tone knob build [which pot? help me figure out how to make my tone]

[billybassist]

Hey everyone, I'm currently ;undergoing a build-my-own bass project, and one of the major features of this is going to be a tone knob that has a center detente, and when turned one direction cuts bass, and the other cuts treble, and in the middle [on the detente] it acts neutral, as if it wasn't there at all. My questions are as follows:

1] Which pot?!? I have heard somewhere that CTS pots are the best, and that for a bass I want 250k, and I know I need a center detente, but I can't find a CTS 250k pot with a center detente, and I still won't know if it'll truly be neutral in the middle [by neutral I don't mean even balance, I mean sounding like it isn't there.]

2] Which capacitor? I have also heard that orange drop capacitors are the best, and since I'm trying to do a mash-up of a P and a J, I know I want a .050uF, but I can't find a .050uF orange drop capacitor at all.

3] How would it be wired? so far my understanding of this setup would be the hot wire from the pickup going to the first lug, and the capacitor going from the middle lug to the side of the pot, and then the wire out also comes off the first lug. Would this setup work? More importantly, would it be truly neutral in the middle? Can what I want even be done without just putting in a bypass switch?

[line6man]

You want something like a Fender TBX control.
http://www.fender.com/products/searc...tno=0992052000

[walterw]

well, i suppose you could use the ganged pot itself, but the TBX as it comes neither adds nor cuts bass.

all it does is sound like a normal 250kΩ tone pot on "10" when it's halfway up, then turn into a 1MΩ tone pot when all the way up, basically taking itself out of the circuit.

i don't know off the top of my head if the two pots are reversed from each other, but there might be a way of using the 250k pot as a regular tone pot, and the 1MW pot as a G&L-style bass cut pot, where it puts a .0047μF cap in series with the output, blocking some low end.

it would not be "true-bypass" in the middle, though. it would be like a regular 250k tone on "10".