How Tone Man is Different

We know what matters: tone.

Differences In Our Harnesses - Classic / Premium 

  • Classic Series: Modern style tone using Orange Drop caps. Full dynamic range, giving a bright, distinct sound. A nice improvement over the stock components found in today's guitars.
  • Premium Series: Step up to our best components using higher-end PIO caps. Best for clean, warm & jazz tones, and it adds bluesy grit when driven. Improved sustain. Excellent for all guitar genres.

Plus a few Specialty Harnesses:

  • Special Eric Johnson Series: EJ Strat tones using a .1uf PIO cap. Wired for T1 neck, T2 bridge tone control.
  • Special Strat 64s Blues series: Using a specific .1uf tone cap, filter circuit for volume-controlled tone, wired for T1 neck-middle, T2 bridge tone control. Warm, clean SRV busy tones.
  • Special Tele 60s Blues Series: Using a specific-value tone cap with a filter circuit for volume-tone control. Great for all genres of playing.
  • A few harnesses have the option to choose cap values

We offer custom builds to your guitar specs or needs. To find out what we can do for your guitar, email us details at tonemanguitar1@gmail.com

Long or Short shaft pots, what do I need? :

It's always best to pull one pot out and measure the bushing length. Threaded part of shaft only. Long shaft = 3/4 inch. Short shaft = 3/8 inch.

  • Long shaft: Gibson USA manufactured from 1977 to present (exceptions: a few LP historic RI that use short shaft). Some LP Specials use long shaft.
  • Short shaft: Gibson LP manufactured prior to 1977. All LP Jr., all hollow bodies, and most offshore-made guitars. Les Paul Specials and all Epiphones

If not sure, measure your guitar bushing threaded length.

Why 50's Wiring:

It simply improves your overall tone and sound. This is how Gibson & Fender wired their electric guitars in the 1950s, and some in the early 60s. Notes open up after you play them. It’s stronger, tighter, and adds clarity. By rolling back your guitar volume, you can clean up an overdriven amp. Helps reduce treble loss when you turn down the volume.

Both volume and tone controls are very responsive and smoother. It's simply Ole School Technology and the best way to wire your guitar.

Our premium components:

  • Bourns ProAudio Pots: We have found them to be the very best pots for longevity, taper, and overall tone performance.
  • Tone caps: We use Orange Drop or Paper-In-Oil aged caps. For best tone and performance.
  • Wire: Gavitt cloth vintage push-back wire just like Leo used in the early years. No plastic wiring.
  • Switches: Centralab or Switchcraft 3-way toggle switches. Brand depends on availability. Both are excellent. Oak Grigsby for blade-style 3- or 5-way style.
  • Jacks: Switchcraft for solid, long-lasting connections.

Potentiometer bushing pot hole size & knob fitting:

  • We use full-size Bourns pots that require a 3/8 inch pot hole size. If your guitar came with metric-style pots, you will need to ream out pot holes to 3/8 inch. Easy to do.
  • Bourns pots require coarse, 18-tooth spline knobs. We sell knobs that fit our kits.

Capacitor values:

Various tone cap values are used in guitars. Either Orange Drop or Paper In Oil (PIO). Each has its own specific tone characteristic. Measured in uf's

  • .022 uf is a common value. Gives a modern, brighter tone. Good for single coils or humbuckers
  • .033uf is becoming more popular. Gives a warmer vintage tone. Good choice for PIO caps.
  • .047uf is used with many single-coil pickups. Commonly used in Stratocaster and Telecaster. Available in Orange drop and PIO.
  • .1uf is a cap value Fender used in the early years. Very warm vintage tone. Mainly PIO-type caps.
  • .015uf is mainly used with guitars with 2 humbuckers or P90s for the neck pickup tone cap. Neck pickups tend to be dull due to location. .015uf brightens up the neck pickup tone.
  • Note: our PIO tone caps are the real deal. Truly aged tone caps (NOS). Not reproduced copies or fake like some. 

Bumblebee caps:

We do not offer these in any of our products. The ones you see on the market today aren't true BB caps. Most are attempted reproductions. Nothing more than an inexpensive mylar-type cap wrapped in a bumblebee wrapper and way overpriced. There is plenty of documentation proof online about this. My advice is don’t waste your hard-earned money. Invest in a real, aged NOS PIO Paper-in-Oil cap.

Switches and Jack hole requirement:  

  • Jack require 3/8 inch hole
  • Toggle switch requires a 1/2 inch hole
  • The blade switch has a 1-5/8 inch distance between mounting screw holes.

Left-Handed Guitar Wiring: 

We do not offer left-handed wiring kits. Wiring regular pots backward will create a very unusable taper and degrade your guitar's tone. Although other companies will do this anyway, I strongly advise against it. I recommend finding a company that truly builds left-handed pre-wired kits with left-handed tapered pots.