The Bright Switch
The Bright Switch is an easy modification you can add to any guitar that will make you say “wow!” as soon as you activate it. To install it, you only need basic soldering skills and a Push-Pull Pot with the appropriate value (250K or 500K) for your guitar. You can find more information about Pots and their values here:
What does the Bright Switch Do?
Technically, the Bright Switch eliminates the additional load from your volume and tone pots. We define “load” as anything that consumes electricity. Even when your volume pot is set to 10, it still draws some of your signal. By removing this load, the pot no longer affects your signal. It’s similar to connecting your pickups directly to the output jack, bypassing the electronics entirely.
When you pull up, your guitar’s tone becomes brighter, fuller, and more aggressive. It’s akin to having a boost pedal connected to your guitar. You’ll notice increased definition, pick attack, and a stronger growl.
Sold? Here’s how you wire this mod up:
When your Push-Pull pot is in the down position, the wiring functions exactly like that of a Stratocaster or Telecaster. The signal enters Lug 1 of the volume pot, while Lug 2 connects to the input of the tone pot and the output jack. When the switch is down, your signal passes through the capacitor connected to Lug 3, which grounds the high frequencies, just like a standard volume pot would.
When you pull up the push-pull, the load (ground) is removed from the capacitor, the Push-Pull tone pot, and the Volume Pot. Essentially, this allows your pickups to connect to the output jack without any load.
Bright Switch Version 2
What happens if you don’t have a tone circuit in your guitar? You can use the Bright Switch on your Volume Pot only. Keep in mind that this won’t be as noticeable as removing your Volume Pot and your Tone Pot as well. Here’s how to wire it up:
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Question 1- “Ground to casing”? Does this mean the casing of the DPDT switch or the casing of a pot? (I couldn’t get solder to stick to the mini toggle casing so I grounded it to the volume pot’s casing instead with the other grounds)
Question 2- I wonder why this doesn’t make as much of a difference as I expected?
I have an SH Tele. Single coil in bridge and TV Jones Classic Humbucker in the neck, 500K Vol with the Lindy value treble bleed and a 500K Tone with an 0.0033 cap for more useful tone across the whole sweep. I also have a 470K resistor wired in to “fake out” the bridge & middle position to “see a 250K vol pot” like your “Compensated Tone” diagram.
When I wired this “bright switch” mod to a mini toggle DPDT switch, it does not have as much of an impact as I’d hoped. It’s still kinda cool, functioning like a preset in a way. Just wondering if
When the switch is pulled up, does the volume pot still control the guitar’s volume?
Hey Raymond – no, it does not. When we remove the ground from the volume pot, your volume pot just acts as a variable resistor. What that means in terms of actual use is that turning the volume pot down almost sounds like a Tone Pot – the tone gets darker, but never turns completely off.
I’m still a little new to this stuff and was wondering how this mod would work out on a fender style HS, but wired for dual volume/tone controls like a Les Paul. Would I need to do the mod on both tone pots for it to function with both pickups, or can it be wired in such a way that it’ll work with a single push-pull?
hello, i have a question.
i’ve read all comments in this post and i am confused.
on a volume knob-only guitar, does the bright switch mod mean that when it’s disabled, the volume knob functions normally, and when it’s enabled, the volume knob goes “up to 11” (as in, 1 more than a regular volume knob-only circuit which goes up to 10), and when going down can’t get to zero volume, and instead acts as kind of a tone knob, which rolls off the high end??
if this is correct, what does “no volume or tonal changes are possible in this setting” exactly mean??
many thanks
I have no doubt you’re awesome at you’re job and definitely know your stuff, if obvious
You’re writing and teaching skills could use some work. Imagine the people reading this, and imagine brains completely different from your own.
Think of something you’re terrible at and then ask yourself how the best way to help you would be with that subject
The tendency is to write or teach in a way we instinctively understand (ourselves) but that can leave some of us scratching our heads
Absolutely love the site, and the company and appreciate the info, great stuff. The criticism is purely constructive and said with good intentions
I am thinking of doing this to my bass. But from where does it get grounded to the output jack? Off of C? But that says ground to casing.
Also, can I make it so that it is true bypass when in the down position?
Hey Michael, make sure you run a ground jumper from the volume pot casing to the ground lug of the output jack. All metal chassis should be properly grounded. What the Bright Switch is doing is removing the ground connection from the resistance strip within the volume pot itself.
Regarding your second question, if you wanted to have the bright switch “on” all the time, rewire the push-pull section like so: instead of the Ground jumper on lugs C – F, wire the Ground jumper on lugs A-D. This way, in the down position, the ground will stay removed, unless pulled up.
This might be very interesting for a Gretsch special jet where two Dearmonds will be replaced bij Dyna P90. Ther is only threeway and master volume and tone. And I will have to replace the 250 pots with 500’s anyhow, and I have been shielding a bit.
Another option is toreverse the harness (now goig from PU’s to three way first and then to master volume and tone, then using the blender construction there. Is it true tahat when i put the blender at 70/100 the three positions wil blend like 70/30 50/50 and 30/70?
My LP Junior has a single P90. What specific parts (250k or 500k pot? What type of tone cap? etc…) will I need to do this mod?
Hello,
I’m still new to guitar wiring and so there is a couple of things that confuse me about this mod.
I have a classical volume and 2 tone pot, neck/middle on tone 1 and bridge to the other tone pot. If I replace the second pot connected to the bridge by a push/pull for this mod, how can I relink the bridge pickup that was on the previous tone pot? Should I wire all 3 pickups to tone 1?
Thanks for all the info !
There are a few things you can do, but I would recommend making a Master tone in Tone pot 2 and a push-pull Bright Switch in position 3. I don’t have a diagram, but you should be able to get the idea by checking out our Stratocaster wiring diagrams.
Hi there,
I’d like to add this functionality to my Tele but i already have two push/pull pots – one for phase and one for split… can it be done with some other kind of switch? Cheers ?
How about a mod that puts a PTB circuit on a push pull for a 1 humbucker guitar or guitar with 1 tone control. Would love the wiring for it.
so just to clarify, when the 3rd lug on the volume pot is not actually connected to ground, the sweeper lug that is connected to output can connect back through the resistor strip with the pickup signal being input from lug 1 even when the volume pot is turned all the way down?
Hey There,
When Lug 3 is not connected to ground, part of the signal will always leak through your output. You are adding 250K / 500K resistance, so your signal gets a lot darker – however, it never gets 100% grounded out.
I hope that helps.
Tyler
Just a question…. it works also if the control plate is metallic like a mustang?
Thankyou in advance for your reply
It will work, but your plate may be live.
Hi Tyler, first of all thanks for your prompt reply… but i didn’t understand what means that my “plate may be live”? (sorry i’m from Italy).
Thank you and have a nice day
Heya Tyler,
I came across this mod recently and it’s very interesting to me. I would just like a few things cleared up. Based on Junior’s comment, he says this mod would eliminate the functionality of both the volume pot and the tone pot. Does that mean, even when not activated, you would not be able to turn down the volume knob to lower the volume, or cut out highs when moving the tone knob? If that is indeed the case, is it possible to wire this mod while fully retaining the full, original functions of the volume and tone knobs?
My second question is how would this mod fit into a 2 volume, 1 master tone configuration where the tone is used as a coil split? Would it be possible, using a volume push/pull, to disconnect all three pots at once, or both volumes at once, or would it simply be a singular volume knob for one pickup?
Thank you
Hey Steven,
When this modification is in it’s “Down” position, your Volume and Tone work like normal. However, when you pull up, for “On”, your tone is deactivated, but your volume pot kind of acts like a tone pot. It happens because it removes the ground off of your Volume. This means you can’t cut your volume all the way off, however, you’re still hearing a loss in high frequencies due to the volume pot’s resistance.
For your second question, I guess you could cut off all pots at once using this mod. You’d have to run the Volume Pot “Lug 3” to Lug E of the Push Pull Pot. This will ground everything when down, and remove the grounds when up. That’s an “In-Theory” answer – I haven’t tried this yet.
Tyler
Two questions:
1 – Can the bright switch mod be combined with the Fralin magic cap mod, by using a .0015uF cap between the volume and tone pots in the diagram (or perhaps in place of the jumper in the diagram)?
2 – With the bright switch enabled, does the guitar’s volume to to max? Your reply to Junior’s comment seems to indicate that.
Thanks!
Hey Jason,
1.) Sure thing. Simply use it as the jumper from Lug 1 of the volume pot to Lug 2 (center) of the tone pot.
2.) In theory, yes. By removing any load from your signal, your pickups theoretically don’t have anything “holding them back”, so your pickups are at full volume.
Tyler
Hey Tyler .. Your “Bright Switch” mod is just what I’d like to try on a new P-guard build
Question – can I use a TBX master tone control OR only the 250K pot attached to the dpdt switch?
Thanks .. Dan
Hey Dan,
Thanks for your patience while I get back to you. If I’m understanding your question correctly, if you wanted to use your TBX Master Tone, you’d have to make the Volume Pot a Bright Switch. There are two versions of the Bright Switch – the 1.) Tone Pot Version, which removes the load off of your Volume Pot and your Tone Pot, and the 2.) Volume Pot version, which only removes the load off of your Volume Pot. If you wanted to keep your TBX, you’d have to use the Volume Pot version.
I hope that helps.
T
I have an Epic Zephyr Regent (neck p/u only) that is Dark, Dark, Dark. I’m inclined to believe it’s the actual thickness of the top (arch top/hollowbody) versus the electrical load of the pot. I get a better tone using half wound bright strings, but do not like the feel as much. Would this bright switch mod help with my specific situation? I cannot really tell from the videos.
Thanks
Steven,
Thanks for your question. You might want to look into other options if your pickup is too dark. For instance, you might want to check the pot values and make sure you’re not sending your pickup through a 250K pot. A 500K pot or 1Meg pot might brighten your pickup up a bit more.
That being said, if you want a usable brighter tone, this mod might be for you.
Tyler
I’m very new to this stuff, so please bear with me.
I’m looking at the diagram and I’m freaking out, doesn’t some sort of ground have to go to the output jack too?
You’re right, Bryan. That can be soldered to any simple ground, like the casing of the volume pot, or the casing of the Push Pull tone.
Is the the same effect you would get from a no load pot?
Hey Eric,
Pretty much – however, this mod takes the volume pot and the tone pot out of the circuit. So, to get a similar effect, you’d need to use a no-load pot for both. Some people might like this mod more, as it’s more of a “switch”, as opposed to a “click” with the no-load pot.
Tyler
It may be appropriate to disclose that this mod eliminates the volume and tone pot functions altogether: no volume or tonal changes are possible in this setting, but full-out pickup output is all you get!
You’re right! When you’ve eliminated the ground from the volume pot, your volume pot doesn’t work like it should. It acts instead like a tone knob. Good comment, Junior!