Tele tone control cap question

[Regis]

I am putting the finishing touches on a partscaster tele and have a question about the tone control.

I don't like tone controls on my guitars as a rule and usually disconnect them or remove them. My guitar buddy kerry is warning me not to do that on this Tele because Tele's are such a bright guitars.

So I thought I would compromise and use a no load pot for it, and instead of the normal tone cap use one that just shaves a little off the top, so to speak, instead of the big rolloff that tone pots usually have. What I don't know is what value cap to use, would it be something like a bright cap on an amp, like a 47 or a 120pf?

Any suggestions appreciated.

thanks,

Regis

[Sweetfinger]

Here's the deal

The secret to getting a great tone out of single coil guitars is working the volume and tone pots. The value of the pots, the value of the tone cap, the taper of the pots, and the way the pots are wired will all make a difference in the final sound and how you can shape that sound. If you never use a tone control, don't put one in ---BUT DO experiment with different values of volume pot, or hardwired tone networks to get the basic sound of the Tele where you want it. A no-load pot might as well not be there if you're not going to use it- by design- if you don't turn it down slightly, it is disconnected from the circuit. It wouldn't matter WHAT value cap was attached. The no-load moniker does not refer to the frequencies being attenuated. That is a function of the value of the tone cap.

If you want to change the frequencies that the tone control subtracts, that is a function of cap value. .05 or .022 mf are standard values in guitars. A .01 will not reach as far down into the low and midrange. A .005 will affect mostly the highs, and anything smaller will have the apparent effect of a midrange boost because it will only be subtracting the super high end frequencies.

For the incorrigible experimenter: Wire your guitar with a 1 Meg vol and 1 Meg tone pot. wire a switch so you can shift between a .1, .05, .02, .005, .001, and no tone cap. Wire another switch that allows you select a 1 meg, 330 K, and 120 K resistor or no resistor between the pickup and ground. Set your amp where you like it for other guitars you have, but turn the volume, or gain up slightly. Then turn vol on the test guitar down all the way, and set the tone cap switch on the .1 cap, and the resistor selector on 120K.

Start by cracking the volume open slightly and listen to the tone and response -USE YOUR EARS, NOT YOUR EYES! check how the tone control responds. Keep opening up the volume in small increments and checking tone response until you hit all the way up on the volume. Turn the tone cap switch to the next value, and repeat. Once you've tried all the tone cap options, reset back to the beginning and set the resistor selector to 330 K. Lather, rinse, repeat, etc. For a good time, have someone ELSE work the controls,switches and volume on the amp. You should only PLAY AND LISTEN. This is really the only way to eliminate weird mental preconceptions from coloring what you are hearing.

The resistors are there to emulate the effects of using different value volume pots. Using no resistor is simply the full 1 meg value of the volume pot. the 1 Meg is like using a 500K pot, the 330 K is like using a 250K pot and the 120 K simulates a 100K pot. These values are approximate, but so are the values of any pot you get! Trust me, they're close enough.

After its all said and done, You'll probably find that on a Tele, the stock values work pretty well for dialing in good tones from both pickups. On guitars with single coils that seem to have no bottom beef, I'll usually try a 100K vol pot.

[Mark Hammer]

I've become a huge fan of the bi-directional tone control. This involves using a 1M linear pot. The wiper goes to the input lug of the volume control, and each of the two outside lugs are tied to ground via a different-value cap. Caps like .022 and .0047 are decent choices.

When the tone pot is centred, you're at maximum treble. Rotate in one direction (towards the larger cap) and you get the standard muting effect. Rotate in the other direction (towards the lesser value cap) and you get a pleasing "rounding" effect. Not quite humbucker, since you obviously don't get the lows and mids, but the sort of top end you'd expect from a PAF; "round". You can also try one of the cap/inductor arrangements to get a variable mid-scoop if that's your pleasure.

At midpoint, there should be very little treble bleed, but you are certainly welcome to experiment with either applying some laquer to the mid-zone on the resistive strip to produce a no-load effect, or scraping it down.

One of the very nifty advantages of this type of arrangement is that the full effect of each type of tonal adjustment is squished into half the rotation. This lends itself VERY nicely to using the tone control with your pinky as a "finger wah". I don't know if he had a similar circuit (as opposed to simply having some magical pot taper), but the late great Danny Gatton was a master at finger wah, and it sounded magnificant.

Obviously a conventional Tele arrangement puts the tone pot too far away to pick and tone-swell simultaneously. The solution is simply to flip the control cover around and re-install the pots so that they go (from front to rear): Volume, Tone, Pickup-selector.

Even if you don't practice finger-wah (sounds like a martial art don't it?), the bidirectional tone control provides a remarkable amount of tonal flexibility in a tiny convenient package that requires no defacement of the instrument.

[Regis]

That's a good idea, Mark, I'll consider that. I have already flipped the control plate to put the volume pot closer.