Hi Gregg,

Appreciate the even-handedness with which you replied, and sorry if I came across as a little thin-skinned.  Your mention of an email led me to a search for "gregg" emails in my mail client, and I did find it, so I'm responding with an apology that we never got back to you on this.

I'm going to send you two of the new Bourns push/pull pots today.  I didn't realize from reading your first post that you had purchased the unit with the interim pots, but we'll get two of the new ones out to you.  Even if you've decided you don't like the TS and plan on selling it, it'll be more valuable with the right pots.

And I see that you did in fact order knobs from us, but these wouldn't have fit the interim pots properly.  The interim pots were Alpha, and with 18-tooth knurls.  You ordered genuine Gibson knobs and imported Gibson-style knobs from us, but all of these had 24-tooth patterns molded into them, we sell no 18-tooth knobs.  So I assume that I was correct about the knobs not being the right ones for the pots, but I had it backwards: I assumed you used 18-tooth knobs on 24-tooth pots, when it was really 24-tooth knobs on 18-tooth pots.  The Bourns pots we're sending you will have 24 teeth, so all of those knobs you ordered from us will fit them.

Regarding your comment "There have been comments as to the unit's noise on other forums as well", can you point me to them?  I'm not challenging you on this, but we have a vested interest in staying on top of what's being written about the unit out there on the public sites, and a Google search for me doesn't pull anything up regarding excessive noise.  Our contention is that the unit should be inherently dead quiet, certainly as quiet as either of the other harnesses you've had in the guitar.  So I definitely want to get to the bottom of any reported trouble with the unit, because we want it to get a fair shake.  Any info is greatly appreciated.

Sorry your experience with the LP ToneShaper wasn't as positive as your experience with the Strat unit!  Also, I realize this thread wasn't started to discuss the ToneShaper, and so I'm aware that I sort of highjacked it.  Didn't want the criticisms to go unanswered though, hope you understand.

Thanks,
George

Hi, sorry to hear that you had a problem with the ToneShaper.  You've made several negative comments about it that I'd like to address.

"It's a neat gadget, but adds alot of noise"

The LP ToneShaper adds no noise whatsoever. Don't know what else was going on in your install, but absolutely, positively, the ToneShaper is completely quiet. It cannot possibly add noise to a circuit.

"one the push pull pots broke, the one for the neck pickup and rendered the neck pickup useless. Not good."

Here's my guess on this. You installed the TS into an Epiphone, and the Epiphone came with knobs that are molded for 18-tooth pot knurling.  If you look into the hole in the knob you'll see this: the 18 teeth are molded right into the plastic. If you look into the hole in Gibson knobs, you'll find that they're molded with 24 teeth, for the finer knurling pattern on USA pots (not that any pots are still made in the USA, but the 24-tooth pattern persists on CTS and some other pots).

I'm guessing you were unaware that the 18-tooth knobs that came on your Epiphone were incompatible with the 24-tooth knurling on the ToneShaper's pot shafts. On the other hand, we talk about the knurling in some detail on our website, in the description for the LP ToneShaper, so maybe you were aware of the difference, but tried to force the Epi's knobs onto the 24-tooth pots anyway. If so then you experienced a result that many other people have experienced when they did the same thing: the knobs are molded out of hard, unforgiving plastic, and trying to force them onto pots that they weren't made for can have the consequence of pushing the shaft right through the back of the pot.  Not good.

Did you try to contact us about any of this?  It'd be nice not to have to troubleshoot problems on a public forum, especially when we have every confidence that none of the problems mentioned had anything to do with our product.

George Ellison
Owner, Acme Guitar Works
Owner, ToneShapers