Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

[aceoftrons]

I just got a Pearly Gates set for my Les Paul yesterday and installed it right away. Everything worked fine but the Bridge Volume. I hear a crackling noise when turning it and usually past 8 it just cuts out. I’ve re-checked everything and the wiring is correct and re-sottered many times but I keep getting the same result. Also, right before removing the previous pickups I was playing them, so I assume there’s no problem with the pot since this only happened after the new ones were installed.

 

[Artie]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

Welcome to the forum. This is a classic symptom of overheating the back of the pot and deforming the little plastic wafer that holds the wiper. Did you, by any chance, resolder the ground on the back of the pot?
This is where a meter comes in handy. Put the ground lead on the grounded terminal of the pot, and the red lead on the middle lug. (Wiper.) And rotate the pot while looking for erratic ohms readings.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

+1 to what Artie said. Damaged pot or cold solder joint. This is typical with using an underpowered soldering iron.

That's right...using a more powerful, hotter soldering iron creates LESS damaging heat in the pot.

With an underpowered iron you have to leave it on the back of the pot longer in order to get it hot enough to melt the solder. That allows the heat to travel throughout the pot damaging the more delicate parts. Also, if you make big blobs of solder that also take more heat away from the iron and into the pot. Using a powerful iron heats the back of the pot and the solder in LESS time so the heat won't travel to the inside of the pot.

A powerful iron is the key, but TECHNIQUE is essential for a good result.

Check out my thread from several months ago about soldering.

(Note to administrator...we keep referring to that thread and have to keep searching for it trying to find it. Perhaps it would be a good sticky.)

 

[aceoftrons]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

Thanks a lot for the reply! Actually this was my first time installing new pups, and yes, when installing the neck pickup the ground came loose a bit so I resoldered it to the back of the pot but kind of in the middle. Let me give it a try and see how it goes.

 

[aceoftrons]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

So I resoldered the ground to the grounded back of the pot and the vol now works as it should, only small detail is it still cuts out in a tiny spot around 9 only when moving the knob ever so slightly back and forth.

 

[Artie]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

You may have gotten a little flux in there. See if you can get some alcohol, or contact cleaner in there. Deoxit is my favorite. It's a cleaner/conditioner.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

Worst possible outcome here is that you'd have to replace the pot if you can't get DeOxit to work, but last I checked a new pot is cheaper if you don't own DeOxit!

 

[aceoftrons]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

Sounds good I'll give it a shot, thanks again for the help!

 

[aceoftrons]

Re: Help! Bridge Volume Cutting Out

Doesn't sound as bad as I thought! I'll look into it, thanks a lot!