tone capacitor issue

[stiggowitz]

Hey everyone:
I own and play an Eastman 810ce with a Kent Armstrong designed humbucker that utilizes a thumbwheel under pickguard volume control.
I have a extra thumbwheel pot and would like to install it as a tone control but I'm not sure what would be the best capacitor for this setup.
The pickup is what I'm looking for but I need the tone control to roll off just enough highs to balance the wound and unwound strings, as the "pup" doesn't have adjustable poles.
Adjusting the amp to compensate doesn't work that well.
Thanks for your time.
stigg.

[sumgai]

stigg,

Hi, and to the forums!

I suggest that you take the easy way out. First, jury-rig a concoction of two jacks, your control pot, and the capacitor you are considering, like this:

Insert this lash-up between the cable coming out of your guitar's regular output jack, and another cable going into your amp. Now you have a way to try as many capacitors as you wish. You don't need to solder them together for this, simple alligator clips will do. Once you have determined the best value for your needs, you can open up the axe and solder the cap in without fear of having to do it over and over again, until you finally get the tone you like. ;D Plus, you can take everything apart again, and use the parts for some other project later.

Try starting with a 0.2, or 0.22. More capacitance means that more highs will be rolled off, and vice-versa. Depending on your control pot's value, a lower resistance value willl cause the roll-off action to be more pronounced than would a higher resistance value, until you are almost fully counterclockwise. Humbuckers generally start with a value of 500KΩ, but that's not cast in concrete. If you already have something else, go ahead and try it!

HTH


sumgai