Telecaster mod on the tone control - Any ideas?

musicalstash

Any ideas on what wiring is in this telecaster ,  the 3 way works as it should but the tone control does not have a massive affect on the sounds with only a very slight cut  in the treble   .


I originally thought the tone control was not connected correctly but if I  put the gain up on the amp and turn the tone  control I can hear a difference in the hum . 

https://ibb.co/yYbkSDG

Funkfingers

Ignore this. (Unhelpful comment based on single photograph taken from unhelpful angle.)

musicalstash

Just uploaded some better photos , it is hard to show so will try and explain it the best I can. 

https://ibb.co/WKJTXNN

https://ibb.co/qNYdkRb

https://ibb.co/d6pk08N

https://ibb.co/hmfG9dh

The two smaller cap/resistors run from the middle leg of the volume to the first 

leg of the same pot - the centre leg is connected to the output jack . 

The mojo cap is connected to the back of the tone control to the middle leg of the same pot .

The pots are connected by both the earth on the top and a cloth wire running from the last / first legs 

of each pot.

It  is a standard telecaster with two pickups . 

 

poopot

It’s a treble pass filter… turn the volume down and it’ll retain the treble.

musicalstash

poopot said:

It’s a treble pass filter… turn the volume down and it’ll retain the treble.

Thanks, would this mod affect the tone control in anyway. 

The tone control seems to be doing something but not having a massive effect on the bass / treble 

Funkfingers

What nominal value is the bypass capacitor?

Jimbro66

There’s some pretty messy soldering in there. It doesn’t look a professional job and doesn’t inspire confidence in the circuit’s integrity.

Teles mainly have a 0.047uF tone cap and if that’s what you are used to the installed 0.022 cap will seem to have less effect on treble roll-off, although probably not as much as you have described.

It’s hard to read the value of the tone pot so perhaps just check that it is 250k like the volume pot?

musicalstash

The capacitor is a 0.022f, I have the same in my other telecaster which works in cutting the treble alot more. 

I will double check the pot and wiring, if all looks good  will remove the cap/resistor and see if it makes a difference if not will try another capacitor .

It sounds great as it is but I like rolling off the treble in the bridge position for a bit more tonal variety. 

ICBM

The tone control appears to be wired correctly - although not with the standard Tele value, as Jimbro66 said - but the treble-pass cap/resistor network appears to have completely the wrong values for both. The cap is far too large and the resistor far too small.

First, remove the silver cap and resistor and see what it sounds like.

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

the treble-pass cap/resistor network appears to have completely the wrong values for both. The cap is far too large and the resistor far too small.

I tried asking. Honest, guv'nor.

The numbers printed on the silver capacitor could be a manufacturer's part number or they could be the cap value in picofarads. 19202pF = 0.019202uF. 

I'm not certain that I could detect any significant difference between .019 and .022uF.

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

The numbers printed on the silver capacitor could be a manufacturer's part number or they could be the cap value in picofarads. 19202pF = 0.019202uF. 

I'm not certain that I could detect any significant difference between .019 and .022uF.

The cap appears to be a 0.01uF - you can just see it, if you're familiar with how the value is printed on that type of cap. (Below 'Minicap' in the 3rd and 4th pics - the decimal point is printed in the middle of the line of letters rather than at the bottom.)

If so it's at least ten times larger than the largest useful value (which is 1nF, or .001uF).

The resistor is a 1Kohm (5%) - brown/black/red(/gold). This is at least 100 times smaller than the smallest normally useful value (usually 100K).

Despite this it shouldn't actually affect the tone control operation when the volume is up full - but the values are so wrong that there's no useful purpose in leaving them there, they will essentially bypass the volume control until it's turned almost all the way down. Just remove them first before you do anything else.

musicalstash

Removed from the the resistor and silver cap and didn't make a different to either the tone control or overall sound.

Swapped out the mojo cap for a small green one off a Squier (same rating) and the tone control  came back to life again, so guessing it was the mojo  capacitor. 
Thanks for the help. 

ICBM

musicalstash said:

Removed from the the resistor and silver cap and didn't make a different to either the tone control or overall sound.

Swapped out the mojo cap for a small green one off a Squier (same rating) and the tone control  came back to life again, so guessing it was the mojo  capacitor.

Good old paper-in-oil caps... the most noticeable characteristic they have compared to other types in a guitar circuit is a tendency to fail.

The Squier one will be some sort of modern cap, if it gives you the tone range you want then leave it in.