TONE TALK 3 Simple Mods to Improve Your Tone

In the world of instruments, so many factors can affect your tone. After spending some time with your guitar, you start noticing things and wonder what you can do to make it sound better. Here are some mods that you can do / or your guitar tech can easily do without spending too much or buying a new guitar. All it will take is a few know-how, tools, and a soldering iron.

Shielding

Is your guitar producing a static or humming sound? It could be that your guitar is picking up electrical interference from other electronic devices. An easy way to fix this is to add shielding, in form of metallic tape or metallic paint that can block off most of the interference and "shield" your guitar's wires and potentiometers from picking up electrical interference. This reduces the humming sound that some guitar players find annoying.

Capacitors

Capacitance is defined as “the ability of a component to store an electrical charge”. A Capacitor is a device that stores electricity. The larger the capacitance, the more electricity it can store, and the longer it will hold its charge.

So what does a capacitor do for your guitar tone? In the simplest of terms, a Tone Cap will impede low frequencies, and allow higher frequencies to pass through. When your tone potentiometer is on max, you hear a crystal-like tone from your guitar. But when it's rolled all the way down, lower frequencies are passing through the circuit.

The most frequently used caps are the .047mF and .022mF. This is generally how these two caps are paired with pots:

.047mF cap — 250k pot
.022mF cap — 500k pot

Potentiometers

A potentiometer is basically a component that allows you to progressively change what it controls. A light dimmer switch is an example of being able to incrementally adjust power.

Guitar pots are used to affect and control volume and tone. Volume control speaks for itself. Tone control enables you to change the sound, including how you mute or blend the signal from guitar pickups.

The two types of potentiometers you'll encounter in your guitars:
1. Linear Pots increase/decrease signals in a linear fashion. (“1” on your control knob equals 10%, “5” equals to 50%, etc.). Because of its predictability, many people prefer a linear pot for their volume control.

2. Audio Taper Pots, aka logarithmic pots, deliver a more natural variance in sound when you turn your knobs. Audio taper pots compensate for the relationship between resistance and volume in a passive guitar circuit.


For your instrument setup and repairs, visit us at GP Gallery Makati and GP Superstore Cubao. Treat your guitar to a spa and let our guitar techs make your guitars feel and look new again.
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