Axesrus - UFO Knobs for Stratocaster

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1 x Set of Knobs - For Fender® Stratocaster®

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Description

Technical Specs

Main Description

These UFO knobs are actually a universal fit, and lack the internal teeth of cheaper models - they can be fitted to either Imperial or Metric pots, as long as they're split shaft - they will fit! Available in a wide selection of colours, both in the actual knob colour, and the font colour

Gibson®,Stratocaster® and Strat® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Gibson Musical Instruments Corporation. Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC

Colours - In Detail

For the most post, with UFO knobs, what you see is what you get - White is white, blacks black, pink is pink... you get the idea

There are, however, some finer details and points of note with the colours that are worth knowing, just to avoid any disappointment or confusion.

 
Mint Green!Mint Green Knobs, Covers and switch tips are designed to match "Mint Green A" pickguards.

  That, in itself, would be fairly straight forward, except, Mint A is the "rare" colour, and Mint B (the darker version) is the common colour for pickguards.

  So, if you want mint green throughout? Go mint plastics with a mint A plate. 

  Interestingly, if we were looking at Fender® guitars, its VERY rare to even see Mint knobs and Covers as standard, with Parchment and Vintage normally being paired with both Mint A and B plates.

  All look the same?

Well... yeah! Frankly, in isolation? All of the "white and cream" knobs, looks really similar - you can see the differences when they're side by side, but when you're viewing them seperately, its easy to get lost in it.
 
   Font changing colour?
Another weird thing with UFO knobs - the font colours somehow, change the colour of the plastics!

   They dont! I promise you - but you'll swear blind that the plastic on the "with black font" knobs is a different colour to the Gold and Silver (and pink, and blue...) version. Trick of the eye i suppose

Now, lets do a quick run through with "compatibility" too.

One of the nightmares with plastics, is when they "shades" dont match between covers, bobbins, knobs, tips, plates etc - its, honestly, a little unavoidable unfortuantely, because theres no gaurantee that different factories, in different countries, working in different materials, are in communication over shades of colour - BUT - we try to be as clear as possible with this stuff, so, i've detailed the colours in a little more detail here.

 
BlackCovers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Perfect  Match.
Pickguards - Perfect  Match.
I don’t exactly relish the idea of describing colours like  this, so I’ll keep them as brief as possible. Black! Its black. Gloss Black. Don’t  know what black looks like? Close your eyes…. Its that. Pairs well with most  other colours frankly – tread carefully trying to pair it with white, or you  risk looking like Robert Palmers backing band.

   White

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Perfect  Match.
Pickguards - Perfect  Match.
Its white! Clean, crisp, white! We use a high opacity white,  so it looks very clean, and doesn’t change colour when fitted onto a pickup. Again,  like black – it’ll pair well with most other colours, but if can look a little “new”,  especially if you go white on white.

  Parchment

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Perfect  Match.
Pickguards - Perfect  Match.
I’d best describe parchment as looking like old newspaper – white  with a slight yellow tint to it. Pairs well with everything EXCEPT white plates  (although, theres some argument that it does mimic what happened with the original  Stratocaster®, where the pickup covers yellowed faster then the pickguard) – gets  around that “it looks too new” thing.

 
IvoryCovers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Perfect  Match 
Pickguards - Dont Match
Ivory is a pig, it’s a slightly orangey creamy buttery colour – we’re really  strict with it, and we make sure that our knobs, tips and humbucker bobbins all  match… but we’ve only got so much control over all the factories, so Ivory  plates? (And Humbucker mounting rings!) – don’t expect them to even get close  to the same shade as the single coil covers and UFO knobs. 

And, if theres one thing I’ve learnt in this game, its that “similar but  different” plastics look weird when they’re next to each other – so, if you  love the idea of a pseudo-nicotine yellowed single coil? Don’t try and do the  same with the pickguard – go different – Tortoise Shells, Black, Mint A and B  all look fantastic. (or go parchment, and move the guitar stand into the sun  for a few months)

   Mint

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Perfect  Match (MINT A)
Pickguards - Dont Exist
Mint Green is one of those weird attempts by the industry to  “mimic” the aging process, and that original idea has kind of been lost a  little along the way. In short, the early-ish Strat® single coils were made of  Nitrate plastic, which had a lovely habit of going a very light green colour as  it aged (Nylon, the earlier version, aged to something similar to parchment)

As time went by, they tried to make plates with a similar idea, and whilst the  covers worked, and look pretty close to that original idea, pickguards… don’t.  Mint A is actually close (but its rare!) but Mint B, in all its forms is no  where near mint covers/knobs, so don’t get your hopes up on an all mint affair. 

Mint covers though, look fantastic on tortoise shells, parchments, ivory,  pearls… there aren’t many pickguards where they don’t look fantastic… except  mint (and white… I don’t like them on white).

  Blue

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Dont Match
Pickguards - Dont Exist
Not my favourite colour in all this, a fairly light, muted  blue. Almost a Sky blue. Nice on a light plate like Parchment or white, or, the  old faithful? Black plate!

   Again, Blue humbucker bobbins do exist, but in this case, i cant even claim they're a "close enough" match. The knobs are a very "washed out" blue, where our humbucker bobbins are a very bright blue.

 
  Neon Green

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Dont Match
Pickguards - Dont Exist
Bonkers colours! Its bright, bright, green – it does what it says on the tin. I’d  probably not suggest mounting it onto any of the Tortoise shell plates, but  anything else is going to be fair game as far as I’m concerned! 

   The photo doesn't do the "match" between covers/knobs and humbucker bobbins any favours here. I cant say they're an exact match, but they're MUCH closer then the photo makes them look.
 
   Hot Pink

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Dont Match
Pickguards - Dont Exist
Very bright, very vivid pink! Almost a Fuscia. Like all the weird  colours – its not going to be for everything, buts it’s a little more forgiving  them baby pink (for whatever reason!) – looks really cool on white pearls,  whites, and black plates.

    As with the Neon Green - the humbucker bobbins aren't an exact match, but they're close... close enough that it'd probably not bother anyone.

  Vintage

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Dont exist
Pickguards - Dont exist
Vintage is a funny colour – its almost a bit of a car crash – its part Ivory, part  Mint – its origins are from the same idea as mint as far as I can tell, trying  to mimic that “nitrate green” from the 60s, and it turns up quite often on  Fender® guitars (they, unhelpfully, call it “Aged White”… but they also use  that for Parchment… and Ivory)

For me, it’s the better version of Ivory – not as creamy/buttery, slightly more  muted, slightly better behaved, and, because pickguards don’t exist in this  colour? It makes the decision for you when It comes to plate colour! Looks fantastic  on Black and Tortoise again. Maybe a bit heavy for clean white, but I’ve seen  them on Parchment plates looking great.

 
  Yellow

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Dont exist
Pickguards - Dont exist
A very bright, lively yellow! Works on most plates to be  honest, but as with most of these colours, avoid the Tortoise shells. We don’t actually  do yellow humbucker bobbins, but based on the pickups I’ve got here, our yellow  is a very close match to DiMarzios humbuckers.
 
   Red

Covers/tips –Perfect  match.
Humbucker Bobbins - Dont Match
Pickguards - Dont Match

A fairly dark, "blood red" for my money. Again, like the  green, not without its charms, Not a perfect match to humbucker bobbins, but, honestly? Its really close!

  Purple

Covers/tips –Dont Match
Humbucker Bobbins - Dont Match
Pickguards - Dont exist
 Same as Neon Green – big and bright and vivid, a really nice purple. Looks like  something out of a kids toy box. Again, don’t try to shoe horn it onto a  historic build and expect it to look great, but, keep the plate simple? It’ll  look great!
Annoyingly (from the point of view of "knobs") - no match whatsoever ever with the humbucker bobbins OR the single coil covers (and they dont match exactly either! But they're close enough to probably work)

FAQs

These "tabbed" pages are great, because they mean we can go into a bit more depth on some of the more "niche" topics of guitar parts, but, at a certain point, it does make sense to just lump some of the "really niche" stuff into an FAQ and be done with it - so here it is!

Are these knobs for Imperial or Metric Splined Pots?
Either - unlike the Acrylic knobs (Top hats, Speed knobs etc) that we associate with Gibson®, UFO knobs (atleast, ours and the Fender® version) are universal. They're not "splined" internally (they're compeltely smooth) but they are slightly undersized, so they "cut" to the pots splines.

This is possible, because they're made from a relatively soft ABS plastic, so its safe to just treat them as universal knobs.

Can i fit these to my Telecaster® /P Bass® /Solid Shaft pot?

Unfortunately, UFO knobs are "push fit", so whilst they're not overly fussy about what splining they're being used with, they are still sized to fit onto split shaft pots. So, solid shaft pots (atleast, CTS ones) wouldn't work because they have a larger diameter on the "post"

Can i buy a set of 2 volume, 1 tone?

I'm afraid not - long story short, when we order these knobs in, we do so "in sets" - for every 1 volume knob, there are 2 tone knobs.

If we start to break up sets, we end up with dead stock (essentially, a set of 2V1T, leaves another set of 0V3T) - and, to date? No ones ever sent an email asking for a set of 3 tone knobs.

So, whilst its possible, that dead stock would have to be paid fo either way, and, lets be honest? No ones going to pay twice the price for one set of knobs are they?

Now, i appreciate that no one wants to buy knobs they'll never use, but we've got to stand firm on that one. If its any consolation, they knobs make a decent key ring or fridge magnet. (the factory even started offering them a while back!)

Will your <Colour> match <Other Company Colour>?

Not a clue i'm afraid - we're fairly confident with Fender® colours, because thats the world we work in, but, sadly, there are so many different pickup/pickguard/knobs/cover manufacturers out there, that i cant really say for certain. Even photos are pretty unrealiable indicators.

I wont cry foul if anyone wants to buy different colours to compare to existing parts, but be aware it will be entirely at your cost.

Further more - a word to the wise? Trying to match up new parts that have either been on a guitar for a few years, or, have been purchased a few years ago, and been kept in mothballs, is a tall order. Plastics change colour with exposure to sunlight, smoke, the air, you name it... your guitars plastics aren't the same colour as when you bought them. Further more, the factories to change the shades of plastics from batch to batch, year to year, month to month.

If your <Colour> the same as <Other Company AGED WHITE>?

Quite to common question ;-)

Certain companies (Fender® being one of them!) have a really bad habit of calling every "off white" plastic "Aged White" (Vintage, Parchment, Ivory and Mint!)- it never really matters on guitars, as long as they all match, but it quickly gets confusing when your dealing with specific parts.

So, we have to break away from the common naming convention, and we work to the same names as the factories do.

The annoying thing about that, is that the factories use different names for different parts, depending on what guitar manufacturer they were intended for - so, Ivory in Fender® style parts, is exactly the same as Creme in Gibson® style parts. Parchment in Fender® is "Very light Ivory" in Gibson® (and, REALLY annoyingly, Ivory in Fender® is, most definately, not Ivory in Gibson® !)

Again, to fall on the sword, i dont know - generally, we're speaking about Fender® here, so we can generally spot what they've labelled as "aged", but, not always.

And, to show that we too, aren't without sin - we too, use "Aged white" as a get out of jail free card (as do many other manufacturers!), when we're working with plastics that dont quite match up with the Fender® colour scheme

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