jazzmaster varitone wiring layout

[Huggie66]

Hi has anyone got a wiring diagram or gutshots of who a varitone switch is installed as in these revelation jazz masters? Im building a jazzmaster from scratch and like the idea. Ive seen them advertised in rothstiens site, but could make one, I just need a nod in the right direction, thanks Peeps!

[_nash]

I have a sheet that tells you wiring layouts for a 6-position rotaty. Think that’d help?

[Shadoweclipse13]

Here's one I designed that's not quite a Varitone, but with a strangle cap, bypass (no caps), and 4 other capacitors. All the Varitones are is a 6-position rotary switch (DP6T) with 5 different values of capacitor on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO46qveHL3M
Here's a great video with examples of the sounds.

Are you looking for one just like the ES-345 (one Varitone) with a standard JM? That'd be SUPER simple to do.

[Gordon]

Did that on a previous guitar...



It was quite fun, and simple. The only tricky part is to chose the capacitors' value. However, associated with a tone knob, it offers more freedom.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Gordon, are you saying you made yours to be like a tone pot capacitor selector, i.e not a separate circuit like the original Varitone?

[Gordon]

Gordon, are you saying you made yours to be like a tone pot capacitor selector, i.e not a separate circuit like the original Varitone?

Yup. Fixed capacitors (like most varitone, and also in Gretsches) often result, in my experience, in one usable setting. It's fun to play with, but ultimately, I never managed to go past that. With a varitone that is there to select what value is connected to the tone knob, however, there are so many variations... I wish I could have played more with mine to experiment more, get rid of some cap values and tried other ones.

[Shadoweclipse13]

That's badass! I'm tempted to try a double varitone like that, one for bass cut, one for treble cut.

[Huggie66]

Thats what I was looking for! Thanks. The pic with the orange drop caps on the rotary switch? I can't quite see the wiring config. I can see you've got a couple of switches there, any way showing the connections to switches and pups? would appreciate it!

[Gordon]

Thats what I was looking for! Thanks. The pic with the orange drop caps on the rotary switch? I can't quite see the wiring config. I can see you've got a couple of switches there, any way showing the connections to switches and pups? would appreciate it!

Top row is volume and tone (with the cap switch aka varitone). Bottom row: pickup switches and varitone.

The switches were individual on (up)/off (down), pickups in parallel (both up), pickups in series (both down). I've always prefered the "one switch per pickup" system, it looks and read better; but that's if you have the space. I don't have the schematics anymore, but I'm sure Shadoweclipse13 can help. If not, I can look into it.

[Gordon]

Had a couple of minutes to spare between taking notes...



Switches are 2-pos (on/on) DPDT. Drawn from memory, but it seems correct. Sorry for the quick doodle, Shadoweclipse13 if you want to make it cleaner for your thread, be my guest.

[hpr_hpr]

Hmm . . . re variable resistors in a 'varitone circuit'. I currently have a 2 options with I think are 0.068 & 0.022 in my JM (with PRails not JM pickups) and no matter what the configuration of the pickups (they are wired so I can get any single or combination of coils) the difference between the caps 'subtle' at best and can be - as far as I can hear - be adjusted to be the same with a slight adjustment of the tone knob to be as good as indistinguishable . . . thus this feature is slated to be removed/revised into something else . . .

The original varitone circuit in a Gibson in addition to the different caps includes a "choke", a 1.5 Henry inductor, between the caps and GND . . . this inductor / choke functions as a low pass filter so this circuit preferentially shuts MIDDLE frequencies (between the cutoff frequencies of the choke and the chosen cap) to GND and not, as when you use just a cap between SGNL & GND all frequencies over the cutoff (the reason these still had a useful tone knob).

. . . this is of course simplistic as caps & coils, especially in combination with resistors are NOT isolated units but interact HEAVILY . . . (BTW - traditional guitar pickups also function as coils between SGNL & GND)

[Huggie66]

Thanks people much food for thought! Appreciated!

[Digital Larry]

The original varitone circuit in a Gibson in addition to the different caps includes a "choke", a 1.5 Henry inductor, between the caps and GND . . . this inductor / choke functions as a low pass filter so this circuit preferentially shuts MIDDLE frequencies (between the cutoff frequencies of the choke and the chosen cap) to GND and not, as when you use just a cap between SGNL & GND all frequencies over the cutoff (the reason these still had a useful tone knob).

A series inductor (aka choke) and capacitor is by itself a "resonant circuit" with high impedance (small loading effect) at both high and low frequencies, but at the magical resonant frequency, the impedance is very low. Hang that off your guitar's output and it will give a midrange notch. Switch between caps to change the frequency of the notch. Put a series pot in the circuit to change the depth of the notch.

I noticed these cheapo Tagima TW-61s (which are in abundance at the local Starving Musician) have a "varitone" instead of the rhythm circuit. Seems intriguing, although the guitars themselves are probably typical of anything at that price. I might go check one out to see how bad they can be.

[garbageslurp]

The original varitone circuit in a Gibson in addition to the different caps includes a "choke", a 1.5 Henry inductor, between the caps and GND . . . this inductor / choke functions as a low pass filter so this circuit preferentially shuts MIDDLE frequencies (between the cutoff frequencies of the choke and the chosen cap) to GND and not, as when you use just a cap between SGNL & GND all frequencies over the cutoff (the reason these still had a useful tone knob).

A series inductor (aka choke) and capacitor is by itself a "resonant circuit" with high impedance (small loading effect) at both high and low frequencies, but at the magical resonant frequency, the impedance is very low. Hang that off your guitar's output and it will give a midrange notch. Switch between caps to change the frequency of the notch. Put a series pot in the circuit to change the depth of the notch.

I noticed these cheapo Tagima TW-61s (which are in abundance at the local Starving Musician) have a "varitone" instead of the rhythm circuit. Seems intriguing, although the guitars themselves are probably typical of anything at that price. I might go check one out to see how bad they can be.

Hey sorry to resurrect a 6 year old post but wondered if you ever checked out the TW-61? I've got one, and I am itching to put Railhammer pickups in it, cause the thing plays beautifully but the pups are useless to me. Was curious if you ever got one and did any modifications or looked at the wiring scheme for the pups. I cant even even seem to get mine apart

[Digital Larry]

...

I noticed these cheapo Tagima TW-61s (which are in abundance at the local Starving Musician) have a "varitone" instead of the rhythm circuit. Seems intriguing, although the guitars themselves are probably typical of anything at that price. I might go check one out to see how bad they can be.

Hey sorry to resurrect a 6 year old post but wondered if you ever checked out the TW-61? I've got one, and I am itching to put Railhammer pickups in it, cause the thing plays beautifully but the pups are useless to me. Was curious if you ever got one and did any modifications or looked at the wiring scheme for the pups. I cant even even seem to get mine apart

Haha no, I never did.