I removed my tone pot yesterday

Petrovsk Mizinski

Petrovsk Mizinski

New member
I have to say, it really does help open up dark sounding pickups too. My Ibanez stockers were fairly dark sounding, and now when I record stuff there is a bit of extra detail and clarity since removing the tone pot.
An underrated method of brightening guitars that sound too dark I think, more people should try it I reckon.
 
Re: I removed my tone pot yesterday

I use No-Load tone pots, removes the tone pot whenever you want but still have a tone pot just in case.
 
Re: I removed my tone pot yesterday

that's cool. i still like having a tone pot for those times that i want a rolled off, somewhat nasally rock rhythm kinda tone. 1meg pots for both might get you the same-ish results too, but still with a tone pot.
 
Re: I removed my tone pot yesterday

TomCray said:
I use No-Load tone pots, removes the tone pot whenever you want but still have a tone pot just in case.
Click to expand...

I'd love one of those, but I didn't have any money, so I just pulled the wires from my tone pot as a second best option:laugh2:
 
Re: I removed my tone pot yesterday

Get a push/pull and wire it to take the Tone pot (or both pots) out of the line completely, but put it/them in when you want.
 
Re: I removed my tone pot yesterday

I do it for my neck pup, but my bridge pup is bright by it's nature and actually seems to get a helping hand from being connected to a tone pot. Bonus, I get to do the woman tone on it with a .047k cap.
 
Re: I removed my tone pot yesterday

No-load pot with a paper-and-oil capacitor (makes the tone control WAYYY more usable) is the only way to go. Then stick a Creative Audio Labs Redeemer curcuit in the guitar to "unload" everything else. True pickup tone, unhampered by electronics, 50-foot cords or anything else.
 
Re: I removed my tone pot yesterday

How to make your own no-load tone pot from your existing tone pot:
Remove the tone pot from the guitar, desoldering the capacitor from the shell. (I used a new pot in these photos) Make sure to note where everything was attached to.
Using a dull knife, bend the 4 tabs that secure the shell to the body of the pot. All parts will be loose when the shell is removed so make sure that everything is contained.
View attachment 14530
This is the pot with the shell removed. Don’t remove the grease from the inside of the shell or from the back of the wiper…it needs to be there.
View attachment 14531
This is thepart of the pot that the work will be done on…
View attachment 14532
The knife blade is positioned at the point that we will be working in.
View attachment 14533
Using the knife, scratch off the carbon track from the resistive surface at the point shown. Make certain to remove any copper that underlies the carbon at the point the solder lug attaches; when removed properly, you should have bare epoxy board exposed for the full 1/8”. When the ton pot is on 10, it will rest on this epoxy surface and will remove the tone pot from the circuit. Take your time, the exposed epoxy should be as smooth as possible so that the pot doesn’t hang up at “10”.
View attachment 14534
Just for fun, I measured the full resistance of the pot with the 1/8” of carbon removed; it measured as an open load as it should. Before removal, the reading from the same points was 500k.
View attachment 14535
Reassemble the pot, making certain that it is seated properly. Bend the tabs back into place and gently seat them with needle-nose pliers.
View attachment 14536
Reinstall the pot in the guitar using your disassembly notes as a guide; when the pot is on “10”, it is out of the circuit and “1” through “9” behave as they did before.
 
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