opinion needed volume only or volume and tone controls on archtop

[Greg Martin]

hello, id like opinions on weather to install volume only or volume and tone controls on my new archtop build.
on my last archtop i used the shatten vol and tone thumb wheels with a KA pickup. results were pretty good and the customer is happy .I worry that at some point the double side tape may fail that holds the control board to the finger rest.On this next build im wondering if using a mini vol pot and one finger rest mounted knob would be enough and not offer the tone control at all. im using a new Bartolini jazz pickup 0n this build. The player loves jazz standards so hes a traditional player.
.Im curious what you all suggest.

[Barry Daniels]

In regards to the double stick tape. Did you use the heavy duty stuff by 3M that has the red peel off layer? That stuff is really strong.

[Brian Evans]

I have a car trailer that is put together with nothing but doublesided tape for all of the walls. So it can be strong. I really miss not having a tone control, but many high end archtops leave them off. You can obviously duplicate the high end roll off with a passive resistor/capacitor pair, and I can do it with a "deep" switch on my amp, but it's up to the player. I am coming up with a plan to have controls mounted on the tailpiece of my current project.

[Randolph Rhett]

It is my experience that jazz players really love being able to roll back the tone a little. I would probably include it unless the customer specifically asked for a different configuration.

FWIW I attached the Schatten tone wheels with a dollop of epoxy.

[Mike Conner]

Greg,
I use the Shatten thumbwheels and the wiring kit from StewMac. The 3M adhesive is very strong and durable, so I think it is likely to hold up fine.

My concern has actually been in two areas: sheilding and future upgrades or modifications. This is especially true because I mount the thumbwheel pots inside the bass side F hole. With the 3M adhesive it would take some real effort to remove the pots to swap out pickups in the future (and some risk in cracking the front plate spruce). Also, I do notice some noise on an earlier build when I play it at our church with very questionable grounding, etc.

To address these concerns I did the following on my latest build:
- I modified a small plastic box to mount the thumbwheel plate in (the donor box collected from the trash at work). The box is lined with copper sheilding tape and grounded. The pot plate is attached to the removable box lid with the 3M tape. I can pop the lid out with a modest effort and get to the wiring for future changes, and the shielding seems to be really effective. The case of the box is mounted inside the front plate inside the F hole. Not the best picture but maybe you get the idea.

- I used copper foil in the tailpiece and a wire to touch the outside of the strap jack to create a string ground.

Most of the details are in this prior post:
http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4657

My opinion is that it is better to include the tone pot since it is relatively easy to integrate using the two-on-a-plate Stewmac kit. Better to have the tone control and not need it then to need it and not have it

Of course, if you go the more traditional route and mount the control on the pickguard, it is less invasive to remove the guard and get at the controls. I personally don't care for the pickguards and that led me to the F hole stealth pots idea.

//mike

[Greg Martin]

I think the stewmac board is the shatten and if so the double sided tape is probably the same 3m tape.
I like the tip about a dab of epoxy too.
I think im going to use shattens volume only board, and ill sub a .068 PIO cap instead of the .047.ceramic Then the playyer can adjust bright or deep with the amp .