Help please

[Grenade]

I have a lap steel from 1942 that developed a problem. It is single coil with vol. and tone. The volume is very low but if I tap on the poles it is very loud. Resistance runs up to about 56K with vol. at 7-8 then drops to 8k with vol. wide open. It has 250k pots and is grounded to the bridge. I have the normal 60hz hum but the output is too low. Does this sound like a vol. pot or a broken wire in the pickup?

[jeremy]

Re: Help please

wire the pup right to the output jack and see how the output is

[Grenade]

Re: Help please

Tone pot goes from 0 to .610 on 2M scale on my meter. Vol. pot goes from 0 to .009 on the same scale. pickup reads 7.35k . I'm going after a new vol. pot and I'll post the results when I get back. Damn I just knocked the magnets of my bench, which goes where and which side up?

[hermetico]

Re: Help please

Or you volume pot is fried or you have a loose or bad soldering spot or you haven't your volume pot grounded.

[Grenade]

Re: Help please

New pots are in place but I don' know the orientation of the two round magnets. Should both north be up or one north and one south up?

[jeremy]

Re: Help please

i would assume both the same orientation. since there is only one pup, it shouldnt matter if its north up or south as long as they are the same

[Grenade]

Re: Help please

New pots were the same as old. I removed tone from the circuit and no change. Swapped the vol. pot for the tone pot and no change. The only way it works is pickup straight to the jack. I rewired like the original and I wired with a Duncan 1 humbucker 1 vol. diagram. I'm a little lost at this point.

[jeremy]

Re: Help please

if the pup works to the jack than its your wiring or the pots

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help please

Since you've tried a new pot and switched them around with no improvement, then it has to be your wiring. Check that the volume pot outside lug is grounded to the body of the pot with a good (electrical not physical) solder connection.

Your photo is not very good of the vol pot. The connections are hidden under your labelling tape or the wires and it is impossible to analyze the connections. I can't see the wire to the jack. Another photo showing the connections would be helpful.

[Grenade]

Re: Help please

I wired it straight up so I could play it last night. This mornig I checked my pots and one is 242k and the other 237k. I tried again, hot wire from pickup to outside left lug(looking at the bottom of the pot), outer right lug grounded to pot and ground from pickup and jack, center lug to hot on jack. no sound whatsoever. I haven't changed any wires at all, they are original and work when wired straight to the jack. What am I overlooking here? I'll post some more pics soon.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help please

I wired it straight up so I could play it last night. This mornig I checked my pots and one is 242k and the other 237k. I tried again, hot wire from pickup to outside left lug(looking at the bottom of the pot), outer right lug grounded to pot and ground from pickup and jack, center lug to hot on jack. no sound whatsoever. I haven't changed any wires at all, they are original and work when wired straight to the jack. What am I overlooking here? I'll post some more pics soon.

Since it works when going straight to the jack, and you do have it wired correctly, it sounds like your vol pot is dead. Get a new one and see if it helps.

[Grenade]

Re: Help please

I rechecked the new pots and found the left lug wasn't connected to anything in th pot. I took my meter to the store and found three more the same way. He gave me a set of split shafts for free and ordered replacement smooth shafts for me at no extra charge. Now it's working the way it should. Thanks for your help guys.

[jeremy]

Re: Help please

cool. glad to hear you got it worked out!

[Grenade]

Re: Help please

It's a beater but it's mine. Now I'm set up for lap steel and guitar > A/B box > BD-2 > Bassman > Dime with GE-7 and corned beef in the loop. It'll take a little longer to set up but now I can switch instruments in the same song.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help please

Glad to hear you're good to go. That's incredible to hear that so many new pots were bad. It's good that all is turning out well for you though.