![]() ![]() When set to 10, the pot is at maximum resistance and pretty much ignoring any impact from the capacitor. When it’s set to 10, the wiper has the least resistance and loudest volume, and at 0 the whole signal is discarded.Ī typical tone control on the other hand is a low-pass filter made from another potentiometer and a capacitor. Tone And Volume Control – Take TwoĪ typical volume control circuit is made up of a potentiometer with the pickup’s signal on one terminal, ground on the other terminal, and the output signal on its wiper. With that out of the way, let’s get started. Although picofarad seems okay as well, so a 2.2 nF capacitor becomes 2200pF.Īs a rule of thumb, capacitor values in guitar wiring are rarely above 100 nF or below 100 pF, so that should help decipher some more exotic nomenclature. This makes reconstructing and implementing the wiring itself a lot more straightforward in practice, but actually understanding the electronics behind it not so much.Īlso, for some reason “nano” appears to be a taboo word, as capacitor values are usually stated in microfarad, and a 22 nF capacitor will commonly be referred to as a 0.022 uF, or simply “a point-oh-twenty-two” capacitor, and in worst case be written as “.022 mfd”. ![]() Since the average musician isn’t necessarily versed in electronics, actual schematics are rarely used to describe wiring, and the visual representation with life-like pictures, similar to a Fritzing breadboard view, are most common. From here, the signal is then routed through a volume and tone control circuit to the output jack, from where we can amplify and alter the sound however we want.īefore I start, I’d like to say a few words about guitar wiring diagrams you’ll come across on the internet, and the general state of electronics terminology within the guitar world. ![]() To recap: steel strings vibrate over the magnetic field of a pickup, creating an electric signal that is shaped by all the pickup’s internal characteristics. If you missed my last article, we covered the basics of electric guitars and the origin of their tone. It may not be the ideal environment, but it’ll work. And if the thought of that sounds uncomfortable, skip the soldering iron and grab some alligator clips and a breadboard. In that sense, it’s time to heat up the soldering iron, get out the screwdriver, and take off that pick guard / open up that back cover and continue our quest for new electric guitar sounds. Today, I’ll get into the latter part and take a close look at the components involved - potentiometers, switches, and a few other passive components - and show how they function, what alternative options we have, and how we can re-purpose them altogether. From a guitar hacking point of view, the two major parts that are interesting to us are the pickups and the volume/tone control circuit that lets you adjust the sound while playing. ![]()
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