How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

[Pierre]

Right now I wired this HSH guitar for bridge volume and middle volume. The pots are connected to a 5 way switch. However I never know which lug to ground (one of the outside one right) or which to wire to the switch. Right now the middle lugs are connected to the switch, but neither of the pots work this way. Is this the problem?

 

[Artie]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

This is it in its simplest form. Green is ground:

The outside two lugs are the basic resistor. The middle lug is the "wiper" that slides along the resistor.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

The center terminal is connected to the wiper...it's like the hand of a clock and it wipes across the resistor inside the pot. One end of that resistor is connected to one of the outside terminals and the other end of the resistor is connected to the other outside terminal.

 

[Pierre]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

So they're wired properly with one of the outside lugs being grounded, the middle going to whatever pickup's lug on the miniswitch and the other end being left out? Or should I invert the hot wired to the switch?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

See how Artie has the center terminal connected to the output jack? That means that the center terminal of the pot is the OUTPUT of the pot. The INPUT of the pot would be the terminal that the pickup(s) is connected to in his diagram. The remaining terminal is attached to ground. Now the pot is full on when the control knob is turned clockwise. If you reversed the connections to the two outside terminals and made it so the terminal the pickup is connected to in Artie's diagram was grounded and the pickup was connected to the remaining terminal the pot would work counter-clockwise...it would be full on when the pot was turned "down". Lew

 

[Pierre]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

Then I'm certain I did something wrong... I connected the output to the 0 lug (which I assume is permanently on) and each pot is connected to the pickup's lug (on the second set of lug) on the switch. So basically, one of the outside lugs on the pots is left untouched.

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

Just because it hasn't been explained before and might help a bit:
See your pot as 2 resistors (R1 & R2) in series with a 3rd wire attached between them (the one that leads to port C). So if you have the pot turned half, you have two similar resistors. But if you turn it up a bit (clockwise), R1 will be less than R2 (and vice versa)

     A
     o
     |
     R1
     |
     o----oC
     |
     R2
     |
     o
     B

Sorry for the crappy ASCII art
Hope that helps a bit

 

[crash]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

this link will tell all and in the simplest form...

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-4000.html

 

[ians]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

Hi,I am new to this forum and I have a question about the correct size of pots for a strat when installing Seymour Duncan JBJr - Bridge, Duckbucker in Middle and Lil' 59 in Neck.
I have read that high output pickups and some hummers require 500k pots whereas Single Coil generally require 250k pots.
Can anyone guide me here ?

Thanks

ians

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

Hi,I am new to this forum and I have a question about the correct size of pots for a strat when installing Seymour Duncan JBJr - Bridge, Duckbucker in Middle and Lil' 59 in Neck.
I have read that high output pickups and some hummers require 500k pots whereas Single Coil generally require 250k pots.
Can anyone guide me here ?

Thanks

ians

All of those pickups were designed to work fine in a standard Strat with 250K pots. Personally, I think the JB JR bridge model sounds even better (brighter) with 500K pots but 500K pots will make standard Strat neck and middle single coils sound a little brighter than most people are comfortable with. Generally, full size humbuckers like the Seth Lover or 59 get 500K pots and Strat/Tele size minihumbuckers are used with 250K pots. Lew

 

[octavedoctor]

Re: How do pots work (relative to all 3 lugs)

The pickups you mention here are all humbuckers so you would be better off with 500KΩ pots.

Basically, you match the resistance of the pot to that of the pickup. Because humbuckers are around double the resistance of single coils you would tend to use the higher value pot.

However this doesn't mean that 250k pots can't be used with humbuckers or that 500 k pots can't be used with single coils; generally, if you have a humbucker and two single coils you would use the higher value pot as the 250K would tend to pull down the output of the humbucker (imagine it as a 500K pot turned half way down)