This video is by far one of the best instructional videos I have ever seen. Additionally, it completely saved me as I was struggling to figure out how to wire pickups on a self-built guitar.
You start with the most basic concept, and then build on this, concentric genius, so simple yet so genius, this is perfection of teaching. This will be my model for teaching videos.
This is one of the very few explanations of a tone control that actually explains the scientific principles properly, rather than "here's where to put the wires". Thanks a lot!
I don't even want to say what I do for a living, but you just taught me a lesson I've know forever... Know where the signal is going! You've cleared my head with this video. Thank you sir! I'm doing a multi cap strat killing rogue DC and AC interference with it. Two unique circuits and I just now realized I placed the DC cap on the wrong leg! Been a bad winter, loads of interference, just fixed my amp filter circuit a week ago, one faulty cap that is bad. Thank you from Texas!
Thank you! Exactly the explanation I was looking for! Short and to the actual point. Most videos are 30 minutes long and I end up with more questions! Thanks again! You must have heard me screaming! Take care!
Marc, your a life saver. I just watched your video after many others and I could see easily my problem on my project guitar and fix it quickly. I just needed the insight on how things worked to identify what I did wrong. So many times diagrams and people seem so uninformative, its just where instead of why, so much easier to fix something you understand just a little bit of. Thanks again
Thank you for the excellent tutorial on guitar electronics. Just the facts without a lot of extraneous nonsense in an attempt to impress. Great use of clear graphics to illustrate the points, which was excellent for conveying the information as efficiently as possible.
very good, it helps to see both illustrations of the volume and tone control potentiometers: first as a long tube with ends and a wiper; and then as a round pot with terminals.
This is the most practical and clear teaching video I have ever seen anywhere. I'm a retired teacher! great weldone! How about doing the same/similar for bass guitar?
Thank you very much! Electronics in basses doesn't really differ from electronics in guitars; blender pots and pre amps may be a bit more common in bass guitars.
I agree! I think these videos are VERY well done, and thought through. I am a teacher myself (music teacher) and I can relate with the fact that most often than not (if not always) we must deal with the very basics in a clear and succint way, to have a good foundation with the more intricate stuff. Congratulations Marc Van Oppen!
I have refurbished a trashed Strat body and now its a slick single coil short scale P bass using a Seymour Duncan Hot pu. I would like to be able to use the 3 position switch in a way so I can change tone. Can it be done and can you post how I could go about it. I'm ok at soldering despite my 70 years! Thanks.
Thanks for these videos Marc ... they're VERY helpful to people like me trying to wire/re-wire a guitar for the first time to really understand what's going on.
That makes A LOT of sense, countless times on the schematic I see the arrow and am unsure on how to design the circuit accordingly. This presentation has helped heaps, plus I now now why I,m having hum issues :)
Very much appreciated!, thanks for spending your time on this- so many help vids go straight into the weeds - this was clear and helpful - you sir, are a damn fine people!
Yes. Thank you so much for this video. I am going to attempt this for the first time. And this is exactly what I was looking for. It is, a truly excellent, instructional video.
Thanks for a very helpful video! It really helps to have it explained from the ground up like you did. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series!
AWESOME presentation..direct, simple and very clearly demonstrated without unnecessary theories...hardwire only...many thanks...have subscribed and looking forward to viewing MORE of your great videos !!..tnks again !!
thanks so much, i started studying basic electrics this semester and this stuff actually makes sense to me. might do some custom wiring for my strat some time!
Thank you , thank you , thank you, so much out there jumps to switches and multiple pickups, or works backwards from an existing wiring system, this was very helpful, again thanks
great video thanks, id never looked inside a guitar before and was able to install a new volume pot on an older guitar tha had it volumepot ripped out ages ago. very clear, thanks a million!
when i wanted to read the inbteractive transcript of this video i was hitting the report button accidentally, sorry about that i didn´t mean to. your explanation is very useful.good work
Yes it is. Generally larger pots (500K) are used with humbuckers so more resistance will be in series when the volume is lowered. I use a treble bleed (just is simple small capacitor) on one of my humbucker guitars.
@aaronstonebeat thanx so much to you :) it will help a lot og left handed guitarist, trust me :) uh another bad point is that you can't correct do volume swells with a stock-standard right pot ( left handed wired ). take care!
@MitjaShi There is one hot lead from each of the volume controls to each tone control; if you cut those the tone controls are out of the circuit. Don't worry about the ground connections (or perhaps capacitors between the tone control and the casing of the volume control, depending on how things are connected). Disconnect those two wires and you're good to go; if you want to go back to having tone control there is only one wire for each set of controls to reconnect.
The volume pot is connected as a voltage divider, the tone pot as a variable resistor. The variable resistor allows the signal to 'see' more or less of the capacitor. If the signal 'sees' the capacitor high frequencies don't reach the amplifier (or to be more precise: the capacitor lowers the resonance frequency of the circuit). A potentiometer doesn't have an input or output as such; what is what all depends on the way it is connected.
Thank you!! :) I'm making a luthier building a left handed guitar and I have to tell him the specs I want. After many researches I found out I need antilogarithmic / reverse log potentiometers and wire them in a reverse way ( opposite from a right handed guitar configuration ). If I won't use reverse log pots and use standard right handed pots and wire them reversed the result would be awful. Awful because the response of the pot would act almost as an "on off" switch. You can test it with a m
You can test it with a multimeter. The bad point is that guitar companies use STD pots for left handed guitars :(. Fortunatelly CTS still makes reverse log pots! Also called vintage pots. I have problems making/explaining my luthier how to set up the wirings for both Volume, Tone ( capaciors) controls. Thanx in advance!! Cheers!
Thanks again. I thought I had it done right, but I done something wrong hooking up a piezo cable & handmade pickup made from the winding in an old hard drive and two magnets. Aiming for one pot, gain, volume and one tone control for both. Used case as saddle and added wire to string for extra measure since saddle case holding the rig ought create a ground. So far failure.
@MitjaShi In this schematic lowering the volume will affect tone because part of the resistance of the potentiometer is in series with the hot side of the circuit when the volume is less than 100% up. To prevent this you could use a 'treble bleed'.
That is a very clear explanation. I was triyng to think in terms of "where the current comes from": for the volume pot, it goes in through pin 1 and goes to the jack through pin2; but what about the tone? The pot connected to the positive wire (ie the pick up) it is the pin2, which is an output. This confuse me, because I cannot understand how current comes in it. Thank you very much
Signal passes through the volume pot. It can either go to ground or go to the output jack. For tone it's more like a drain. The tone pot drains the high signals. It's like a filter. Signal doesnt pass through it like it does for volume. It takes the signal and when turned to the capacitor side, the capacitor takes the high frequencies and send it through the capacitor to ground so it doesnt go to the output with the rest of the signal. Electricity will take the path of least resistance, so if a capacitor is high resistance to low frequencies then low frequencies will go to the least resistant path (output). Since capacitors are low resistance to high frequencies, the high frequencies will go their least resistant path, the capacitor which goes to ground so none of it goes to the output.
note that in this case if you turn the volume down you basically connect the positive output to ground, which is ok for one pickup, but if you want to hook up multiple pickups with individual volume controls to a single output, you have to connect the output to pin 1 and the coil to pin 2, otherwise you won't have any output when eider of the volume pots is turned down.
@hezzart Hoi, It doesn't really matter, any wire will do. Lengths are short so resistance is low; even for the very thin pickup wire (about 0,05 mm) it's in the range of 1 Ohm per 10 cm. Stiffness of wire can be a problem if it's too thick and space inside the guitar is limited. Shielded cable reduces hum but also adds parallel capacity to the circuit and thus takes away some of the high frequenties. Te weinig tekens over om het hele verhaal in het Nederlands te herhalen ;-)
Thank you very much for this video. There are a couple of symbols in the diagram that I don't understand. At 0:30 , there is a symbol in the bottom right that looks like an inverted Mayan pyramid. At 3:15 the tone capacitor is bisected by parallel horizontal lines. What do these symbols mean? Also, tangentially related, does anyone know if when you're winding guitar pickups and the copper wire breaks, can you get away with tying the broken segments together? Or do you have to start over?
The symbol at 00:30 means 'ground' (it connects to the mantle of the guitar cable). The two parallel lines ar just the symbol for 'capacitor'. The wire for the coil is insulated so it's no use to tie two ends of a broken wire together. You either have to try to solder them (tricky but not impossible) or start over.
About the diagram you showed in this video. Is this the modern wiring scheme (lowering volume also cuts treble) or the 50s wiring scheme (lowering volume doesn't affect treble)?
Thanks Marc, this is a great video. I'm just a little confused about the signal flow. Does the filtered signal travel back down the hot line from the tone pot. I'm struggling to wrap my head around how that signal gets into the output
Well, you could say that the high frequencies 'disappear' to ground and the low frequencies are allowed to travel to the amplifier via the hot connection. A more correct way would be to say that the pickup and the capacitor form a system with a lower resonance frequency than that of the pickup on its own.
thanks , have enjoyed you instructional video , you have made it simple to understand i wonder if you may be able to help me with imformation please ,i have lost tone control on my 1983 fender jazz , i have multi metered the pots / pickups / which test fine / i would like to test the cap , a .22 uf /200v but not sure how ,can you please advise me ,thankyou so much , from ,Peter ,
Hi there, a left handed player in here :) Could you please make an explanation using CTS 250k reverse logarithmic potentiometers? Let's say for a Sg type guitar. I need to easily find out how to make wirings. Thanx!
@muaythai4lifelife Yes, you need a 'mirror image' pot. I'll try to explain it as simple as possible with images of life like pots and connections. Thanks for the idea, it will be a nice and useful addition to my videos.
@muaythai4lifelife Sure, I'll do that. It's a nice subject; left handedness hadn't crossed my mind yet. I'll try to make a clip before the weekend is over.
What is to stop the signal completely bypassing the tone control since the signal just goes past it rather than through it, like with the volume control?
As long as the resistance of the tone potentiometer is not infinite there is a path for the signal to ground, so it will want to go there. There are potentiometers that disconnect from their resistance at one end of the track; in that case the signal indeed bypasses the tone control completely when it is set to maximum treble. Sometimes people use potentiometers with higher values (1 megaOhm for example) to prevent loss of treble in the signal via the potentiometers. Does this help?
Hello. Me and a friend are trying to make a custom bass guitar and my friend plays for a death metal band. Can you please tell me the best configuration of pots for volume and tone controller. And also the capacitor value for the tone controller
That would depend on the inductance (the resistance or output as most people put it not quite accurately) of the pickups, and on personal taste. There is no general best answer; i'm sorry. On guitars a rule of thumb is 500k pots for humbuckers and 250k for single coils. Capacitors are usually 22 or 47 nF. There is also the question of linear of logarithmic pots; again it is a matter of taste and any combination can be found on guitars.
Two reasons: 1) Inside the pot is a lenght of signal tract that will act as an antenna and pick up external electromagnetic waves. 2) The casing of the pot is conductive (metal) and will pick up and broadcast hum; grounding the casing prevents this from happening. If you used a pot without casing or a with a non conductive casing (they do exist) the hum would probably be a lot less than when you used a pot with an ungrounded metal casing.
No, not in the way I show it here. They are in parallel and it doesn't matter which is on the 'left' or on the 'right'. You could connect the tone pot to the swiper of the volume pot (the middle lug, that would be the reverse order); maybe there could be a difference then, but only when you start rolling them down. To be honest, I've never tried that.
This video is by far one of the best instructional videos I have ever seen. Additionally, it completely saved me as I was struggling to figure out how to wire pickups on a self-built guitar.
Thank you!
And here we are, 12 years later, …AND your video is still curing headaches. Thanks so much man!
I know it's 7 years later, but thanks for this video.
You start with the most basic concept, and then build on this, concentric genius, so simple yet so genius, this is perfection of teaching. This will be my model for teaching videos.
Thanks!
This is one of the very few explanations of a tone control that actually explains the scientific principles properly, rather than "here's where to put the wires". Thanks a lot!
I don't even want to say what I do for a living, but you just taught me a lesson I've know forever...
Know where the signal is going!
You've cleared my head with this video. Thank you sir!
I'm doing a multi cap strat killing rogue DC and AC interference with it. Two unique circuits and I just now realized I placed the DC cap on the wrong leg!
Been a bad winter, loads of interference, just fixed my amp filter circuit a week ago, one faulty cap that is bad. Thank you from Texas!
I know it's been 11 years since this video was made, but you've done a very good job explaining how things work.
I spent this whole video going "Ohhhhh! I get it now!" Thank you so much!
For someone who has a good understanding of electrical but no understanding of guitar controls - you just explained this beyond perfectly. Great job.
Thank you! Exactly the explanation I was looking for! Short and to the actual point. Most videos are 30 minutes long and I end up with more questions! Thanks again! You must have heard me screaming! Take care!
Ten years after... Wow, Excellent. I'm going to watch it again and then check out your other vids.
Thanks!
Marc, your a life saver. I just watched your video after many others and I could see easily my problem on my project guitar and fix it quickly. I just needed the insight on how things worked to identify what I did wrong. So many times diagrams and people seem so uninformative, its just where instead of why, so much easier to fix something you understand just a little bit of. Thanks again
Very helpful. Thanks
I know it’s twelve years ago that this was uploaded but thank you so much. Clear and concise explanation 👍
I'm only halfway through, and this video has already demystified so much of guitar electronics diagrams for me.Awesome job.
Thank you for the excellent tutorial on guitar electronics. Just the facts without a lot of extraneous nonsense in an attempt to impress. Great use of clear graphics to illustrate the points, which was excellent for conveying the information as efficiently as possible.
Thank you for this! Helped explain where countless articles failed
Thanks a lot! This is the only explanation I needed for one single coil, one volume, one tone
I am supposed to be an engineer grad decades ago, but boy, Marc makes this so clean and simple to understand. THANKS!!!
Easy to follow. Did not put me to sleep like some others I've watched. It all made sense. Subscribed. Thank you!
very good, it helps to see both illustrations of the volume and tone control potentiometers: first as a long tube with ends and a wiper; and then as a round pot with terminals.
This is one of the best introductory vids I've seen, thanks!
This is the most practical and clear teaching video I have ever seen anywhere. I'm a retired teacher! great weldone! How about doing the same/similar for bass guitar?
Thank you very much!
Electronics in basses doesn't really differ from electronics in guitars; blender pots and pre amps may be a bit more common in bass guitars.
I agree! I think these videos are VERY well done, and thought through. I am a teacher myself (music teacher) and I can relate with the fact that most often than not (if not always) we must deal with the very basics in a clear and succint way, to have a good foundation with the more intricate stuff. Congratulations Marc Van Oppen!
I have refurbished a trashed Strat body and now its a slick single coil short scale P bass using a Seymour Duncan Hot pu. I would like to be able to use the 3 position switch in a way so I can change tone. Can it be done and can you post how I could go about it. I'm ok at soldering despite my 70 years! Thanks.
?
Thank you! I have been trying for 2 days to understand how this tone control is wired. Good video...
Thanks for these videos Marc ... they're VERY helpful to people like me trying to wire/re-wire a guitar for the first time to really understand what's going on.
dank je wel voor het plaatsen. het eerste filmpje wat echt het basisprincipe duidelijk uitlegd. heel blij mee!
That makes A LOT of sense, countless times on the schematic I see the arrow and am unsure on how to design the circuit accordingly.
This presentation has helped heaps, plus I now now why I,m having hum issues :)
Than you for being clear, concise, and to the point. God bless!
Bloody brilliant vid!!! You're right, not much out there puts it quite so simply or explains things so well. Thank you!!
Very much appreciated!, thanks for spending your time on this- so many help vids go straight into the weeds - this was clear and helpful - you sir, are a damn fine people!
Mark, Thank you for a very good class. Helps out a lot! Keep up the good work!
Yes. Thank you so much for this video. I am going to attempt this for the first time. And this is exactly what I was looking for.
It is, a truly excellent, instructional video.
Thank you!
Thanks for a very helpful video!
It really helps to have it explained from the ground up like you did.
I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series!
AWESOME presentation..direct, simple and very clearly demonstrated without unnecessary theories...hardwire only...many thanks...have subscribed and looking forward to viewing MORE of your great videos !!..tnks again !!
thanks so much, i started studying basic electrics this semester and this stuff actually makes sense to me. might do some custom wiring for my strat some time!
Yes, thank you -- I need the basics.
Thank you, this is a very clear explanation. :)
Thank you. You're welcome.
Agreed. Simple and to the point.
Very helpful series of video's, watching them for the second time now. Bedankt ;)
Thank you for taking the time to explain those things!!!
Finally, plain and simple explanation. thx very much
Good and clear presentation of basic guitar circuit ! Well done
Thank you , thank you , thank you, so much out there jumps to switches and multiple pickups, or works backwards from an existing wiring system, this was very helpful, again thanks
Thanks! The point of these vids was indeed to try to explain some things.
Thanks finally I understand how these pots actually work!
Great video! Nice and clear. Also, your diagrams are very well done.
Thanks,
Rick
Awesome video and detailed explanation! Thanks.
great video thanks, id never looked inside a guitar before and was able to install a new volume pot on an older guitar tha had it volumepot ripped out ages ago. very clear, thanks a million!
when i wanted to read the inbteractive transcript of this video i was hitting the report button accidentally, sorry about that i didn´t mean to.
your explanation is very useful.good work
Excellent. This was simply and clearly explained.
Going to build own strat after this video.previous time successfully built own random star Akira Takasaki guitar.now its malmsteen time.thanks
The best of luck to you!
Yes it is. Generally larger pots (500K) are used with humbuckers so more resistance will be in series when the volume is lowered. I use a treble bleed (just is simple small capacitor) on one of my humbucker guitars.
thanks man for the video! it can't get better than this, super understandable!
Thanks Marc for this very clear and logical presentation. Light-bulb moment! :0)
True. Edition VI in this series is about independent volume controls.
@aaronstonebeat thanx so much to you :) it will help a lot og left handed guitarist, trust me :)
uh another bad point is that you can't correct do volume swells with a stock-standard right pot ( left handed wired ).
take care!
This was very helpful … thank you!
That was great, thanks.. Sure a lot different values for the capacitors
we are studying in the electrician apprenticeship.
@MitjaShi
There is one hot lead from each of the volume controls to each tone control; if you cut those the tone controls are out of the circuit. Don't worry about the ground connections (or perhaps capacitors between the tone control and the casing of the volume control, depending on how things are connected). Disconnect those two wires and you're good to go; if you want to go back to having tone control there is only one wire for each set of controls to reconnect.
Wow this was very informative. Well done!
Thank you!
The volume pot is connected as a voltage divider, the tone pot as a variable resistor. The variable resistor allows the signal to 'see' more or less of the capacitor. If the signal 'sees' the capacitor high frequencies don't reach the amplifier (or to be more precise: the capacitor lowers the resonance frequency of the circuit).
A potentiometer doesn't have an input or output as such; what is what all depends on the way it is connected.
Thank you!! :) I'm making a luthier building a left handed guitar and I have to tell him the specs I want.
After many researches I found out I need antilogarithmic / reverse log potentiometers and wire them in a reverse way ( opposite from a right handed guitar configuration ).
If I won't use reverse log pots and use standard right handed pots and wire them reversed the result would be awful.
Awful because the response of the pot would act almost as an "on off" switch.
You can test it with a m
Great Video very helpful. This makes a confusing topic so clear. Thanks
You can test it with a multimeter.
The bad point is that guitar companies use STD pots for left handed guitars :(.
Fortunatelly CTS still makes reverse log pots! Also called vintage pots.
I have problems making/explaining my luthier how to set up the wirings for both Volume, Tone ( capaciors) controls.
Thanx in advance!!
Cheers!
Thanks for this very practical explanation.
Wonderful video series. Thank you so much.
Thanks again. I thought I had it done right, but I done something wrong hooking up a piezo cable & handmade pickup made from the winding in an old hard drive and two magnets. Aiming for one pot, gain, volume and one tone control for both. Used case as saddle and added wire to string for extra measure since saddle case holding the rig ought create a ground. So far failure.
@MitjaShi
In this schematic lowering the volume will affect tone because part of the resistance of the potentiometer is in series with the hot side of the circuit when the volume is less than 100% up.
To prevent this you could use a 'treble bleed'.
thanks very much.. super and easy to understand.. will use the knowledge gained on my next home made guitar.. 10/10 spot on cheers jb
@FriendOfLeoF
Thank you! The next one is in the making already.
That makes sense to me now, thanks for taking the time :)
Yes, thanks for the explanation, : now I get it why the 'input' is wired to the middle connector. :-D
fabulous explanation and diagrams. so helpful thanks very much!!!
Hi Marc, you responded to a remark of mine and then it turns out we're both guitarists,
Hi John, nice to know you. Happy holidays!
that was very enlightening, thankyou!
That is a very clear explanation. I was triyng to think in terms of "where the current comes from": for the volume pot, it goes in through pin 1 and goes to the jack through pin2; but what about the tone? The pot connected to the positive wire (ie the pick up) it is the pin2, which is an output. This confuse me, because I cannot understand how current comes in it.
Thank you very much
Signal passes through the volume pot. It can either go to ground or go to the output jack. For tone it's more like a drain. The tone pot drains the high signals. It's like a filter. Signal doesnt pass through it like it does for volume. It takes the signal and when turned to the capacitor side, the capacitor takes the high frequencies and send it through the capacitor to ground so it doesnt go to the output with the rest of the signal. Electricity will take the path of least resistance, so if a capacitor is high resistance to low frequencies then low frequencies will go to the least resistant path (output). Since capacitors are low resistance to high frequencies, the high frequencies will go their least resistant path, the capacitor which goes to ground so none of it goes to the output.
note that in this case if you turn the volume down you basically connect the positive output to ground, which is ok for one pickup, but if you want to hook up multiple pickups with individual volume controls to a single output, you have to connect the output to pin 1 and the coil to pin 2, otherwise you won't have any output when eider of the volume pots is turned down.
Thats very well explained. Thanks
Thank you!
Thank you, very clear!
@hezzart
Hoi,
It doesn't really matter, any wire will do. Lengths are short so resistance is low; even for the very thin pickup wire (about 0,05 mm) it's in the range of 1 Ohm per 10 cm. Stiffness of wire can be a problem if it's too thick and space inside the guitar is limited. Shielded cable reduces hum but also adds parallel capacity to the circuit and thus takes away some of the high frequenties.
Te weinig tekens over om het hele verhaal in het Nederlands te herhalen ;-)
Thank you very much for this video. There are a couple of symbols in the diagram that I don't understand. At 0:30 , there is a symbol in the bottom right that looks like an inverted Mayan pyramid. At 3:15 the tone capacitor is bisected by parallel horizontal lines. What do these symbols mean? Also, tangentially related, does anyone know if when you're winding guitar pickups and the copper wire breaks, can you get away with tying the broken segments together? Or do you have to start over?
The symbol at 00:30 means 'ground' (it connects to the mantle of the guitar cable).
The two parallel lines ar just the symbol for 'capacitor'.
The wire for the coil is insulated so it's no use to tie two ends of a broken wire together. You either have to try to solder them (tricky but not impossible) or start over.
@@aaronstonebeat Thanks for clearing that up for someone who's completely new to this!
@@bryanreal4226 You're welcome. Good luck!
Good job, informative video!
Thank you nice video upload 🙂
Much appreciated!
That was terribly useful! Thanks very much.
About the diagram you showed in this video. Is this the modern wiring scheme (lowering volume also cuts treble) or the 50s wiring scheme (lowering volume doesn't affect treble)?
thanks ..vey useful👍
Excellent, thank you.
Awesome explanation thanks.
Thanks Marc, this is a great video. I'm just a little confused about the signal flow. Does the filtered signal travel back down the hot line from the tone pot. I'm struggling to wrap my head around how that signal gets into the output
Well, you could say that the high frequencies 'disappear' to ground and the low frequencies are allowed to travel to the amplifier via the hot connection.
A more correct way would be to say that the pickup and the capacitor form a system with a lower resonance frequency than that of the pickup on its own.
thanks , have enjoyed you instructional video , you have made it simple to understand
i wonder if you may be able to help me with imformation please ,i have lost tone control on my 1983 fender jazz , i have multi metered the pots / pickups /
which test fine / i would like to test the cap , a .22 uf /200v but not sure how ,can you please advise me ,thankyou so much , from ,Peter ,
Thank you!!!!
Hi there, a left handed player in here :)
Could you please make an explanation using CTS 250k reverse logarithmic potentiometers?
Let's say for a Sg type guitar.
I need to easily find out how to make wirings.
Thanx!
@aaronstonebeat thanks for the clarification!
@muaythai4lifelife
Yes, you need a 'mirror image' pot. I'll try to explain it as simple as possible with images of life like pots and connections.
Thanks for the idea, it will be a nice and useful addition to my videos.
@muaythai4lifelife
Sure, I'll do that. It's a nice subject; left handedness hadn't crossed my mind yet.
I'll try to make a clip before the weekend is over.
That was perfect. Thanks!
Thank you for this video I think I get it now
What is to stop the signal completely bypassing the tone control since the signal just goes past it rather than through it, like with the volume control?
As long as the resistance of the tone potentiometer is not infinite there is a path for the signal to ground, so it will want to go there. There are potentiometers that disconnect from their resistance at one end of the track; in that case the signal indeed bypasses the tone control completely when it is set to maximum treble.
Sometimes people use potentiometers with higher values (1 megaOhm for example) to prevent loss of treble in the signal via the potentiometers.
Does this help?
Hello. Me and a friend are trying to make a custom bass guitar and my friend plays for a death metal band. Can you please tell me the best configuration of pots for volume and tone controller. And also the capacitor value for the tone controller
That would depend on the inductance (the resistance or output as most people put it not quite accurately) of the pickups, and on personal taste. There is no general best answer; i'm sorry.
On guitars a rule of thumb is 500k pots for humbuckers and 250k for single coils. Capacitors are usually 22 or 47 nF. There is also the question of linear of logarithmic pots; again it is a matter of taste and any combination can be found on guitars.
why conecting ground to the case of the pots reduces hum and noise? from a electrical engineering/pyshics aproach???
Two reasons:
1) Inside the pot is a lenght of signal tract that will act as an antenna and pick up external electromagnetic waves.
2) The casing of the pot is conductive (metal) and will pick up and broadcast hum; grounding the casing prevents this from happening.
If you used a pot without casing or a with a non conductive casing (they do exist) the hum would probably be a lot less than when you used a pot with an ungrounded metal casing.
Oh Marc, so much thanks! I been surfin interner for weeks trying to get this response. You're a genius man. Thanks again for your amazing content !!!
Thank you
Is it matter the order of connecting the volume and tone pots?
No, not in the way I show it here. They are in parallel and it doesn't matter which is on the 'left' or on the 'right'.
You could connect the tone pot to the swiper of the volume pot (the middle lug, that would be the reverse order); maybe there could be a difference then, but only when you start rolling them down. To be honest, I've never tried that.
Very useful ,, Thank you