So I have an embarrassing question. I’m assembling my kit and I’ve found this in a little bag with the rest of the components. I know this sounds like a n00b question but what is this thing (see attached photo) and what do I solder it to?
As always any help provided would be greatly appreciated.
Not really a noob question at all. I had worked on a number of guitars before I actually encountered one of these.
What you have there is the PitBull guitars treble bleed circuit. I didn't know they were being included with the kits, but that's great.
There are lots of different formulas for a treble bleed. Most are comprised of a resistor and a capacitor, but the values vary as in the pic. The one that TD makes for PB is one of the most tried and true. The values would be the same as the circuit on the right. That's the one you have, I think. I included the pic on the left so that you could see how the pot looks when wired with the pot's input and output.
It's a totally optional wiring mod. The reason for it is that volume pots, in addition to lowering the volume, can also make the overall tone darker. To avoid this problem, tone bleed circuit sends some of the high tones from the input to the output so that as you turn down the volume control it doesn't affect the tone as much.
Treble bleeds tend to be most useful on guitars with single coils and other low-output pickups, and also vary depending on other factors like the value of your pots, output of your pickups and the length of your guitar cable...
I typically don't use them on basses. My main electric guitar uses humbucking, dual rail Tele style pickups that are fairly hot. I didn't use a treble bleed on that guitar, but I may in future. I don't notice the tone darkening until I roll the volume back about half way...but after that I do. Haven't decided whether this bothers me or not ;-) I will most likely use them on the Tele I am building with traditional lower output single coil pickups.
Up to you whether you use it or not, but nice to have in any case. Not something that usually comes with kits ;-)
Here's a reference to various approaches used by pickup makers:
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