Danelectro Fabtone

Duane · Post by **Duane** » 10 Dec 2022, 18:09

I want to change the volume(level) pot on my Danelectro Fabtone to make the sweep more useable. Get loud way too quickly for my liking. Right now it is a 100k pot. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

: Danelectro Fabtone

mauman · Post by **mauman** » 10 Dec 2022, 20:12

Welcome, Duane!

Your volume pot VR2 is 100k, but the taper is linear (code B in the US) which means that when it's halfway at noon, it's 50% of the total 100k resistance. If you replace it with a 100k audio taper (code A in the US) noon will be 20% of the resistance, which is closer to the way our ears respond and makes the volume ramp up more slowly.

Duane · Post by **Duane** » 11 Dec 2022, 00:17

Thank you for your reply. I couldn’t get my post to go through right away that’s why there was 2 posts on the same subject. Do you think a 50k audio taper would be ok? I found the parts at Mouser Electronics. Thought I would ask here befor ordering parts. Thank you.

mauman · Post by **mauman** » 11 Dec 2022, 01:08

50k audio should be fine, there might be a small volume drop but not significant. Mouser doesn't have a great selection of pots for pedals, you might have more luck with one of these sellers:
https://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/
https://stompboxparts.com/
https://lovemyswitches.com/

Duane · Post by **Duane** » 11 Dec 2022, 03:16

Thank you very much I will check that out

asbestosaurus · Post by **asbestosaurus** » 11 Dec 2022, 04:18

before swapping out a whole potentiometer, first try tacking a 15k (for a 100k pot) resistor from the volume pot wiper to lug 1 (ground in this case)

it's a sneaky way of tapering a variable voltage divider that will give you about 19% of the input level at half of the sweep.

check out The Secret Life of Pots on Geofex for more about it.

Duane · Post by **Duane** » 11 Dec 2022, 18:25

Thank you for the info I will definitely check it out

Duane · Post by **Duane** » 24 Dec 2022, 16:59

I thought I would post a summary of what I have come to with my Danelectro Fab Tone. I tried a 12k resistor from the wiper to ground on the volume pot. It helped but not to the extent I was looking for. I searched the web and found 100k audio pots from Synthrotek and ordered 10 at a reasonable price. I changed out the volume pot to the 100k audio pot and the sweep was so much better. The distortion kicked in way too quickly still so I also changed that pot out for a 100k audio pot also. Results were exactly what I was looking for. The sweep on the volume and distortion pots come on more slowly.
Here’s what I did to the pedal to mod it.
Change resistor r8 from 10k to 2k
Resistor r15 from 10k to 2k
Resistor r16 from 2k to 4.7k
Add led light in series behind diode D5 for different clipping
Change out volume and distortion pots from 100k linear to 100k audio pots.
The pots from Synthrotek were shorter on the shaft length but I put 2 wraps of electrical tape around the shafts so the knobs would press on. Hope this helps .
Thank you for all your help everyone