archtop with volume only

[Greg Martin]

I dont think Ive seen this question answered before,so --Im planning to have volume only on my next archtop build,but What if the next floating pickup I get sounds to bright or to dark?? Outside off returning pickups over and over, How can I fine tune/change the tone of the guitar? maybe different pot value? I don't know.
On this most recent build with tone control, we found the sweet spot with the tone at about 80 % rolled off and the pot was 500k and cap was .033 ???? thanks

[Daryl Kosinski]

Easy, wire up the tone circuit, find the "sweet spot", measure the value of the pot, then replace the pot with a fixed resistor.

[Greg Martin]

Hi I see what you are saying and have been pondering it all day. 1st the guitar is gone so testing its sweet spot cant happen.
knowing that the 500k pot was backed off to say 2 o clock would you guess a 200k resistor would be a place to start with the new pickup? would this resistor go in line with the pickup hot lead? or how would it be done? Also I was leaning toward a different pickup ,instead of the Armstrong slimbucker , a Bartolini 5J I want a more mellow tone the Armstrong on the new build. any thoughts?

[Peter Wilcox]

Yes, the resistor would go from the hot pickup lead (on the volume control) to one lead of the capacitor, with the other cap lead to ground. The potentiometer in a tone control circuit is acting only as a variable resistor (only 2 leads connected), and you should really first test wire one (a pot) in series with the cap to determine what value of resistance gives you the tone you are after - it will probably vary with different pickups, and maybe even from guitar to guitar with the same pickups.

You'll need a multimeter to do this - they're dirt cheap, even free with a coupon.
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function ... 98025.html

You can't really tell the resistance from pot rotation, especially those with a non-linear taper.

[Eric Baack]

Or you could put a linear pot inside the guitar and set it then forget it. Plus it is still there for pickup swaps.

[Greg Martin]

how about a mini lin trim pot? now would you maybe use a 1meg to allow for adjustment in a useable range??

[Peter Wilcox]

That would work - I'd use a multi-turn one to give you fine adjustment.

[Greg Martin]

Also on next builds Id like a mini connector that would allow the removal of pickup and finger rest complete, with out un soldering. Ive seen some mini puter connectors but they are to fragile and seen deans plugs from my rc racing days, but there must be other options, any one found a good one? Got links?

[David King]

EMG and others have more or less standardized the connectors. Google will help you locate the correct AMP or Molex products from Mouser/Digikey

[Stephen Neal Saqui]

It's kinda nice to have a tone pot...give players their own options.

[Beate Ritzert]

On this most recent build with tone control, we found the sweet spot with the tone at about 80 % rolled off and the pot was 500k and cap was .033 ???? thanks

In nearly any case You might need a 470k resistor in the place of the tone pot - the tone pot always contributes to the load of the pickup, and it will always damp its resonance peak.
Instead of also adding the cap You could just try a slightly smaller value of that load resistor.
Maybe it is useful to use a push-push pot (or a hidden mini switch pointing sideward if the circuitry is mounted to the pickguard)

for the volume control to make the additional circuitry switchable. Sometimes it might be useful to have a brighter tone at hand.