Wiring issue or faulty pot?

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marshall409

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My Agile Les Paul has the standard volume volume tone tone set up.
But suddenly he bridge volume wont turn completely off or really go anywhere near all the way down.

This is pretty important to me as most of my changes live depend upon switching pickups and adjusting volume.

Does this sound like a wiring issue or a faulty volume pot to you guys?

Also as a side note:

I know there are two types of pots: audio and linear. One of them reduces volume equally all the way down, and the other one is more like what you find on a guitar where the last say 10% are a big boost of volume. Which one is which and which one is used on guitars?

Lastly, my old knock off les paul, the pots felt nice and heavy and smooth, meaning like they had a nice smooth but present resistance to them. These ones on the Agile give absolutely no resistance and i dont like that. I opened her up, and theyre Alpha A500k and B500k pots. I dont know what the ones on my old LP were. Is this a pot issue as well or does it just vary between brands and models of potentiometers?

Sorry for the multi question post.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Adam
 
I have no idea how to answer this question, but Neil Young RAWKS!!!!
 
i don't have enough experience to diagnose, but if you're a DIY'er, just try opening the control cavity and doing a visual. Sometimes a wire simply disconnets (comes loose). See if something "looks" like it needs re-soldering.

I am a complete dilettante in electronics, but if i understand correctly the volume POT sends signal down to earth(groun) when you turn it down. so if yours is not doing that, perhaps something's not connected to ground somewhere. of course it could be somewhere near the switch, not necessarily the volume pot. but the couple times that i've seen wires come loose on guitars was the ground connections between pots.

someone will either refute me with more correct info or provide additional suggestions.
 
marshall409 said:
My Agile Les Paul has the standard volume volume tone tone set up.
But suddenly he bridge volume wont turn completely off or really go anywhere near all the way down.

This is pretty important to me as most of my changes live depend upon switching pickups and adjusting volume.

Does this sound like a wiring issue or a faulty volume pot to you guys?

Also as a side note:

I know there are two types of pots: audio and linear. One of them reduces volume equally all the way down, and the other one is more like what you find on a guitar where the last say 10% are a big boost of volume. Which one is which and which one is used on guitars?

Lastly, my old knock off les paul, the pots felt nice and heavy and smooth, meaning like they had a nice smooth but present resistance to them. These ones on the Agile give absolutely no resistance and i dont like that. I opened her up, and theyre Alpha A500k and B500k pots. I dont know what the ones on my old LP were. Is this a pot issue as well or does it just vary between brands and models of potentiometers?

Sorry for the multi question post.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Adam
Click to expand...

Sounds like a bad ground on your volume pot to me.
 
Yes, Neil is the man. Thanks for the input Tele.:p

I did open it up to get the brand of pot because i was thinking of ordering new ones but i dont want to buy the same brand obviously. nothing LOOKS disconnected, it actually looks very well done to my eyes, but its pretty cramped and the wires are stiff and bunched up so i cant get a very good look at it.

my main question is am im going to need a new pot or no?

Adam
 
Based on some Alpha pots I just bought, A is log and B is lin. In instruments I believe log pots are most often used for volume and lin for tone, but it depends on any other electronics, etc.

If your volume is not dropping past a certain point, it sounds like its a bad ground connection on that pot, which could either be inside or outside the pot. A visual inspection ought to be fairly easy (there's the usual back plate, right?) to determine there's a break where the one lug is soldered to the ground wire, and likely to the body of the pot itself.

I don't think it would be, but is the problem dependent on the switch position (bridge on or both on) or that pickup's tone control? If so, that could point to something else.

edit: sorry for redundant info - simultaneous posts...
 
I have no idea of the exact wiring diagram of your guitar (maybe this? http://www.lacemusic.com/wiring/pdf/6.pdf ), but (with the guitar set up to play and the volume pot turned all the way off):

If you have a jumper wire, connect it from the wiper (middle lug) of the bridge volume pot to the ground lug of the pot.

1) You should now have no volume from that pickup. If you have no volume, the problem could well be the pot.

2) If you still have volume, something other than the pot is causing the problem. Now connect the wire from the same middle lug to another ground point on the guitar. If it corrects the problem, the pot's ground lug is not grounded, and you need to look for a loose or bad solder connection.

If none of this corrects the problem, you're going to have to look elsewhere in the circuit; probably a bad solder connection.
 
Whale Bone said:
Based on some Alpha pots I just bought, A is log and B is lin. In instruments I believe log pots are most often used for volume and lin for tone, but it depends on any other electronics, etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah. If you use a linear pot for volume, the change in volume sounds like it is decidedly not linear because human perception of volume is logarithmic in nature.

Balance pots historically were half log, half reverse-log so that you don't get too quiet too quickly near the ends, but so that the perception is that the volume doesn't change dramatically when you pan it from left to right. I don't remember the details, though. I'm not sure what they use now.

Tone pots are typically linear, IIRC.
 
If you don't like the feel of the pots anyway, you may as well change them. It's not like it will cost you a ton of money or anything.

On most guitars, all the pots are audio tapper, but linear is not a bad thing for tone pots. You definitely want audio tapper for your volume pots though.

Get CTS pots, but you will likely have to get someone with a reamer to ream out the holes, as Alpha pots are a slightly small, metric size. They are acceptable pots, but not great. CTS are great. Which is not to say there is a huge difference, but there is some.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Alright I think I'll go ahead and get them replaced since theyre pretty chincy feeling anyway. I may or may not bring it in to get the job done professionally.

Im assuming it would be cheaper to buy the pots online and bring them in to get installed rather than order them through a guitar shop? if so, where would you suggest i buy a set of CTS pots?

Adam
 
grasshopa, this is a great chance to learn to DIY - you'll never be the same :)

so if you have a soldering iron (or can borrow one), why don't you order the POTs and other parts, print some schematics from SeymourDuncan and try doing it yourself. If all else fails, take it to be done "professionally".

this is kinda like paying a car dealer to replace your windshield wipers or fluid, though.

it's a great feeling to say "yeah, i modded it...".

split some coils :D
 
I'm definitely considering it.

My local shop guesses around 40 bucks for the work alone. Honestly, if i decided to take it there, thats not a ridiculous price imo.

My dads an electronics engineer, so ya the more i think about it, i probably will end up doing it myself .

ordering tonight, putting em in myself. wish me luck.

Thanks guys, you've been great as always.

Adam
 
My guess is that you will end up spending at least as much buying online as you would in a local store, particularly after paying for shipping, AND by buying local you will get both better service, you'll get the parts sooner, and you will be supporting a local business, which is always an important thing. Certainly, I sell pots for less than, say, Allparts does.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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