This month we’re taking
a look at the Fender
Greasebucket tone circuit introduced
in 2005 on several guitars
in the Highway One series,
as well as in various Custom
Shop Stratocaster models. The
Greasebucket name (which is
a registered Fender trademark,
by the way) is my favorite when
it comes to Fender’s habit of
choosing cheesy marketing
names for new products. But
don’t let the Greasebucket name
fool you—your tone will get
cleaner with this modification,
not greasy and dirty. I tried to
find out who came up with this
name, but it seems that this
info is not documented, which
is another Fender habit that
began in the early ’50s.
Here is what Fender says
about the Greasebucket: “The
Greasebucket tone circuit adds a
new dimension to your tone, the
effect is that when rolled down,
the tone pot reduces the high frequencies,
but does not add bass.”
Okay, it sounds like this is
worth trying out. In fact, many
pro players swear by this tone
circuit, and it indeed produces a
different effect than the standard
tone circuit we all know. But
don’t take the Fender description
literally—a Strat’s standard
Tone control does
not add bass
frequencies. With passive electronics,
you can’t add anything
that isn’t already there—you
can only reshape the tone by
attenuating certain frequencies,
which makes others sound more
prominent. Removing highs
makes lows more apparent (and
vice versa), and that’s exactly
what we have here: The standard
tone control rolls off some
high frequencies (depending on
the capacitance of the tone cap),
making the bass frequencies
more prominent.
In addition, the use of
inductors (which is what a
pickup behaves like in a guitar
circuit) and capacitors can create
resonant peaks and valleys,
further coloring the overall
tone. Some people like this
interaction, others don’t—it’s
purely subjective and a matter
of personal taste.
Anyhow, the Greasebucket
tone control is a cool way to
roll off the highs and lows in
your guitar while preventing
your tone from getting muddy.
This is especially helpful for
creating sparkling clean tones,
but it’s also useful for overdriven
sounds.
To convert your Strat’s
normal tone control to
Greasebucket specs, you don’t
need much: 0.1 μF and 0.022
μF capacitors (Fender uses
ceramic-disc versions), and a
1/4-watt 4.7 kΩ resistor (Fender
uses the metal-film type). If you
want to convert both your Strat’s
tone controls to Greasebucket
specs, obviously you’ll have to
double these parts.
The mod itself is relatively
easy. Simply unsolder your tone
pot and then connect the new
parts as shown in the diagram.
(Note that the resistor is soldered
in series with the 0.022
μF cap.) The rest of the Strat
wiring, including the volume
pot, stays standard.
Fender’s Greasebucket circuit in all its glory. This wiring diagram
comes courtesy of Seymour Duncan Pickups and is used with permission.
Seymour Duncan and the stylized S are registered trademarks of
Seymour Duncan Pickups.
This type of band-pass filter
only allows certain frequencies
to pass through, while others
are blocked. The standard tone
circuit in the Strat is called a
variable low-pass filter (aka a
“treble-cut filter”), which allows
only the low frequencies to pass
through while the high frequencies
get sent to ground via the
tone cap.
The Greasebucket’s bandpass
filter is a combination
of a high-pass
and a low-pass
filter. This circuit is designed
to cut high frequencies without
“adding” bass. Mostly it has
to do with that 4.7 kΩ resistor
wired in series with the
pot, which prevents the value
from reaching zero. You can
get a similar effect by simply
not turning the Strat’s standard
tone control all the way
down. The additional cap on
the wiper of the Greasebucket
circuit complicates things a bit,
because together with the pickups,
it forms an RLC circuit
(a resonant circuit comprising
a resistor, an inductor, and a
capacitor), but that’s outside
the scope of this column. But
the Greasebucket has its own
special sound, and I can only
encourage everyone to try it.
You’ll be surprised at its flexibility
and tone.
If you’re adventurous, you
can personalize the Greasebucket
circuit with additional mods. For
example, you can try different
tone-cap values and materials.
The 0.022 μF cap connected to
the tone control is the standard
configuration we all know from
our Strat’s tone control. But,
as we’ve discussed several times
in previous columns, there are
tons of alternatives. You can try
other values from 2200 pF up to
0.1 μF, and also different types
of new, used, or new-old-stock
(NOS) caps—such as metal
film, film, paper in oil, waxed
paper, and silver mica. Your
choices are virtually unlimited.
We’ll discuss more Strat
mods—such as the Fender S-1
switching system—in the coming
months, so stay tuned.
Dirk Wacker lives in
Germany and is fascinated
by anything related to old
Fender guitars and amps.
He plays country, rockabilly,
and surf music in two
bands, works regularly as a
session musician for a local studio, and writes
for several guitar mags. He’s also a hardcore
guitar and amp DIY-er who runs an extensive
website—
singlecoil.com—on the subject.