Should I disable my tone knobs

[JxxWoo]

I have a les paul with a sh-55 and a 59 neck in there. I've been thinking lately that I should disconnect the tone knobs because I just don't use them. The mentality is that hopefully this will get a more "pure" tone since it's not being filtered through anything extra.

How will this change the sound of my guitar? And how drastic is the change?

Thanks.

[stratovarius]

Only you can answer that question.

I play a Strat which is supposedly shrill without a tone pot, but my touch is dark. I have installed no-load tone pots on my guitar so that I have the best of both worlds. Most of the time I run 'em wide open and I really dig the extra punch. YMMV!

[kurtsstuff]

I disconnect the tone pot on my bridge pickups but never on the neck pickup

[s2khawk]

HA! I disconnect the tone on the neck pup because they are always too dark and muddy so the no load opens up that pup with more brightness and treble. I don't pull the tone off the bridge because it seems to sound too bright, but it depends on the tone of the guitar and the pup's you are using and your style, and your amp.

[Griz]

[Insert politically correct self-righteousness here] I resent your use of the term "disable". You are adjusting the circuit to "differently enable" the tone pots.

Thank You.

:D

[JxxWoo]

so generally, taking the tone circuit out of a guitar makes the overall tone more bright?

[DøøG]

so generally, taking the tone circuit out of a guitar makes the overall tone more bright?

Brighter, Louder. Been doing this for many years. Have a "custom" with no tone pots.

[JoeDeCologne]

I find that bridge tone controls are only useful to tame an overly bright pickup (Strats are usually the biggest offenders) But if I like the tone of my bridge pickup fully open then the tone control gets disconnected. The neck pickup tone control seems to be more useful, so I leave that connected. It's a very easy mod to try out, your ears will judge the result.

[mr tom]

I understand what you all are going for, but it would never work for me. It would be like removing the brake from my car - or attaching a brick to the accelerator with Krazy Glue. I find the variation in tonal options not only desirable, but essential. The No-Load suggestion provides the best of both worlds (I have one on a Tele).

[DC1]

Don't have a tone control on any of my guitars.

Bigger, clearer, brighter.

Try it.

DC

[rockinrob]

+1 on the no-load tone pot.

[todaystomorrow]

got a LP Custom with no tone controls.... love it and don't miss it compared to my other LP. but, I use the tone pot on my tele all of the time... i would never disconnect it.

[stratovarius]

so generally, taking the tone circuit out of a guitar makes the overall tone more bright?

Yes, but remember it's a passive circuit so all it can do is take some of the signal away - not add anything.

A tone control is a capacitor connected to ground through a variable resistor. The capacitor lets more of the high frequencies pass than the lows. By adjusting the resistance (tone knob) you are controlling how much signal is allowed to leak away.

Volume controls tend to lose highs more quickly, too - just not to the same degree. That's why some players install treble bypass circuits. In this case a capacitor is used to allow some of the high frequencies to leak past the volume control.

[EADGBE]

so generally, taking the tone circuit out of a guitar makes the overall tone more bright?Yes. But sometimes the extra brightness can cause the guitar to sound thinner.

[openbar]

One time, out of curiousity, I disconnected the tone pots on my p-90 equipped SG. It didn't make a remarkable difference.

[Randaddy]

I would never do that because of the versatility the tone knobs add. I get many different sounds that I like by using them and also I can adjust my sound to the needs of the song or the tonality of the band or singer. But of course, we all should do what is best for us. Maybe it will work for you.

I will say this though... the little bit of "extra tone" you get without a tone control is simply a slightly different tone, in my opinion. It's not necessarily better, just different. The versatility gained with the control is worth having.

[fyrwyr]

Depends on the pickups and guitar and your ultimately your taste, I generally try to get away with having only one volume period, but that is just me...

[walterw]

now the question is, do you have 500k volume pots? if not, installing them and reconnecting your tone pots would be equivalent to what you have now.

[DC1]

now the question is, do you have 500k volume pots? if not, installing them and reconnecting your tone pots would be equivalent to what you have now.

It's not the same actually. I had 1 meg volume pot and taking out the tone controls still made a difference.

DC

[JxxWoo]

yup, they're 500k in there. PAF style pickups. I just never use the tone controls.