How to wire 1pu with tone control pot but no volume control?

[Claude Misukiewicz]

Hello folks,

I built a lap steel with one single-coil pickup, which I wired directly to the output jack. It works fine. I would, however, like to add a tone control. I want to omit the volume control--mainly because I don't have room for it. I'm clueless about electronics and have not been able to find such a schematic on the web. There are, however, many schematics for just a volume control. Is it impossible to only have a tone control? Anyway, If any of you know where I might find such a schematic, or can suggest how I should proceed, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks,
Claude

[Nick Middleton]

If you look at a schematic with 1 vol and 1 tone, you'll see the tone intersects the pickup-hot wire (using one of the terminal on the volume pot) and then, after going through a cap and the tone pot, going to to ground.

In your case, just wire across the output jack (Since you have no volume, your wires from the pickups should be going straight to the output jack)

So, you need a wire from the tip of the jack (Hot) to one leg of your tone-pot, then the other leg of the pot goes to a cap, then the end of the cap goes to the ring of the jack (Ground)

[David King]

Hi Claude,

This is pretty easy. Right now you have two wires, a "hot" and a ground running from your pickup to your output jack.
What you want to do now is insert a capacitor (say .02mdf up to .05mfd) and a potentiometer, in series, between those two wires.
The capacitor only allows the higher frequencies to pass and the potentiometer varies how much of the high frequencies are "bled" away to the ground and not sent to the amplifier.

[Karl Wicklund]

I'm working on a lap steel right now, too, and am similarly inexperienced with wiring. How much volume loss can be expected when you bleed off the treble?

[Rodger Knox]

That depends on the value you use for the capacitor (lower value = less loss) and to some degree, the value of the potentiometer.
Values above .05 mfd (aka .05uF) the loss becomes noticeable.