External Passive Tone Multi-Unit

[scottyfresch]

Hi all! Been lurking for a while, decided it was finally time to post...

I finally got one of my dream guitars: a Fender SRV Stratocaster (with a tortoiseshell guard). But of course, "well enough" can be hard to leave alone...

The strat's pickups will be wired using the "S-Tastic Expanded" wiring diagram with a couple of twists. To free up some pickguard real estate for extra pickup and volume control-related switches, I've decided to move the passive tone controls to an external box that can house a parallel capacitor selector/bypass, varitone with selectable choke values and bypass, and capacitor selection switches for a master tone control (also bypassable).

Only problem is, I really have no idea what to do in terms of component order within the tone box, or if it even matters. How will this stuff interact? I'd also like to include a bypassable signal buffer, but have no idea where to put it in the signal chain. Should a passive tone control be placed before or after a JFET buffer? Will the tone control even have an effect?

I've tried researching this and pickup switching in the past several months, but my head is still spinning at this point (prolly from the hamster falling off its wheel and trying to use the space as a hamster ball). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

(Didn't know whether to post this here or in the "Effects" section. This feels more like an extension of the guitar circuitry itself, it's here. Sorry if it's gotta be moved...)

[ashcatlt]

This sounds more like Effects to me, but it ain't really up to me...

I'd imagine you'd wire it in the box the same way you'd wire it in the guitar. Should work the same, though your tone controls will be after the Volume, which some people don't like. See "Modern and 50s Wiring" stickied in the Guitar Wiring board.

If you want this to behave as much like it was in the guitar as possible you'll want the buffer at the very end, right before the output. It's possible to make this work with the buffer first, but then your tone controls won't interact with the pickups or cable and you'll probably require some different cap/pot/inductor values.

BTW - I think this is a great idea. Thanks for finally chiming in!

[JohnH]

Nice idea. If you want to explore tone controls of the type usuually built into a guitar, but in an external box, then you should take account that these things work as they do by close interaction of the tone control components, and also the inductance, resistance and capacitance of the pickups and cable. That would mean that if you have a buffer, it should be after the tone controls in the box - and I think that will be a good thing to have. It will give a consistent tone, without being affected by extra cable lengths to the amp, added to that from the guitar.

If you can find some caps, pots and inductor, there are lots of things to try - id definatly rig it up loosely on the bench first to see what tone effects sound interesting. If you put components in series, in a chain from hot to ground across the output, it does not matter what order.

To get a visual feel for effects, you could try the GuitarFreak spreadsheet in the reference section. There is a version there with an inductor in the tone circuit and you can slide slider knobs and see the effects.

John

[newey]

scottyfresch-

I have nothing to add to the above responses, except:

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

We have discussed "off the guitar" passive circuits before, although what you propose is more extensive than anything actually built of which I'm aware.

[JFrankParnell]

hey, and welcome, dude.
this thread got sidetracked into 'off the axe' switching about 1/2 way down the first page:
guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wiring&action=display&thread=5192&page=1

[sumgai]

We'll leave this here, it's nothing more than hacking a guitar, albeit a bit extreme compared to the rest of us....

For the record, by and large I consider that Effects don't really need a guitar, they can conceivably work with an input from a variety of sources, musical or otherwise. That explains why they get their own sub-Forum.


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Scotty,

Hi, and to the NutzHouse!

I see that you want to have "volume control-related switches". Yet, if you leave the Volume pot on-board, then the Tone stuff that follows (on the floor) will result in what we call a 50's" wiring setup. You may or may not like the results, but at least you've been alerted to that possibility.

If it were me, I'd remove all of the pots, Volume and Tone alike, and put everything on the floor. If you want switching, replace the Vol pot's p/p switch with something else - there's a large variety of what you can mount on that pickguard, in order to get the pickup combinations you want. ;D

HTH






sumgai