Push-pull Pot Mods - How It Works

Have you ever wanted to make a Les Paul sound like a Strat? Engage a kill switch with the flick of the wrist? Or maybe you want to capture that killer Queen sound of Brian May. If that’s you, then keep reading! In this article, we uncover the mysteries of the push-pull pot by taking a look at how it functions and also showing you some of the cool wiring options this handy gadget is capable of.

How It Works?
The push-pull pot unlocks a lot of tonal possibilities by routing your pickups through different signal paths. It may seem a bit complicated at first glance, but it’s really pretty simple. We start with a stacked pot, so instead of one potentiometer, there are two — one stacked on top of the other — and you switch between them by pulling up or pushing down on the shaft, hence “push-pull.” When you pull up on the shaft of the pot, you activate the top four lugs, which are connected to the top pot, creating continuity between the top two left and top two right lugs. When you push down on the shaft of the pot, then the bottom lugs, connected to the bottom pot, are activated. You can probably see where this is going; by using two different pots, you can make your guitar sound two different ways, opening your guitar up to different tonal and even functional possibilities.