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Wiring a resistor/capacitor in place of a tone pot?


KillDozer

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Wiring gurus - is there a way to wire a resistor/capacitor in place of a tone pot. I recently dropped new pickups in a guitar with only a volume pot, and the sound is a little harsh. There's no room for a tone pot, and I ususally leave the tone pot up all the way - is there a way to wire a resistor and capacitor in the circuit to mimic a tone control?

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Wiring gurus - is there a way to wire a resistor/capacitor in place of a tone pot. I recently dropped new pickups in a guitar with only a volume pot, and the sound is a little harsh. There's no room for a tone pot, and I ususally leave the tone pot up all the way - is there a way to wire a resistor and capacitor in the circuit to mimic a tone control?

 

Yep, I was just reading that either here or at Stew-Macs site. Use a 250K or 500K and it should be similar to the pot, I believe.

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You really don't have room for the concentric pot that keNz posted? I don't use the tone a lot either but I guarantee you'll miss it pretty soon. I find myself using it more and more as I play more and get pickier about my tone.

 

If you really just want a capacitor in there, just wire the cap of your choice in the signal line somewhere. The resistance of a wide open potentiometer is low enough it's probably negligible for your purposes.

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Yep, I was just reading that either here or at Stew-Macs site. Use a 250K or 500K and it should be similar to the pot, I believe.

 

 

250k or 500k is the resistance value of the potentiometer when the tone/volume is turned all the way down. When it's wide open the resistance is negligible and one can just use a capacitor by itself.

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Really? I've not heard that before, but then again I've not used them much at all.


I've never used either on my guitars but I like the push/push type ones much better than the push/pull ones when trying guitars out

 

I've never used them personally. There was a thread here a while back when some of the other modders were still around (vintage clubber included) and it seemed pretty unanimous towards trying to avoid them.

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Wow! Thanks for all the replies/ideas! The pickups are Tom Anderson - H0, H1, and I forget what the stacked single coil model is.

 

The volume pot is 250k - IIRC the lower the value, the more high end is rolled off.

 

A concentric pot is a cool idea, too, as long as the rout is deep enough . . .

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Just a thought, but how about temporarily wiring in a tonepot (just leave it hanging) and find the sweet spot. Then without turning the shaft remove it and any capicitor you have hooked to it. Take a multi-meter and read the resistance. Bingo you now know what resistor to use.

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