ToneShapers ToneShaper Instruction Manual

WELCOME!
Your decision to purchase a ToneShaper was a good one! Your
new toy should give you lots of tone tweaking enjoyment, and
will prove to be a valuable tool in getting the tone you're looking
for from your guitar. Please read over these instructions to
become acquainted with your new unit, and keep them handy
for future reference.
INSTALLATION
We've included everything you'll need. The first step is to
remove the control plate from your guitar, and then remove the
old switch and pots from your control plate. You'll also remove
the existing jack. Disconnect the pickup leads and any ground
wires from the old electronics and strip 1/4" of insulation from
the ends of the wires to prepare them for connection to the
ToneShaper.
The ToneShaper is designed to fit perfectly on a Fender control
plate, but other brands of plates may require modification if their
hole spacing varies from Fender's.
Put the included internal-tooth lockwashers (star washers) over
the ToneShaper's two pot shafts, then insert the two pot shafts
into the control plate's holes. If you find that the holes are too
small, then they're probably sized for metric pots and need to be
enlarged to 3/8". The flat washers go on the outside of the plate.
The switch will be connected next. The ToneShaper's function
set is determined by the switch that's plugged into it, but all
switches will connect to the board in the same way. It's easiest
to let the switch actuator (the lever, or blade) poke through the
slot in the control plate while you plug the plastic connector onto
the circuit board. Even though we've attached a standoff to help
support the circuit board, keep in mind that the portion where
the switch attaches is very thin, so while it's fairly strong, you
can break it if you're not careful. It's best to support the
underside of the board with a finger while you slide the connec-
tor on.
With the actuator poking through the slot in the plate, line up the
connector (the black thing attached to the switch in the following
illustration) with the pins on the circuit board and push them
down as far as they'll go. The illustration shows a 4-way switch,
but all switches will attach in the same way.
Finally, attach the switch to the plate with the two 6-32 screws
provided. Again, if your guitar is imported then the screw holes
in your plate may be sized for metric screws, and may need to
be enlarged slightly to accommodate the SAE screws.
SW4B
The pickup leads and the grounds that you prepared earlier will
now be connected to the terminal block on the board as shown
below. Simply depress the plunger as shown, insert the stripped
section of the wire, and release the plunger. To ensure a solid
connection, verify that the spring contact down inside the
terminal block is in direct contact with the wire, not the wire's
insulation.
If your pickups have cloth wire (sometimes called "push back"
wire), the cloth insulation will fit perfectly into the slots on the
terminal block. The key is to strip the wire, rather than push
back the insulation. If you push back the insulation it will bunch
up, increasing its diameter and preventing it from fitting down
into the slot.
1/4"
STRIP DEPRESS
CONNECTIONS
This ToneShaper configuration is designed for Teles with three
coils, so this can mean either a single-coil plus a humbucker, or
three single coils (Nashville Teles). The connections will vary
depending on your pickup configuration.
The circuit board is labelled just in front of the terminal block,
and we'll refer to these labels. Please note that the color codes
we've listed apply to Seymour Duncan's standard product line. If
you're using some other pickup line(s), then you'll need to
research their color codes in order to connect your pickups
properly. In some cases you may find that our instructions
deviate from Duncan's, because we're considering things like
hum-canceling combinations that wouldn't normally be encoun-
tered. If our instructions deviate from Duncan's, then use ours,
not Duncan's.
Also, be advised that our instructions are taking into account
Duncan's specific wind direction and magnet orientation. Other
manufacturer's pickups may not follow the same conventions,
so you'll need to determine how your pickups are oriented if you
want to get best results.
This is a much deeper topic than most guitar players realize,
and it has nothing to do with the ToneShaper, it has to do with
guitar wiring in general. We've seen many instances of people
hooking up pickups in incompatible ways, where at best they
don't get hum-cancelling when they should, and at worst have
pickups that are out-of-phase, or have grounding issues or other
problems, like covers that are connected to hot, etc.
Want to avoid the hassle? Then buy pickups from us. We have
pickups from several manufacturers at fair prices, and we order
(and in some cases special-order) pickups to work specifically
DRAWN DATE
George Ellison 11/15/10
ASSY PN REV
N/A
N/A
INSERT RELEASE
Tone Shapers, Inc.
4913 US Highway 1
Vero Beach, FL 32967
(772) 217-8662
TITLE
ToneShaper 2
for Telecaster®
Switch - SW5C
PAGE
1 of 5
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