Members KillDozer Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members headless Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Sure. Maybe this'll help you figure out the values you want: http://ozvalveamps.elands.com/tonestacks.htm Nah, that probably won't help. Good luck, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NotDead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Are you sure you don't have space for a concentric volume/tone pot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NOS68 Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Sure, as a pot is just a variable resistor. You may have to experiment with values. Just look at the ends of the resistor as the 2 lugs you would use on a tone pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members keNz Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarlady Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Many Gretsch guitars used just capacitor wired to a switch and the volume pots to give tonal variation in their guitars, rather than a tone pot. Here is a schematic from their website on how it is wired. http://www.gretschguitars.com/resources/schematic2.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hanglow Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 you could put trim pot in the cavity instead, and dial in what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Are you sure you don't have space for a concentric volume/tone pot?I was going to mention that but having used them it is nearly impossible to precisely adjust one or the other on the fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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.Well, that wouldn't work, would it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PanaDP Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 I was going to mention that but having used them it is nearly impossible to precisely adjust one or the other on the fly. Somewhat cumbersome is better than having no option of tone adjustment, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Somewhat cumbersome is better than having no option of tone adjustment, IMO.true. That's pretty much my only option on my Blues Saraceno if I don't drill another hole in the cavity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hanglow Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 You could also change your volume pot to a push/pull or push/push pot to give you two options instead of just one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 You could also change your volume pot to a push/pull or push/push pot to give you two options instead of just one Everything I've heard of them is bad, as in, poor reliability/operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hanglow Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lndianScout Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 what your wanting to create is a bandpass filter, you'd have to know pretty much what cut off points you wanted to filter,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 what your wanting to create is a bandpass filter, you'd have to know pretty much what cut off points you wanted to filter,, that looks like an actual crossover/high/low pass filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members littlemilo Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 Maybe I'm missing something, but if the guitar is too bright/harsh, why not just replace the volume pot with a higher value? What kind of pickups are they, and what is the value of the pot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KillDozer Posted December 27, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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 . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members littlemilo Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 The volume pot is 250k - IIRC the lower the value, the more high end is rolled off. You're right, brainfart on my part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NOS68 Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lndianScout Posted December 27, 2008 Members Share Posted December 27, 2008 ^^ very good Nos.. that's what I would of done.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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