Wiring The Custom Varitone
Step 1) I start by soldering the red wire to one of the center lugs of the rotary switch. I then turn the knob to zero (imagining that the pot is installed in the guitar) and check the metal sweeper to see which lug it connects to. This is how I know which lug to connect my first capacitor to.
Step 2) I had decided that I wanted the first position of my rotary switch knob to be the lowest valued capacitor (having the least effect on the tone) with my highest valued capacitor to be on the sixth position of the knob. I solder the .003mfd Cap to the lug (position first on the knob).
Step 3) I continue soldering on the capacitors so that the next lowest cap (.006mfd) is connected to the next position of the switch. I continue soldering on all six caps.
Step 4) In this step I connect all the caps leads to a single black piece of wire.
Step 5)I then connect the black wired end of the capacitors to the middle lug of the tone pot. (I also solder the outer tone pot lug to its own housing and solder on a green ground wire)
Step 6) Lastly, I install the controls and solder the red wire to the selector switch. In the this case, the guitar is shielded so the green wire does not need to be connected because an electrical connection is already made between the rotary switch and the copper shielding.
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 Custom Varitone Audio And Parts List
Custom Varitone parts list and audio clips.