A Little Help Please?

[Jeffo46]

Hi guys. My wife recently bought me one of those Indonesian made ,Kramer Pacer FT-211S guitars, which were advertised on Musician's Friend as a $99.99 "Special"! It's a SSH configuration with a 5 way pup switch, and when it came in, it sounded like ****! So I took out all of the stock electronics, from the pickups, Pots, to the 5 way switch, and installed some Copper shielding tape in both the Humbucker and the electronics compartments. I then installed a Tone Pros 500K Volume Pot and a Epiphone Bridge Humbucker from a 1998 Korean made, Les Paul Standard, which I wired directly to the volume pot. Now ever since I did this, when I go to play the guitar and try to adjust the volume, all I get is either a increase or decrease in the guitar's tone, depending on which way I turn the knob. If I reinstall a Tone pot along with a capacitor, will this alleviate the problem and restore things back to normal as far as volume and tone are concerned? When I play clean, it sounds okay,but whenever I kick in the distortion on my amp, it sounds really muddy and I'm starting to think that, the way I have the pickup wired might be the problem.

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: A Little Help Please?

I'm starting to think that, the way I have the pickup wired might be the problem.

Seems right. The volume should work as a volume. Check your wiring. Taking pics and posting them here, could help people diagnose your problem.

Simply.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: A Little Help Please?

it sounded like ****!

Epiphone Bridge Humbucker from a 1998 Korean made, Les Paul Standard.

Just wait until LtKojak reads this. :cool2:

I'm starting to think that, the way I have the pickup wired might be the problem.

Are you left- or right-handed? I am wondering whether you have connected to the three pot contacts in the wrong order.

Have you added a treble bleed (AKA treble bypass) on the volume pot? If so, where?

+1 for photographs or an accurate drawing of what you have done (as opposed to what you think you have done).

 

[Jeffo46]

Re: A Little Help Please?

I have it wired according to Duncan's post for 1 Humbucker & 1 Volume. The Pickup has 2 wires, 1 white which is the Hot and 1 bare, which is the Ground. The White is soldered to the 1st contact on the Pot and the bare is soldered to the top of the pot to keep it grounded. I just ordered a Fender 500K pot yesterday that comes with a Capacitor that I'll be using as a Tone Pot, so I'm hoping that'll help out.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: A Little Help Please?

This is the SD schematic. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=1hum_1vol The Duncan colour codes do not apply to your Epiphone humbucker.

The hot conductor of the Epiphone HB will be white or red. The second wire should be a bare ground. The red colour code that you mentioned is the outer insulation for the entire pickup cable.

If I am wrong, and your Epi HB has two skinny conductor wires, it should also have a thrid wire (the bare ground) in need of connection.

 

[Jeffo46]

Re: A Little Help Please?

The pickup is Korean made from 1998, and only has 2 wires, not 3. The White one is the Hot and the bare is the Ground wire . I stand corrected, there is no Red wire. I had it mixed up with the original humbucker that originally came with the guitar. Sorry.

 

[AlexR]

Re: A Little Help Please?

I've had this before.....if you wire the pot incorrectly you either get nothing or a partial tone pot.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: A Little Help Please?

yea the tone thing is definitely a missing ground on the volume

 

[Jeffo46]

Re: A Little Help Please?

I guess I'll just have to wait for my new Pot to come in. I checked the USPS tracking site and it's in, but seeing that today's a holiday, I won't have it until Monday.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: A Little Help Please?

The Pickup has 2 wires, 1 white which is the Hot and 1 bare, which is the Ground.

I spy retrospective post correction. This makes all subsequent posts look misinformed. Please leave your incorrect notions posted. The errors are a useful part of the problem-solving process.

The White is soldered to the 1st contact on the Pot and the bare is soldered to the top of the pot to keep it grounded.

As AlexR and ehdwuld have already pointed out, the fault must be down to the connections between the pot and the output jack socket. The muffled sound when the pot is rotated beyond 7 is the leakage around the internal resistance track back to the centre lug.

I just ordered a Fender 500K pot yesterday that comes with a Capacitor that I'll be using as a Tone Pot, so I'm hoping that'll help out.

Adding a Tone pot will not correct the incorrect volume pot wiring. You have overlooked some basic element of the circuit. (This is nothing of which to be ashamed. I have done this waaay more times than you. I blame the solder fumes.)

 

[Jeffo46]

Re: A Little Help Please?

Problem solved ! It seems that the output jack wasn't soldered properly. Everything's fine now and thanks to everyone on here for their advice. I'm still going to be putting in a new tone pot come Monday, when my new one comes in.