Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

[mateomontez]

Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Hi everyone!

I have a 2 humbucker guitar (single conductor 59 in the neck). However, in both pickups, the ground wires (59’s braided shielding and the other’s green+bare wires) were too short to make it to the cavity where the volume pot is where I need to solder them onto the back of.

So, since their hot wires both go to my lower horn’s selector switch cavity first, what I did was solder both pup’s grounding wires to the ground lug on my 3-way toggle switch. And from there, of course I have a separate wire going from that switch’s ground lug to the volume pot’s ground lug and onto the back of the pot.

So:
1. Is this a proper solution for the pickups’ ground wires? There’s no outrageous hum or buzz BUT...

2. I do have an issue now with my single volume knob not turning down the volume, just some of the low end. What would be the cause of this? I did strap a capacitor across the Hot Input and Hot Output lugs of the volume pot. Not sure if this could be related or if there’s too many wires touching on back of the pot. Possible miswiring?

Thank you for any input you may have!

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

So:
1. Is this a proper solution for the pickups’ ground wires?

Yes

2. I do have an issue now with my single volume knob not turning down the volume, just some of the low end. What would be the cause of this? I did strap a capacitor across the Hot Input and Hot Output lugs of the volume pot. Not sure if this could be related or if there’s too many wires touching on back of the pot. Possible miswiring?

Thank you for any input you may have!

You don’t have the volume pot lug grounded. So instead of shunting the signal to ground, you are running it through the cap which is removing the low end.

That’s how passive bass roll-off controls work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mateomontez]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Yes



You don’t have the volume pot lug grounded. So instead of shunting the signal to ground, you are running it through the cap which is removing the low end.

That’s how passive bass roll-off controls work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you mean that the wire going from the back of pot to the underside of my bridge needs to be checked? Or should I be placing the cap in a different place? Thanks!

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

So you have two humbuckers a 3 way toggle and one volume pot. Is there a tone pot?

 

[mateomontez]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

So you have two humbuckers a 3 way toggle and one volume pot. Is there a tone pot?

That is all! No tone pot. I figured the cap would preserve some treble when I roll down the volume.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

You need to lose the cap and ground that lug to the pot body. But, you could do a treble bleed ... one example http://www.guitar-mod.com/rg_diag_treble_bleed.html

If noise is a problem you could try using shielded wire from the toggle back to the pot. Otherwise, I think pulling the cap and grounding that lug to the pot case should do it. And adding a treble bleed if you want to.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

To not to over complicate things:

1) Like David there said, your issue is that volume pot ground lug isn't connected to ground (for some reason).

2) You may not need cap if you don't have tone pot. But if you need or want it, it's good to use resistor there as well to keep it control. Otherwise whatever you have later on in signal line may affect your guitar tone too much.

 

[mateomontez]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

You need to lose the cap and ground that lug to the pot body. But, you could do a treble bleed ... one example http://www.guitar-mod.com/rg_diag_treble_bleed.html

If noise is a problem you could try using shielded wire from the toggle back to the pot. Otherwise, I think pulling the cap and grounding that lug to the pot case should do it. And adding a treble bleed if you want to.

That treble bleed diagram is what I currently have going on. The cap is soldered to the Hot In and Hot Out lugs on the pot. The pot’s ground lug is currently getting threaded by the pup switch’s ground lug wire and onto the back of the pot. I also have a wire going from the back of pot to the underside bridge. Also my output jack hot/tip lug is receiving a wire from the pot’s hot output lug and the jack’s ground sleeve lug is wired to the back of pot also.

 

[mateomontez]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

To not to over complicate things:

1) Like David there said, your issue is that volume pot ground lug isn't connected to ground (for some reason).

Should the volume pot’s ground lug be bent forward to make contact with the back of pot while still being threaded by the wire coming from the switch’s ground lug and soldered onto the pot? Thanks!

 

[Jacew]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

So it's treble bleed cap. Missed that... so you may ignore advice 2. Which relates to tone cap without pot.

It's irrelevant what way you wire the lug to ground as long as it has connection to ground tip of the jack. Since you get output when pot at 0, that connection is broken somewhere.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Should the volume pot’s ground lug be bent forward to make contact with the back of pot while still being threaded by the wire coming from the switch’s ground lug and soldered onto the pot? Thanks!

Photos would help. The pot case needs to be grounded. As long as the pot case is grounded and that lug is connected to the back of the pot, either by a wire, or by bending and soldering it directly, it's fine.

 

[mateomontez]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

So it's treble bleed cap. Missed that... so you may ignore advice 2. Which relates to tone cap without pot.

Actually to clarify it was meant to act as a “bypass” capacitor on a volume pot with no additional tone controls. But I will need a resistor in there.

It's irrelevant what way you wire the lug to ground as long as it has connection to ground tip of the jack. Since you get output when pot at 0, that connection is broken somewhere.

Ok I will check the wire going from back of pot to the ground/inner lug on the jack.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Actually to clarify it was meant to act as a “bypass” capacitor on a volume pot with no additional tone controls. But I will need a resistor in there.

Not necessarily. It's different as it's not connected to ground. But I don't really know much about treble bleeds...

 

[mateomontez]

Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Photos would help. The pot case needs to be grounded. As long as the pot case is grounded and that lug is connected to the back of the pot, either by a wire, or by bending and soldering it directly, it's fine.

The bottom pics of the pot: that black wire soldered to the back of pot is going to the ground/inner lug on the output jack.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Sorry, missed the part about the volume pot not attenuating the output. Work that out first then worry about the treble bleed.

You don't need a resistor with the cap for the treble bleed but if you read that article i linked, you will see why you may want one. Also, the resistor does not need to be in parallel with the cap, it can be wired in series as well. Lots of info on treble bleeds on the net.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Hard to see ... The white wire to the case of the pot ... where is it going/coming from?
Cap is between input lug and wiper (middle lug/output), yes?
Make sure cap legs are not touching case of pot.
Make sure nothing connected to the input or wiper (middle/output) lugs is contacting the case of the pot (or any part of the ground).

 

[mateomontez]

Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Hard to see ... The white wire to the case of the pot ... where is it going/coming from?
Cap is between input lug and wiper (middle lug/output), yes?
Make sure cap legs are not touching case of pot.

That white wire goes to the underside of the bridge.

Cap is as you described.

Ok I will check if cap legs or anything else is touching pot case. Would that break the ground and allow the signal through the volume control when set at “0”?

 

[mateomontez]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

I made sure nothing was touching and it was the same. Maybe its something very slight?

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Ok I will check if cap legs or anything else is touching pot case. Would that break the ground and allow the signal through the volume control when set at “0”?

Probably not, but it aint good.

Double check your wiring at the toggle switch. It depends on the switch but if it's not a Switchcraft, the two inputs and the output are on the same side. So, Make sure your pickups are connected to the outer lugs and the output wire that feeds back to the pot input is connected to the middle lug (two middle lugs connected together). If you are sure it's right, make sure there isnt a solder bridge or a strand of wire bridging the inputs and the output.

 

[mateomontez]

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Re: Single Con. ‘59 Grounding and Volume Pot Issue

Probably not, but it aint good.

Double check your wiring at the toggle switch. It depends on the switch but if it's not a Switchcraft, the two inputs and the output are on the same side. So, Make sure your pickups are connected to the outer lugs and the output wire that feeds back to the pot input is connected to the middle lug (two middle lugs connected together). If you are sure it's right, make sure there isnt a solder bridge or a strand of wire bridging the inputs and the output.

So I checked and everything looks clear of each other. I got the switch to completely short regardless of the volume knob level but wasnt able to deduce anything at the moment. Maybe something imperceptible by sight or feel.