find is with volume swells, but that's why God invented the volume pedal right 👍. Anyway just wanted to share my thoughts. I love the channel and I'm also a big fan of the Williams Audio pedals, the MKii fuzz is fantastic.
Absolutely - for me, taper is 1000x more important than direction of travel. At the end of the day, as long as you get used to turning the knobs a certain way it's not really a problem....whenever I buy a guitar with 'lefty' pots in (which isn't often!) the first thing I do is take them out because they're backwards for me. Once you're used to knobs going the other way, it's fine. Great to hear you're loving the Williams pedals...Nick builds insanely good gear! :-)
perfect explanation! just what I needed to know!
Thanks for that very informative reply that really helps out a lot. Looks like I might have to route some cavities. Thanks again.
Very helpful, thanks!!
Made a meal of doing a 4 way switch mod on my left handed tele before realising the switch is wired the same way! :)
It's a learning curve! :P
Good stuff as always Joe some things I like from us lefty's like right-hand people can get a recursive head stock that's cool for the Jimmy thing going on and one of the best I saw recently way Stevie Ray Vaughan with a left-handed fender tremalo bridge why not 😁
Thanks so much for this! I am getting back into guitar, teaching myself how to mod, etc. and the issue about pots in particular, has been painful to figure out. LOL
Thank you so much for this video! I have to change pots on a 78 lefty Les Paul Custom and I really don't know what to buy!
I have 5 electric guitars with tone pots that do nothing. I’ve only been playing about three years and I finally realized that it wasn’t my crap hearing that made these knobs seemingly useless.
I was looking for a video on how to unf@$k my collection, by reversing the pots back to right handed. The same way every other volume knob in the world works, except for left handed guitars (WHY?).
My problem is I’m not sure what wires to switch around.
Would be nice to see that video if you haven’t done it already.
Thanks!
Thank you for this. Very frustrating because most of my Stratocaster pots sound crappy with the all or nothing dropoff. I'm going to start swapping pots for true lefty ones.
Good plan :-) Or, you could just switch over the connections to the outside two lugs - the pot will work the opposite way around relative to the guitar, but at least you'll have a useable taper!
Thinking of changing my telecaster tone pots as its either ice picky or dull. Does it make much difference If you change them?
True lefty pots vs reversing the connections on righty pots = A huge difference. I'll always use true lefty pots from now on.
@@jblooz2371 something i will have to do i think. Ive kept thinking my amp is too bright but probably doesnt help that the guitar tone is always on max.
At least the lefty Fender American Professional series have correct left-handed pots. The after-market Freeway Strat and Tele multi-position switches helpfully include both left and right handed wiring diagrams on their website. I don’t mind which direction volume and tone knobs work, but I do dislike the full on or nothing situation you get on many lefty guitars. When I can get the correct colour I change out the external knobs to lefty ones so 1 = low and 10 = high. I can play guitar both left and right handed but prefer playing lefty.
From a new lefty....This channel is very informative. I have a range of guitars with pots that go either way, but the biggest lesson here is to buy linear pots so I can wire rhem the way I like which is anti clockwise up vol From my perspective. Please make a video about the knobs and the whole 1 to 10 thing being backwards too. Cheers. Liked and subscribed. Mike.
Can't emphasise enough how much of a problem this is. I spent most of my guitar playing life with essentially on off switches for pots. It has a detrimental effect on playing style, fuzzes, backing off the volume slightly etc. And it's not even easy to buy reverse log CTS pots etc. And forget switched pots. I plan to take a pot apart and flip the wafer at some point, that might be the only solution. Finally, the price or make of a guitar does not reflect whether the pots will be properly lefty.
Absolutely. I think for most guitar manufacturers they'll make a lefty version of most guitars but they don't consider things like pot taper. Not a major consideration for them in the grand scheme of things, but it sure is for us!! :P
You can change the pole height on all poles on plastic bobbin Fender pickups, and the middle 4 poles on fibre bobbin pickups. (Don't touch the outside poles on fibre bobbins you'll break the windings). Simply heat the poles for about 10seconds with a solder iron then push them to the height you want.
As far as staggered poles on pickups go I flip the pickup so the poles align with the correct strings. I've never discussed it with other builders but it seems to work.
Depends how the guitar is routed and whether the fixings match up - but yes, that can definitely work.
Thx a lot for the video! It‘s so nice to be able to listen to someone knowing about this stuff! So does this mean I can actually do the Clapton Mid Boost mod on my strat?^^ Since - of course - I could not find a left hand version of it...
You could definitely use it...but unless you use all your pots working 'backwards' like I do, you'd probably find the knob turns the opposite direction to your others!
Hey Joe, I'm getting a custom pickguard and harness for my strat.
I'm getting rid of the 5-way switch, adding a tone knob for the bridge pickup, and making each tone knob a push-push pot to turn on/off each pickup.
My question is: should I make every pot linear? I want to do that because I like the idea of every number on the knobs making a precise change. But you said in another video that audio pots might be better so I'm not sure. Do you think my guitar would be worse if every pot was linear?
Nice video , I'm glad somebody is talking about this subject since there's a lot of false infotmation. I got a question off topic tho, Is it necessary to flip the nut and adjust the bridge too?
Assuming it's a lefty guitar made properly, the nut and bridge should both be 'correct' - so no need to change them. The only reason you'd really need to flip the nut or adjust the bridge is if you're taking a righty guitar and stringing it lefty - ala Hendrix!
Great video joe,
What you say joe is still very confusing for many because it’s difficult to hear you while not next to you to show me. So long story short I have handed back 2 Sire S7 because the volume and tone dials were stuck on 5 and I wanted to send it back which I did. On my Gordon smith guitar as I look on my dials when I look down at it as I wear the guitar on my neck I was expecting the dials to turn clockwise to go up but it goes down and I can not create a wave tone with my pinky on the volume example would be trying to Finnish John mayers gravity live in LA . And I can not fathom what you mean as I am listening but can not be next to you showing me what you mean. My video is up here since Tuesday just gone. What you say about the tone is scary and even more frustrating. So they charge us lefties more money yet it gives us more pain when the guitar arrives. So if they can not do this in the factory , why do they charge us lefties more money that a right handed guitar. I would expect to turn my dial with my pinky doing so while I hit a note to create that wave sound the volume went down and dials stick at 5 on full volume. Very confusing, and stressful which deteriorates any confidence while playing. I do thank you for explaining this.
Just watched your video - couldn't swear to it 100%, but I _think_ your Sire has 'proper' left handed pots....in that (looking down from a playing position) you'll turn the knob counterclockwise towards the back of the guitar for full volume. That's technically how it _should_ be, as right handed players turn the knob clockwise towards the back of the guitar for full volume. Your Gordon Smith probably has standard right handed pots, meaning that they turn clockwise for full volume - so technically those turn the 'wrong' way, but in my experience, that's the norm for most lefty guitars, and it's what I've gotten used to just like you have. So _either_ Sire are using reverse-taper lefty pots, and your other guitars aren't - or, they've just wired a standard pot in reverse and the taper (assuming it's not linear) might be backwards. Either way though, as you've noted, standard knobs on a lefty rotating pot won't match up as they'll be going the opposite way to what the pot is doing.
I put hot rail pickups in my lefty, so i assume I don't have to worry about volume changes.
Yep, you should be fine with them :-)
Great video, just one question. I’ve ordered a set of right-handed set of staggered pickups for my Strat. Can I just flip them around the opposite way?
In theory yes - but it depends how your guitar is routed. The tops of the pickups are symmetrical (aside from the stagger) but underneath the bases aren’t - and Strats tend to be routed to those exact shape; so flip them around and the pickups won’t then fit in the cavities. Some guitars have a swimming pool route (ie a big square cavity) but if not, you might need to re-route the guitar to make that work. 👍
I found your video very informative. Did you tried a 50's wiring on a Les Paul ? If yes could you show how did you wire reverse, or just draw diagram ? Thx a lot.
I wire my pots conventionally - so they work 'backwards' relative to the guitar body, but the taper is correct. Any 50s wiring diagram will give you that. 🙂
@@JoePerkinsMusic Got it !
cool
Very useful video, I just picked up a Guild DeArmond x155 and to increase volume you turn clockwise, but I want to change it to anti clockwise, how can I tell if what you say would work on this guitar ? Do I need left handed pots?
You could try reversing the outer two lugs of soldering on the back of the pot - that will change the direction of travel, but also reverse the taper (which may or may not be an issue for you). You _probably_ have standard pots wired 'correctly' so the direction of travel is backwards for a lefty relative to the guitar. If that's the case and you want to keep the taper as you have it currently but change the direction of travel, you'll need to buy left handed pots 🙂
Hi! Any idea about trem block upgrades? Have a nice Indonesian Squier Strat here that’s a little let down by the trem block .I.e. it’s cheap metal, so would like to upgrade to a thick preferably steel or brass block. But… well… there aren’t any! Yes, whole terms are available but not blocks. Honestly think being left handed is a couple pain in the arse to be honest lol!!
Yeah, blocks can be a pain to find! I run the Callaham block in this guitar - that did come as part of a complete set, but I believe you can order the block separately from them.
Volume swells on Telecasters and Strats work better with right handed Pots.. At least for me it does..
great post man ,,i got my hohner b2 headless bass on service, frets and pot change too , and since /, tone pot is like you said /doing nothing /until 90 percent of turn,than it totally cuts all hi tones and even feel like cuts volume by at least half,,i still got my old pots i installed they are 470k all three ,,but on 2 volume ,pots were same 2 ,,i used closed no dust blue sealed square pots,, well my tone pot was are like other two, but 470 k with -2 number on it ,,and these did work like charm ,,i am left player ,, can it be pot alone ,that my service man ,,got wrong,, or can it be pots and capacitor, /or can be resistor capacitor wiring /i saw there is 3 alternative /capacitor /resistor / or just capacitor wiring,/
to get tone pot wiring that will ,as before work perfect ,, please help me i do not care the way of turning , just to get sound and tone control back ,,PLEASE I BEG YOU , u know no big service company, is interested in 3 pot change job,,no profit ,,and my main bass is now useless, but unplugged please help me,/ PS i changed a lot of pots like 20 years ago , i am from electronic baseground ,, but if you could help i can do this by myself, there are 2 passive humbuckers pickups ,, pots that worked best were 470 k for 2 volume knobs and 470k -2 marked pot for tone control ,, i do not remember what capacitor /teardrop model is there,,and is there a resistor present ,, i think pretty sure capacitor is,YOURS MITJA KAVEC /SLOVENIJA thank you //please help me sort this out as it was ,,i beg you ,,i pay if neded or send bass to you no matter cost ,,but it is guitar dear to me i recorded more than 5 albums with it ,, cheap but worked best ,,i prefer it to my 3 k plus euro bases ,please i wait on reply /thanks from hart
Changing pots is a pretty easy job to do if you have a soldering iron. If you buy some specific left handed 500k pots, you literally just need to copy the wiring that's already there - the pot direction won't change; but the taper will then be 'correct'. Just move the wires over from the old to new pots one lug at a time. The other option, if you don't want to buy new pots, is to swap over the wires from the outside two lugs of each pot (move left to right & right to left - leave the centre lug the same) which will 'correct' the taper, but the pot will then turn the opposite direction relative to the guitar. That's how I wire all my guitars and I've just gotten used to it.
@@JoePerkinsMusic p am looking at old pots 2 volume are marked 470 k ,, and tone was 470k -2 ,, now i am about to mesure i guess volume 2,, ones were logaritmic and the 470 -2 is linear or ,,i will know after i get my multimeter back ,,another question please ,, i had plastic/fully sealed pots before so i can not solder mass to housing ,, do i just connect all terminals that went to mass/earth together and connect to ground or what,,i changed this pots in like 35 years ago so i can t remember but i did not cut off any terminals i see /got old pots back from unsucessful service,,that all terminals have been soldered on volume and tone pots,, i think problem is that on service guy put in logaritmic pot and reverse wired it for tone ,because volume ones work ok but tone is like fully openet till 90 perc closed than in 1 mm it cut s off all hi frequencies and lower s the signal by at least half ,, 10 perc more or full closed it look like another volume but super no hi tones just silent low rumble ,, i am greatfull for advice ,, am in process of mesuring ,,good old pots that worked superb,as soon i get multimeter ,, please keep in touch /yours mitja from slovenija ,,thanks:)
I’ve hear you can “push / pull” the pole pieces in or out ….I don’t know if I’d be comfortable doing that even if it is true
Yeah, I wouldn't want to try that myself :P
I was wondering this as i have 3 electric guitars and every guitars tone control is either full and too bright or dull and low with zero in between so basically only 2 tones. Should i get new tone pots?
Possibly - they're likely righty pots wired lefty, so the taper is backwards. Buying Lefty-specific pots, or wiring your current pots so the knobs work the opposite way but the taper is correct are probably the two solutions :-)
Hi! Great vid, thanks!
I am a lefty bass player; I experimented some problems with passive tones, since as you said, some builders use standard pots and just sold them opposite; so the passive tone works practically as an on/off switch, and I needed to replace them with a lefty pot.
But what if I want to use a push pull pot for the passive tone, because I want to have 2 different capacitors and chosse between one or the other? Lefty logaritmic push/pull pots are impossible to find. Could I use a linear push/pull pot as a lefty pot?
Thanks
Cheers
A linear push-pull would work fine as a lefty pot - it wouldn't feel _exactly_ the same as a lefty log pot in terms of taper, and you'd have to wire it 'backwards' to what the wiring diagram might say, but it'd work fine :-)
@@JoePerkinsMusic thank you very much, Joe! Looking forward to do some experiments with this!
I have the exact same problem with virtually all of my four left-handed guitars. Is it possible to do some soldering work on the existing pots, in order to fix this on/off switch kind of issue, or do I need to buy new pots? i don't really care about the clockwise vs anti-clockwise thing, all I want is a gradual increase/decrease in volume from 0 to max, as well as gradual change in tone when I roll off the knobs. It's disappointing that big brands like Fender would ignore this problem. No one should have to deal with this nonsense with a 2000 usd guitar.
If you don't mind about the pots working clockwise/anticlockwise, just take everything that's soldered to the outside two lugs of each pot and switch them over. The pot will then work backwards (in terms of direction of travel) but the taper will be 'correct'. If you want to keep the current direction of travel, you can buy left hand taper pots. :-)
@@JoePerkinsMusic Thanks. In theory, it should be easy to fix, then. I wonder why my guitar tech didn't know how to do it!?
Who knows :P I've met guitar techs who know _everything_ about wood/gluing/setup/etc but not much about electronics, so it could just be that wasn't their strong point! But switch everything from the left lug over to the right, and vice versa, and you should be sorted...the knob will turn 'backwards' but the taper should be correct.
Quick question. What if I want to buy a soundhole pickup for my lefthanded acoustic guitar? Would it be a problem? It seem like the hole to plug in the cabe would be on the wrong side?
Never fitted one I'm afraid - I would _imagine_ the cable would indeed be on the wrong side, but it's probably a pickup without any form of stagger, so you _probably_ shouldn't have an issue beyond routing the cable. But if it's long enough, it still shouldn't be too much of an issue. Best check with a tech though!
@@JoePerkinsMusic ok thanks!
Hey Joe, I have a weird question about cases, I have a left handed Yamaha pacifica, do right handed cases work? (Thomann strat cases for example)
Ooh, interesting one.....I'd imagine most cases probably would, but I couldn't swear to it. I've never come across a lefty guitar case to the best of my knowledge, so I'm guessing most general cases can take both. But might be worth an email to Thomann to check!
@@JoePerkinsMusic Oh thanks for the reply! Yeah that's very true, but it's confusing since some cases on thomann says that they fit lefty models, and some don't
Could linear taper also be a fix?
Yep definitely - assuming you’re ok with not having a log taper 👍
Can I reverse install a righty telecaster bridge to a left handed one?
I think you probably could in terms of mounting screw holes etc - I think most Tele bridges are symmetrical in that sense. If the saddles are 'normal' then could you probably just switch them over - but if they're compensated at all, you'll need specific lefty saddles so that the pairings are correct in terms of their compensation. The biggest problem you'd have though is that the pickup will be angled the wrong way...they're usually angled to be closer to the bridge on the treble side and further away on the wound strings; which would be reversed if you used a righty bridge but strung it lefty. Not necessarily a dealbreaker - but would look wrong and sound different.
@@JoePerkinsMusic thanks man..
I am right handed and play my guitar right handed ...but when at school as a kid I played sports like hockey and baseball I held the stick or bat left handed. It is interesting that when a right handed person holds a baseball bat at their waist they are taking the stance of a left handed guitarist.
I'm a bit like you - I play guitar and hold cutlery left handed, but write and throw a ball right handed! I always say that anything requiring precision I use my right hand for...my left hand just plods on behind! :P
Since I review pedals I am constantly going to sites that also review them. there are over 100. lol
BUT when I just want to relax and enjoy a good RUclipsr video I narrow it down to a very few. I have very recently with all the stress of the 'C' virus thing narrowed it down to ONE. Yours!!! You make me feel like I am a friend that has been invited into your home. I always leave relaxed and refreshed. Thankyou!
@@Paul_Lenard_Ewing Ah thanks Paul - really glad you've been enjoying the channel :-) I'm glad I'm doing something right! :D
put left-hand knobs on.....thats thefirst thing i do..............h6
great vid -- does it mean that I can get any pre-wired harness to upgrade my LH LesPaul??
Not sure, as I wire all of my guitars from scratch. You might be able to find some - though being honest, I've never seen a lefty one!
@@JoePerkinsMusic thanks for the reply -- I meant any Right Handed harness since it doesn't seem to be important and I'm already used to the clockwise turn of the knobs to increase volume....
@@nicoboss76 Ah I see, sorry! That'd be a little tricky as the layout of the pots in the harness will likely be backwards (ie. the Tone knobs would likely be closest to the bridge, and the Volumes furthest away) and also slanted at the wrong angle. Personally I'd just buy the components and follow a wiring diagram to be sure...might be a tad cheaper that way too :-)
@@JoePerkinsMusic Oh great -- thanks for the tips -- it's so hard to find correct info about this sort of things. You made it all clearer to me thank you so much! time to get myself a soldering iron and get into it!
@@nicoboss76 No worries! Yeah, learning to wire it yourself is a great skill to have - gives you so many more options going forwards :-)
Oops , forgot to mention I’m left handed 😊