It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 3:28 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: Wiring SCNs with 1 mega volume and 500k tone pots
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:41 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:20 am
Posts: 3
Hello All!

I bought a set of SCN to my Fender Stratocaster and need help to choose the capacitors and resistors to install on it. I also got two 500k pots for the tones and a 1 mega pot for the volume.
Can anyone please tell me wich capacitors and resistors should I use with this setup?
With the configuration that I have today, when I turn the volume knob (1M) a litle bit down, the distorted sound (for example) becomes weak. Way before it gets to 0, the sound is already dead.

Thanks in advance for any help.


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Wiring SCNs with 1 mega volume and 500k tone pots
Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:33 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:33 am
Posts: 8461
Location: Mars, the angry red planet.
pacheco wrote:
Hello All!

I bought a set of SCN to my Fender Stratocaster and need help to choose the capacitors and resistors to install on it. I also got two 500k pots for the tones and a 1 mega pot for the volume.
Can anyone please tell me wich capacitors and resistors should I use with this setup?
With the configuration that I have today, when I turn the volume knob (1M) a litle bit down, the distorted sound (for example) becomes weak. Way before it gets to 0, the sound is already dead.

Thanks in advance for any help.


Personally, I'd use all 250K pots and a one .047uf capacitor for tone.

When you say, "capacitors" plural and "resistors", I presume you're talking about a treble retention circuit on the volume pot. I wouldn't use it at all if I were you. If you think your volume control acts flaky now, wait until you install this useless circuit! It will also ramp up your pickups' treble, making them sound REALLY sterile.

_________________
You dig?


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 5:14 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:08 am
Posts: 2
pacheco wrote:
Hello All!

I bought a set of SCN to my Fender Stratocaster and need help to choose the capacitors and resistors to install on it. I also got two 500k pots for the tones and a 1 mega pot for the volume.
Can anyone please tell me wich capacitors and resistors should I use with this setup?
With the configuration that I have today, when I turn the volume knob (1M) a litle bit down, the distorted sound (for example) becomes weak. Way before it gets to 0, the sound is already dead.

Thanks in advance for any help.


Pacheco,

Most guitars and basses with passive pickups use between .01 and .1mF (Microfarad, see link below) tone capacitors with .022mF and .047mF being the most common choices. The capacitor and tone pot are wired together to provide a variable low pass filter. This means when the filter is engaged (tone pot is turned) only the low frequencies pass to the output jack and the high frequencies are grounded out (cut) In this application, the capacitor value determines the "cutoff frequency" of the filter and the position of the tone pot determines how much the highs (everything above the cutoff frequency) will be reduced.

So the rule is: Larger capacitors will have lower cutoff frequency and sound darker in the bass setting because a wider range of frequencies is being reduced. Smaller capacitors will have a higher cutoff frequency and sound brighter in the bass setting because only the ultra high frequencies are cut.

For this reason, dark sounding guitars like Gibson Les Pauls with humbuckers typically use 500K potenciometers with .022mF capacitors to cut off less of the highs and guitars like Strats and Teles with single coils typically use 250K potenciometers with .047mF capacitors to allow more treble to be rolled off.

Keep in mind that the capacitor value only affects the sound when the tone control is being used (pot in the bass setting) The tone capacitor value will have little to no effect on the sound when the tone pot is in the treble setting.

Samarim Cobalt Noiseless Pickups are hybrid. It sounds like Single Coil Pickups but have 2 coils like Humbuckers Pickups, the 2nd coil not produce sound, it's usefull only to cancel the hum. So, in this case, use potenciometers of 250K like single coils but capacitors of .22mF like humbuckers (see Fender Wiring Diagram links below).

To make easy your install consider acquire ToneShaper (see link below). Read about "Blender wiring" on User's Manual.

Folow below some links to more informations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/ToneShap ... 32C218.cfm

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 02APg1.pdf
http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 02APg2.pdf
http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 02APg3.pdf
http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 02APg4.pdf

Kind Regards,

Fernando Santucci
Ipanema - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Wiring SCNs with 1 mega volume and 500k tone pots
Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:32 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:20 am
Posts: 3
Martian wrote:
Personally, I'd use all 250K pots and a one .047uf capacitor for tone.

When you say, "capacitors" plural and "resistors", I presume you're talking about a treble retention circuit on the volume pot. I wouldn't use it at all if I were you. If you think your volume control acts flaky now, wait until you install this useless circuit! It will also ramp up your pickups' treble, making them sound REALLY sterile.


Martian,

thanks for your answer and sorry for taking so much time to feedback.
I didn´t make any changes do my guitar yet, but I´ll try to put the original 250K pots back into my Strat and hear both .022 and .047uf capacitors.
The pot changes didn´t brought the result I expected.

Thank you again for your help!


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:39 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:20 am
Posts: 3
fernandosantucci wrote:
Pacheco,

Most guitars and basses with passive pickups use between .01 and .1mF (Microfarad, see link below) tone capacitors with .022mF and .047mF being the most common choices. The capacitor and tone pot are wired together to provide a variable low pass filter. This means when the filter is engaged (tone pot is turned) only the low frequencies pass to the output jack and the high frequencies are grounded out (cut) In this application, the capacitor value determines the "cutoff frequency" of the filter and the position of the tone pot determines how much the highs (everything above the cutoff frequency) will be reduced.

...


Fernando,

thanks for your detailed explanation on capacitors. Today I learned a little bit more about guitar schematics :-)
As I said to Martian, I´ll put the 250k pots back and compare the sound of both .022 and .047 capacitors.
I didn´t know ToneShaper, but I´ll try to get one in near future.

As soon as I make the changes on my guitar, I´ll post the results here.

OBRIGADO!!

Pacheco,
Manaus / Amazonas / Brasil


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: