New pickups but tone pot cuts sound at 0

[eclecticsynergy]

With anything less than .01uf do you even really hear much difference as you roll down the pot?

It tames the fizz and warms things a bit without really darkening much. The cool thing is the boost in the upper mids.
The post where I first learned of the idea (re: using 250K pot and small cap with a 490T) refers to it as "rolling off the harsh."

Here's a link to that post here on the SDUGF.

And a nice graph of mid peaks with various small cap values (these measurements were done using singlecoils, but it demonstrates how smaller caps raise the peak frequency).

[GuitarDoc]

Well it can't really "boost" the mids, I guess it could sound like a relative mid boost since it cuts the highs and makes the mids more noticeable. Doesn't the 490T have an A2 magnet? I would expect that to sound pretty un-harsh to begin with...similar to their '57 Classic.

That graph is using a single coil pup, so I would expect that lowering the cap values would have a more noticeable affect on the highs than using a humbucker. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've used a .01uf many times to do that (take the very highest frequencies out), but I just don't see using a pot with anything less than a .01uf cap. Wouldn't it be easier just to use a switch if you're going to use a smaller cap?

[Spaghetti Bolo]

There IS a midboost effect happening.

[AdamPEI]

Very good info, I'll try some different caps in it. I do notice quite a bit of buzzing when the volume is off and it increases when I touch the volume or bridge. Is that a bad ground? The Shadow killpot hasn't been kind so far in this wiring so maybe they even have a bad diagram on their website.

[GuitarDoc]

There IS a midboost effect happening.

Tell me how that could possibly happen in a passive circuit composed of several resisters (and a capacitor). Anything you put in there can only attenuate a particular part of the circuit or shunt some of it to ground (output, treble, bass, etc). Where does the "boost" come from without an added power source?

The frequency of the mids/highs may be changed/raised but not the amplitude (boost). Like I said, if the highs are attenuated the mids will be more apparent (due to less highs), but they won't be boosted.

[AdamPEI]

That is correct. A capacitor just stores energy and released to give an uninterrupted signal but its physical size would impact the frequencies it would allow to pass through it. There is no difference between a tone pot and a volume pot but the way it's used. They are variable resistors.

Another thing I forgot to mention. The ground wire to the bridge in this Yamaha is just a wire pressed between the body and the bridge. Could this be the issue with the buzzing while the volume is off? Buzzing gets louder when I touch the volume knob. I also read some people wire the jack backwards but I don't think I did that lol

[GuitarDoc]

No, the ground wire to the bridge is the way it is usually done and will not cause your problem, especially if the buzzing gets worse when you touch the volume knob. Sounds like a bad ground connection to the vol pot.

[AdamPEI]

So my volume pot is a shadow electronics killpot. They say to have the ground on the 3rd lug and connect to the right pinhole on the upper part (momentary switch). In a volume pot setup they say signal in to the middle lug. Signal out to the left lug and also connected to the top left of the momentary switch. In regular wiring diagrams my signal out should be the middle lug as it connects to the tip of the input jack. But I also realize there is no ground to the pot casing in this diagram either. I can't solder to the top of the case because of the momentary switch but shouldn't I have grounded the right lug to the side of the pot case?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/16...28476329132548

[Wound_Up]

So my volume pot is a shadow electronics killpot. They say to have the ground on the 3rd lug and connect to the right pinhole on the upper part (momentary switch). In a volume pot setup they say signal in to the middle lug. Signal out to the left lug and also connected to the top left of the momentary switch. In regular wiring diagrams my signal out should be the middle lug as it connects to the tip of the input jack. But I also realize there is no ground to the pot casing in this diagram either. I can't solder to the top of the case because of the momentary switch but shouldn't I have grounded the right lug to the side of the pot case?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/16...28476329132548

The killpot has grounds going
to the pot casing in both figures, the 4 pot diagram and the 2 pot diagram. It's just very hard to see them there on the sides because they're very small.

They both have the center lug grounded to the case through a capacitor. That's considered grounded to the case, right? Serious question, though I'm sure I asked this already lol.

[AdamPEI]

Fig.4 is a diagram setup as a tone pot. A capacitor would just bleed off an unwanted frequencies to ground. I went by fig.2 but in all diagrams I've looked at the volume has the 3rd lug grounded to the pot case. I'm going to try hooking a wire from it to the side of the case and see what happens

[AdamPEI]

I grounded the side pot casing on the volume and still has a buzz when the volume is off. The buzz gets quieter when I touch the volume knob and tone pot but stays the same when I touch the 5 way switch. When I touch all three at once it stops. Is there a chance the Seymour Duncan 5 way diagram we fixed still has an error at the 5 way blade?