Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

Funkfingers said:
Three Euros for one capacitor? You were robbed, pal. Buy them in twenties.

Artie's drawing is a bit vague. It gives the impression that two of the pot terminals tare physically linked to each other. A passive roll off tone control normally only utilises two pot terminals. (#2 and 3)
Click to expand...

2,65€ shipping included. Thats pretty much what the stupid cofee machine at work robs me everyday.
While we're on the subject, how much should i pay for the pot ?
I also noticed that on my other guitars only arms #2 and #3 were used.

Thanks for the diagram hank.
 
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Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

Just put in an additional convention tone control, but only glued inside, the control cavity. You could adjust the tone pot to taste and put the back cover back on. You still have a single volume knob on the top keeping the original look.
 
Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

I actually considered the option.

I'll try rewiring the way hank suggested, but either way Time to go shopping for pots i guess.
 
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Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

It'd be easiest and cleanest, though not cheapest, to get a new pot. I say that because the volume pot now probably has one of its lugs bent over and soldered to the pot casing. You can un-do that, but to my mind, you might as well just leave that how it is and put it in something else as a volume pot, since it's already set up that way.

As for the cap, .02 uF would be common. I always start with .01 uF and adjust from there. The higher the value, the darker the tone gets when you roll off the treble. If you want a very slight treble reduction of only the highest tones, and a cocked wah tone with clarity when you turn down to 0, you want to go with a cap that is around 1/10 the value of those normally used. Try 1000 pF, 2200 pF, or 3300 pF. If you want a more dramatic effect on the tone knob, and a muddy cocked wah on 0, then stay around the normal values.

You could also use a push/pull pot, with the switch being a kill switch. That would allow you to cut off the signal when you set the guitar down. Might be a nice feature, since you won't have a volume control.
 
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Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

Well the first arm of the pot WAS soldered to the casing but i had to undo that for artie's diagram. Based on Hanks diagram i would have to redo it though.Might as well test different options with this and then get a new one when i'm sure there's not much to expect from it.

I pickd 0.022 after doing a bit of research on the internet. It seemed to be halfway between the fender and gibson values which both work for me. I think i prefer what you described as a "wah" tone from my SG knockoff though. I don't get that with the fender.

Interestingly i found that warming the pot with the iron had a side effect : i got rid of the screeching noise i had when rolling it off. I also own this Krank pedal that for some reason stopped working and was emitting a high pitched noise when turning the gain pot, warmed the pot and it magically started working again. Must have burnt some dust inside or whatever.

I forgot to mention also have a 3way switch with a paralelel/series/tap setting, but i don't think that affects any of that since all of the mods take place between the pickup and the pot. Wired it thanks to a diagram i found on this website but couldn't get the single pot diagram for some reason.

Would that work ?
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649#ht_1194wt_1266
 
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Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

There is an easier way to not have to bend the lug all the way towards the pot casing. Those caps/resistors usually have long legs, I normally clip them off because the extra length is no use to me. The left over extra part that I clipped is normally long enough so I use it to connect the lug to the pot casing. Its easier for me that way. Even a small wire would get the job done, I don't find it necessary to bend the lugs at all.

There is some 22 value cap stock in my PRS SE as well. I've not bothered with different cap values really with the tone cap. I just use whatever comes stock. But I do use the planet waves amercian stage cables, those are low capacitance cables, so I dunno what effect a different cap would have. I had something funny happen when I moved the cap from one outer lug to the other of the tone pot, it ended up sounding a little different, brighter maybe can't remember been a long time. I've used the stock PRS treble bleed cap(only) on my volume pot so far, i.e. 180pF, I'll experiment with the 150k resistor + 1nF cap in parallel approach this week & see what happens.

Anyways good luck with the tiger, I didn't even notice there was a switch on there lol Nice finish!

^ That ebay link pot, yeah it would work but make sure the old one is short shaft, or these will fall short of passing through. While you have the old pot out, measure it's value with a ohm meter. See if it's reading 500k or something else.
 
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Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

Never had to change the stock pots and caps either, but this guitar i made from scratch (and warmoth) so i need to figure out what's best. Obviousely I didn't spend enough time on the pot wiring options and recently realised how important it was when i wired a fender bridge pickup to tone and it instantly solved my shrill/ ice pick problem even with the tone n 10, just because it added a 2nd pot to the circuit.

It's interesting what you say about cables. I have been using a DImarzio specil cable for years, but never really tried to know what it meant. It's an yngwie malmsteen signature i think. I'm gonna A/B see how it affects my tone i know it sounds better and is extremely reliable but i don't really know why.
 
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Re: Turning my volume pot into a tone pot ?

YES !!!!!!!!
Finally nailed it ! Thanks to Hanks (and seymour duncan's) diagram i got ExACLTY what i wanted.

Rolling off the tone now gives me a wide array of sounds, smooth to agressive highs, pretty much like the tone control on a big muff. And i think i chose the right Cap value because i do get that "wah" type sound with the knob on zero, and that's really cool it make leads sing like slash.

Pot value doesn't seem yo be that much of an issue now and it feels like my one pickup only guitar isn't that limited anymore. I can get clean sounds that feel like a neck pickup, almost like if rolling the knob was making my pickup move up !!!!

But most importantly my distortion now roars like no guitar i've ever owned before. It's just massive, feels like there's a bass included. I'm going to play drop tunings from hell on this.

Thanks everyone, i bet george lynch would be jealous if he could hear my guitar. He actually heard it before, but that's another story...
 
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