Home of Tone Blog
How-to guide - Installing a new pre-wired harness and pickup swap on a Bronco Bass
In this article I'm going to feature how to install one of my Signature Series Bronco Bass wiring looms and a new pickup. I offer this kit in a few different forms, from just a harness (pre-wired volume and tone pots, tone cap and jack socket) to that harness alongside a McNelly Broncomaster pickup, to both of those bits all pre-soldered together for a complete drop in. Now, this article will ultimately discuss each style of kit but the photos might not tie in perfectly to the kit you have. Regardless of that though, the methods are much of the same and will have some relevance in their guidence through the process.
Introducing Tesi Switch to the Home of Tone! Quality kill switches specifically designed for guitars
Tesi Switch guitar kill switches now in stock at James' Home of Tone! A great selection of the brilliant Tesi Switch kill switch range carried in stock, with more planned in the future. Quality kill switches all designed with guitars in mind, from the incredibly useful 8mm, 10mm and 12mm diameter mounting point buttons, to latching for mute or coil switch uses, to big fun arcade buttons and LED kill switches. These are great bits of kit and I'm proud to bring them a little more easily available to players in the UK
Offset bridge solutions! - StayTrem, Mustang, Mastery, GraphTech, TOM, Descendant & Buzz Stop
A closer look at the numerous replacement bridge options available today for Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars. We are truly spoilt for choice these days, so let's look at some of the most popular solutions and hopefully find the right one for you and your offset!
My first, and honest look at the 2023 reissue Tom Delonge Strat
I'm of the generation where a number of my formative years were spent loving pop punk bands, namely of course the band that defined the genre for so many, Blink 182. I loved the original Tom Delonge signature Fender model, something I have wrote about on the blog before. Needless to say, even just for the nostalgia, it was great to see Tom and Fender join forces again and reissue his iconic stripped back punk rock Strat amidst the Blink 182 Reunion shows and tours.
Home of Tone at The Guitar Show 2024
It's approaching that time of year where prep has well and truly begun for this year's Guitar Show. This is a superb show, no doubt in my mind that it's the biggest and best show in the UK and I'll proudly be there again! Right in front of the main public entrance to the main hall, you'll see me! I'll be bringing along a great selection of all of my stocked brands, and you'll of course have chance to check out the gear in person, see some of the current guitar stock, try out pedals and more. Look forward to seeing you there!
THE GUITAR SHOW | MARCH 2ND & 3RD 2024 | CRANMORE PARK | B90 4LE
Mikey Demus of Redbeard Effects slaying That Pedal Show!
Featured on the always popular 'That Pedal Show' YouTube channel alongside Dan and Mick, was good friend of the Home of Tone, Mikey Demus of Redbeard Effects. As you may already know, I have proudly stocked Mikey's great selection of pedals for a few years now, I'm a big fan of his pedals and is always such a good guy to deal with. Very cool to see him, his pedals and his music spotlighted on the show and highly recommend that you check it out if you haven't already!
Introducing Etwood Guitar Straps to the Home of Tone!
I have been following Adam and his work creating Etwood Guitar Straps for a while, and admired the strive for creating something unique, whilst ensuring quality was top of the agenda too. We connected and kept in touch, and very glad to say I am now proudly stocking his work here at the Home of Tone!
The Signature Series / Ground Bug deal!
'Ground Bug' deal!
Looking forward to installing your new pre-wired harness/wiring, but a little worried about making the ground connections to the pot casings? First time soldering and hear the horror stories of frying pots, or just simply want to neaten up your installs?
Then the awesome 'Ground Bug' will help with any of these concerns, beginner or pro modders alike. The Ground Bug is a pot washer that fits between the pot casing and the pickguard/body and has a number of lugs (much like with the main signal connections on the pot for example) to which you can very easily solder your ground wire connections too.
Looking forward to installing your new pre-wired harness/wiring, but a little worried about making the ground connections to the pot casings? First time soldering and hear the horror stories of frying pots, or just simply want to neaten up your installs?
Then the awesome 'Ground Bug' will help with any of these concerns, beginner or pro modders alike. The Ground Bug is a pot washer that fits between the pot casing and the pickguard/body and has a number of lugs (much like with the main signal connections on the pot for example) to which you can very easily solder your ground wire connections too.
How-to guide - Shielding a '72 Telecaster Custom
In this article I'm going to feature how to correctly apply copper foil shield a Telecaster Custom (but the same methods/rules apply for shielding any guitar so I hope this helps you even if you aren't doing this to a Tele Custom!). I hope to briefly also touch on some of the finer details too so that hopefully you're not just copying how to do it, but instead learning about the parts and how they're working too. Always good to have some understanding of how your instrument works I think! I will be following this article up with a part 2, which will be showing you how to make a wiring loom for this model too, so sit tight for that article to be published very soon.
What types of pickup wires will fit into the Solderless harness connector blocks?
The RS Pro connector blocks I use for easy, solder-free pickup wire connections on my Solderless Series pre-wired kits have been tested with a wide variety of common pickup wire types, and comfortably will fit a wide variety of common pickup wire types.
Whether you have traditional single coils with cloth covered push-back style individual hot/ground wires, 4 conductor plastic coated wires or traditional braided 2 conductor seen on humbucker for example, they will all fit, but each will just need to be prepared slightly differently depending on which you have, for install. In this article I'll talk through what that prep work is, and how to install the wires into the connector blocks. I hope this helps make your install process that bit smoother.
Whether you have traditional single coils with cloth covered push-back style individual hot/ground wires, 4 conductor plastic coated wires or traditional braided 2 conductor seen on humbucker for example, they will all fit, but each will just need to be prepared slightly differently depending on which you have, for install. In this article I'll talk through what that prep work is, and how to install the wires into the connector blocks. I hope this helps make your install process that bit smoother.
How-to guide - Making a right handed Jazzmaster wiring loom
In this article I'm going to feature how to make a traditional wiring loom for a Jazzmaster, but briefly also touch on some of the finer details too so that hopefully you're not just copying how to do it, but instead learning about the parts and how they're working too. Always good to have some understanding of how your instrument works I think! But by all means, if you just want to get it made, skip through these bits and get to the wiring!
Introducing the Ground Bug by Swannell Guitars! A neat guitar pot ground wire solution
From the mind of UK based luthier, Jamie Swannell comes a really simple but genius helping hand for guitar wiring, the Ground Bug! This solder lug washer has some very handy uses indeed, from neatening up your wiring installs, to making ground connections easier and any future changes/mods/maintenance much easier too.
This is a simple washer design that fits underneath your pots and has extended lugs so that you can easily solder ground wires to. This is very useful for those that perhaps really struggle with making or consistently making ground wire solder connections to pot casings, drastically reducing the risk of damaging a pot from excessive heat for example. As with the Ground Bug installed, you simply solder your ground wires to any of the 8 lugs available.
This is a simple washer design that fits underneath your pots and has extended lugs so that you can easily solder ground wires to. This is very useful for those that perhaps really struggle with making or consistently making ground wire solder connections to pot casings, drastically reducing the risk of damaging a pot from excessive heat for example. As with the Ground Bug installed, you simply solder your ground wires to any of the 8 lugs available.