Wiring A Varitone...
Step 1) I begin soldering the ceramic capacitors to the rotary switch. I had decided that I wanted the first position of my rotary switch knob to be a bypass. The lowest valued capacitor (having the least effect on the tone) connects to the second position. I then continue until the highest valued capacitor is on the fifth position of the knob.
Step 2) I connect a 4 inch wire to the middle lug. If you look into the rotary switch you will notice that turning the switch just makes an electrical connection between which ever position your on and the middle lug.
Step 3) In this step I connect all the caps leads to a single 4 inch red piece of wire. I like to solder all the wires together connected to a lug on the other side of the rotary switch. This does not serve any purpose other than to prevent the small capacitors leads from moving.
Part 2 - Connecting The Push/Pull Pot And The Inductor
Here are the parts.
Step 4) In this step I connect the inductor to the push pull pot. Firstly I connect the inductors third lead to its own housing. I then connect inductor leads one and two to the push pull pots outer, left side lugs.
Step 5) Now the push pull pots inner left side lug (on the push pull part) should connect to the left side lug on the volume pot part of the push pull pot.
Step 6) In this step I connect all the caps leads to a single black piece of wire.
Step 7) In this Step I connect a 4 inch wire to the push pull pot housing. This completes the varitone. To install it on a guitar is quite simple. The green wire should be wired to the volume pots housing and the red wire should be connected to the same volume pot lug as the previous capacitor was attached. If your not sure which lug this is then google your guitars wiring diagram and look for how the capacitor connects to the volume pot.
Trouble Shooting...
No sound from the amp when the guitar is plugged in?
Try checking the guitars wiring to make sure that no positive leads are touching the ground wires (or foil if your guitar is shielded).
This will send the guitars signal to ground causing no signal to pass to the amp.
Back To Varitone Diagram And Audio
Varitone diagram, parts list and audio clips.