Tone and Volume Pot Wiring

[Ken Koellner]

I put ask about this in Builders Forum but then realized that "wiring" is part of Electronics so maybe this is a better forum. I'm taking a stab at building a lap steel and curious about the different ways to wire pots for tone and volumn.

I found this article on different ways to wire up volume and tone pots https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-g ... pot-wiring I've been electronic hobbyist since I was a teen so I understand the article but I'm surprised there are several possible wirings with subtle differences and don't have experiences with the plusses and minuses of each possibility. I'm planning to build a single humbucker pickup lap steel. Reading that article, I think I like the description of the 50s wiring the best. But I'd welcome all comments and discussion on possible wirings.

Thoughts?

-K

[Brooks Montgomery]

I don’t know the answer, I’m a dunce at electronics, but that Premier Guitar article is super interesting, and the description/explanation of the 50’s Les Paul wiring and it’s effect on the tone is fascinating. I’ll be monitoring this….

[D Schubert]

Generally speaking, the lower pot values (250k vs 500k vs 1M) will bleed off more treble, and create a mellower sound -- that you might associate with a vintage guitar. Fender would typically use a lager capacitor with single coil pickups (0.047) versus Gibson and P-90 or humbucking pickups (0.033). In a one-pickup volume-and-tone circuit it's relatively easy to change out capacitors and pots to achieve a more pleasing sound. Some of the more modern circuits will add additional resistors and such to prevent treble bleed and volume/tone control interaction. Maybe I'm an odd duck, but I look at those interactions as a feature, not a flaw.