problems with pots

patlang12

patlang12

New member
I have been buidling a guitar for a while. I am working on the electronics and I am having a few issues. I am using vintage noiseless pickups and they are still fairly noisy (I compared them to a guitar with vintage noiseless on it and it was a lot quieter). The second problem is that when I turn down the volume all the way on the guitar it only cuts the volume about halfway. I have wired and rewired and checked and rechecked everything and I can't find a problem. Could a bad volume pot be the source of both of those problems?

If it could be I will try buying a new volume pot. The pots that came with the pickups are 1meg pots. I have heard that this is way too high for a strat. I was thinking of getting a 250k volume pot. Can I mix and match different level pots, and if I can what will the result be, or should I replace the tone ones too. Thanks everybody!!
 
patlang12 said:
I have been buidling a guitar for a while. I am working on the electronics and I am having a few issues. I am using vintage noiseless pickups and they are still fairly noisy (I compared them to a guitar with vintage noiseless on it and it was a lot quieter). The second problem is that when I turn down the volume all the way on the guitar it only cuts the volume about halfway. I have wired and rewired and checked and rechecked everything and I can't find a problem. Could a bad volume pot be the source of both of those problems?
Click to expand...

I don't know about the noise issue, but if your guitar is wired correctly, when the volume is all the way down the output jack should be shorted to ground, and there can be no sound output. It sounds to me like you have it wired so that when the volume is all the way down, the entire resistance of the pot is in series with the pickup. If you don't have one of the outer lugs of your volume pot connected to ground (the opposite one from the one that goes to the p'ups), that's what you'd get .

Here's some help:
http://www.1728.com/guitar.htm
 
Ok thanks. I will try that. I just bought some 250k pots because from everything I read 1meg pots seemed a little too much. Do I need to use different resistors or can I use the ones that came with the pickups and original pots?
 
Well, the original kit probably came with a capacitor or two, but unless you are using a TBX control there probably aren't any resistors. As far as the caps, yes, you can use what came with the kit. The thing is, I could have sworn that I remembered the Noiseless pickups coming with 250k pots, though it has been a while since I looked at a set.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Ok after lots of tinkering I finally got it wired, put strings on it and started to play. I installed an active eq control (artec sound BCU ((pretty much a tbx)). It is a push pull pot. I pulled it and the rod ripped right out. When I put it back in it just falls out. I am afraid that I broke the little latch or something inside the pot because it looked like it was plastic inside. I emailed the company I bought it from and they said they are forwarding the email so I will see what happens. I might open up the pot, but I am going to wait until I hear back from them. Any ideas on what I should do?
 
patlang12 said:
Ok after lots of tinkering I finally got it wired, put strings on it and started to play. I installed an active eq control (artec sound BCU ((pretty much a tbx)). It is a push pull pot. I pulled it and the rod ripped right out. When I put it back in it just falls out. I am afraid that I broke the little latch or something inside the pot because it looked like it was plastic inside. I emailed the company I bought it from and they said they are forwarding the email so I will see what happens. I might open up the pot, but I am going to wait until I hear back from them. Any ideas on what I should do?
Click to expand...


Your going to need a new pot. Those things are not repairable.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Your going to need a new pot. Those things are not repairable.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...

Thats what I was afraid of. Have you seen this happen often or do you think it was defective? It broke not even after five minute of use. I hope the company will send me another one, but the problem is I bought it several months ago and am just now installing it.
 
patlang12 said:
Thats what I was afraid of. Have you seen this happen often or do you think it was defective? It broke not even after five minute of use. I hope the company will send me another one, but the problem is I bought it several months ago and am just now installing it.
Click to expand...

There's probably a 99.995% chance the pot was built improperly to begin with. That's not the sort of thing you'd expect to fail unless it had been through 10+ years of metal fatigue.

Which reminds me... I keep forgetting to replace that broken pot on my church's amp.
 
dgatwood said:
There's probably a 99.995% chance the pot was built improperly to begin with. That's not the sort of thing you'd expect to fail unless it had been through 10+ years of metal fatigue.

Which reminds me... I keep forgetting to replace that broken pot on my church's amp.
Click to expand...

I just hope the company sees it that way.
 
Would it be possible to take the pot part off and attach a new one to the circuit board? I attached a picture so you can see what it looks like.
 

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If they aren't going to replace it anyway it might be worth a shot. I don't think I'd be jumping right into that just yet though.
 
Sorry man, thats a surface mount board that pots attached to. You don't want to apply any major heat around those components unless you are really good with a soldering iron.
 
Anfontan said:
Sorry man, thats a surface mount board that pots attached to. You don't want to apply any major heat around those components unless you are really good with a soldering iron.
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I'm not great with a soldering iron so I guess I'll have to replace the whole thing. Hopefully the company will agree that it is a defective part and replace it.
 
i replaced a similiar thing .. i believe i ran little leads from the pot to the board... but the board was mounted and the pot hole was mounted... youd have to mount the board to something.. (so it doesnt fly all over the place) , or buy a similiar pot, which is probably as much as the whole thing..

gl
 
seismetr0n said:
i replaced a similiar thing .. i believe i ran little leads from the pot to the board... but the board was mounted and the pot hole was mounted... youd have to mount the board to something.. (so it doesnt fly all over the place) , or buy a similiar pot, which is probably as much as the whole thing..

gl
Click to expand...
I found a pot that looks like it would work. I can get it for ten bucks. I can get a whole new thing for thirty bucks. What I think probably would happen if I bought the pot I would mess it up and end up buying the whole thing again :o
 
it can be tricky to desolder a multi prong device like that..... youd need a desolder bulb (or gun)....
from the picture it looks like the lugs to be desoldered are away from the rest of the components.... so it probably depends on weather you have more time or money??

gl
 
Anfontan said:
Sorry man, thats a surface mount board that pots attached to. You don't want to apply any major heat around those components unless you are really good with a soldering iron.
Click to expand...



It can be done, but you just have to be very careful. I hate soldering on those things, personally.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Anfontan said:
Sorry man, thats a surface mount board that pots attached to. You don't want to apply any major heat around those components unless you are really good with a soldering iron.
Click to expand...

Look where the dots are on the other part of the image. The contacts for the pot aren't anywhere near any surface mount parts. :)

A solder wick works wonders.
 
[[I hate soldering on those things, personally.]] Know what you mean. When I solder stuff that delicate, I use the alligator clips clamped close to the joint to draw away excess heat. The 18" alligator clips were worn around the neck and came in handy for firing up the necessary {DOOBIE}! After 2 tokes I forgot the name of that project or Girlfriend, whichever came first?!? Okay......what were we talking about??
 
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