Take the 2-minute tour ×  Can someone please explain to me what
tone pots are, and how they affect the sound of a guitar? Thanks
very much :)  share|improve this question  2 Answers 2  up vote
12 down vote accepted  A potentiometer is basically a variable
resistor. When it's turned all the way one way, it has no
resistance, and when it's turned all the way in the other
direction, it has its maximum resistance.  A pot has three
soldering points: its input, its output, and ground. So when the
output of your pickups is wired to the input of the pot, the pot
splits the signal in two directions, one of which leads to the
output jack of your guitar and the other of which leads to
ground. The signal from the pickups wants to go to ground, but
if the pot is turned to its maximum resistance, it acts as a
block to the signal, which then has to go to the output of the
guitar instead. As you turn the pot, its resistance weakens, so
more and more of the signal escapes to ground instead of going
out the guitar's output, an