How should I wire the tone control on my Strat?

[Driver Blues]

I've got a Strat copy that came with no tone control, but I'm going to add a 10 nF (0.01 uF) tone control for it so that I can get Woman Tones out of it. With my guitar being routed for a single knob, I'm stuck between two options. Either put the neck and middle on a single tone control but leave the bridge without one, or put all 3 on one tone control. This would be on a concentric pot.

I like the idea of having a master tone control because it would let me tame the bridge pickup, but on the other hand, I find being able to go from a rolled off neck tone to a bright bridge tone in the flick of a switch extremely useful.

 

[Driver Blues]

Also I'm debating putting a no-load pot in for the tone control, is it a big jump in brightness when you go into the no load position? I want to make a no-load pot myself so it doesn't have a detent, but I don't want a big jump in brightness at 10.

 

[freefrog]

is it a big jump in brightness when you go into the no load position?

It is noticeable and can cause a slight "pop" when rolled off. How "big" it is will depend on other parameters : inductance of the pickups used + capacitance of the whole wiring & cable+ input impedance of the first "host" (setting altogether the frequency, amplitude and Q factor of resonant peaks) + tone stack of your amp (with or without bright cap) + its settings + spectrum of the loudspeaker(s) - whose peaks and dips will align or not with the resonant frequency of the pickups... not to mention the guitar of course: most of my Fender or Fender style guitars have a no load tone control and I often mount such things for other people. In some cases I had to add resistive loads to correct an excessive brightness (of the bridge PU, most of the time).

EDIT - There's graphs in the topic below. But they don't take in account the variables that I've evoked above and whose existence makes generalizations impossible.

https://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/7171/pot-values-load-pots

A side note about concentric pots: they can tend to turn altogether IME because the upper knob presses on the low one. To take in account IMHO. YMMV.

 

[Clint 55]

I use 250k no load tone pots that I make myself. The jump between 10 and 9 isn't very drastic. If you use a higher value pot, it's even less perceptible.

 

[Mincer]

I've never found that jump very big at all. Small enough, in fact, that it wasn't worth it for me.

 

[Lucius Paisley]

If you know your tone position preference, why not use a toggle instead?

 

[Artie]

Count me in on not hearing a difference between "no-load" and tone on 10. Then again, I'm old.

 

[Driver Blues]

If you know your tone position preference, why not use a toggle instead?

It don't have room to drill for another hole.

 

[GuitarStv]

Of the two options you've listed, I think I'd go with the master tone control. If you need it, you have it then.

 

[ICTGoober]

TBX. Done!

 

[beaubrummels]

I'm not sure you'll get Woman Tone with 0.010 uF in a Strat, but doesn't hurt to try it.

 

[Chistopher]

Tone control on a Strat bridge is not very useful to me, but I tend to use my tone knob either on 10 or less than 5. If you only have one knob, using the tone control to take a little brightness off the bridge pickup doesn't make too much sense if you use the other positions more than the bridge alone

 

[Mincer]

I like the TBX, and I also like a master tone. My 82 Strat came with a master tone (and the 2nd tone knob is actually a 2 position rotary switch!).