New 500K CTS PP Pot - Not Grounding To Pot Case

[Daver11111]

This worked out great for me !

CTS / MojoTone W3500L502 CTS 500K Long Shaft DPDT Push-Pull Potentiometer

I just installed the new 500K CTS PP Pots in my 2012 LP Standard. The previous (Alpha)WD PP Pots seemed scratchy to me so I changed them out. I really like these new CTS pots - Volume and Tone (taper) seems a lot better, and even the sound seems cleaner. Easy to push/pull and not quite as easy to turn also.

Soldering the wires into those small holes took me a while to get used to and I only ruined one pot, but it worked out great on the second and third one.

THE QUESTION IS - ARE 'POTS' SUPPOSED TO BE GROUNDED for 'SOME' REASON? and WHY ? Opinions?

As you can see, I did not connect any ground wires to the pot cases at all which is made from a lot of plastic and didn't want to solder anything to the part of the pot case that is metal. So I figured out how to wire it up this way and all is great (it seems). I have no noise or anything like that. In fact it seems quieter and better than ever.

I previously always soldered to the pot cases, but now I like wiring everything 'without soldering to the cases'.

I also used quick connect adapters since that is what I already had on my 59 custom/hybrid bridge pups.
I'm lovin the switching options I have for the bridge pup and also my APH1 neck pup with the out of phase and shunt to ground options.
Not for everyone but good for me and I like having the various combinations to play around with.

Daver

 

[AlexR]

Re: New 500K CTS PP Pot - Not Grounding To Pot Case

You need a ground circuit. The pot case is used because it is convenient and also grounds a metal component too.

 

[Daver11111]

Re: New 500K CTS PP Pot - Not Grounding To Pot Case

You need a ground circuit. The pot case is used because it is convenient and also grounds a metal component too.

I do have a ground circuit for the signal and it works fine as far as I know.
So do you mean the case is only used for grounding when it is convenient?

 

[AlexR]

Re: New 500K CTS PP Pot - Not Grounding To Pot Case

Some guitars have a star ground, or a line ground.....my Carvin is one. But all guitars have pots and its easy to solder on many connections to that nice flat surface....simple as that. In a tight space it also won't touch things it isn't supposed to.

 

[Daver11111]

Re: New 500K CTS PP Pot - Not Grounding To Pot Case

Ok... Thanks. Good to know that the pot itself doesn't require a ground as I thought it might.

I was also thinking that maybe connecting a ground wire from the Tone Pot Lug to the Volume Pot Lug (instead of using the pot cases for ground wire) might not be a good thing. But it worked out and was less wire to install and solder.