Bluesboy blend?

[newmusic]

A few weeks ago I acquired my second ASAT. The first was a USA, but this 2nd was a used Tribute Bluesboy. A lot of people complain about the neck pup being too dark or muddy on this model, and I did not disagree when I started playing it. But I took care of that by lowering the neck (humbucker) to almost flat with the pick guard. Now I love the tone in all 3 positions, but I hear a new issue. The 3 positions are too diverse! Yes, I like the sound in each position for different stuff, but after a couple of weeks with the guitar, I am thinking instead of a 3-way switch, it would be a lot more versatile with a blend control. I suspect there is an amazing range of voices between the positions with these particular pickups. For quick switching, maybe leave the 3-way switch in place and add the blend control to operate only in the middle position? Has anyone done this? I'm just looking for thoughts and ideas, or alternatives.

I had also thought varitone, but I prefer the open sound of these pickups and don't really want to color them. Thanks.

[Grumpy Bill]

I've never used or installed a Blend control in a skinny-string guitar, but they're very common in bass guitars.
A few caveats if you decide to try this:
1. Make sure the blend pot is an M/N type. Otherwise you won't have full volume when it's set for both pickups.
2.The additional path to ground will slightly decrease the "brightness" of the pickups which might be a problem since you already find the neck pup too dark. (There is a way to "unground" the Blend. I can look it up if you want.)

[newmusic]

I've never used or installed a Blend control in a skinny-string guitar, but they're very common in bass guitars.
A few caveats if you decide to try this:
1. Make sure the blend pot is an M/N type. Otherwise you won't have full volume when it's set for both pickups.
2.The additional path to ground will slightly decrease the "brightness" of the pickups which might be a problem since you already find the neck pup too dark. (There is a way to "unground" the Blend. I can look it up if you want.)

Thanks, those are good thoughts. Absolutely did on the M/N type, definitely want both pickups at 100% and the center detent. I ordered both 500K and 250K versions of the bourns blend pots so I can choose based on brightness/mud.

As it looks right now, I think I will put the blend pot where the tone pot currently lives. Since the blend functionally handles the 3-way switching, I will unwire it for pickup selection, but leave it in place to add more tonal options. One will definitely be a 'woman tone' cap, since that's the only tone I really would touch the tone knob anyway. I pretty much ground everything that I think should be, so I'll wait on brightening it up that way. Another switched option I am considering is a treble bleed, but I don't turn down very much.

[Grumpy Bill]

Since the blend functionally handles the 3-way switching, I will unwire it for pickup selection, but leave it in place to add more tonal options. One will definitely be a 'woman tone' cap, since that's the only tone I really would touch the tone knob anyway.

I have something similar in my Tele. I have one position of a 5-way switch wired to kick in a cap on the neck PU. Took some experimentation to get the cap value right.