tone and volume pot problems

A

AussiePete

New member
just got everything in my les paul and wired it all up, works fine, sounds GREAT!

the only problem i have is with the pots
theyre dimarzio 500k pots

problem 1
tone pots will only have an effect on the sound once the knob is turned almost all the way down, then its a very sudden cut off, not gradual

problem 2
the volume knob, aside from not gradually turning the guitar down, still lets though sound when turned all the way down?!?!?!

im by no means a technical wizard with this sort of stuff, so anyone who is! please help me (gigs coming up, need a working guitar urgently!)

cheers in advance
 
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Re: Having a bit of a problem with my new seymour pickups

Re: Having a bit of a problem with my new seymour pickups

It sounds like on the tones you may have them wired backwards so the taper is the wrong way .... or you have LH taper pots.

Could be the same problem on the volumes or something is allowing signal to bleed around the pot. Possibly an improper ground.

I have a special LP schematic on my website that shows how the wiring should be as you look down into the cavity from the back. This might be helpful to see if anything is backwards.

http://www.blackrosecustom.emerchan...4-1786227076-251360759&A=46&B=Wiring Diagrams

It's a little small so you may want to save it to disk and then blow it up with your photo editor.
 
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Re: tone and volume pot problems

Talk about bad luck. You picked the one SD schematic that has an error in it. The ground is missing from the volume control - thats why it won't go to zero. Add a ground wire from the unused terminal to ground. ;)
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

aaah thankyou my friend!


hopefully this fixes it

also is that only for the volume control?
what about the drop off problems with the tones
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

You're welcome . . . it will. ;)

Not having the ground on the volume control, throws off the whole balance of the circuit. More than likely, that will fix everything.

Post back if it doesn't, and we'll go from there.
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

ArtieToo said:
You're welcome . . . it will. ;)

Not having the ground on the volume control, throws off the whole balance of the circuit. More than likely, that will fix everything.

Post back if it doesn't, and we'll go from there.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I use Dimarzio pots and I don't experience what you describe here ...
::::shoulder shrug:::: :question:
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

Kent S. said:
FWIW, I use Dimarzio pots and I don't experience what you describe here ...
::::shoulder shrug:::: :question:
Click to expand...

Kent, did you look at that link that he posted in the third post? He said he followed it "exactly". Its got a mis-print in it. The "ground" is missing from the volume pot.

Check it out. ;)

(I should probably email SD about this.)
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

ArtieToo said:
Kent, did you look at that link that he posted in the third post? He said he followed it "exactly". Its got a mis-print in it. The "ground" is missing from the volume pot.

Check it out. ;)

(I should probably email SD about this.)
Click to expand...

I was referring to the taper issues that he referred too.
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

Heh . . . I just happened to be in here, checking something else, and saw your post. :laugh2:
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

alright the grouding issue was resolved and the volume now works fine,

the taper problem with the one pots remains, they seem to just cut off like a switch rather than slowly cut the highs
it goes from 10 to 0 at one point in the circuit
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

Glad the volume problem got worked out.

As for the tone problem, I had completely forgotten that I have that exact same problem with the tone control in my Patriot. And its a linear pot. I know I have it wired correctly, so it must be an issue with the cap value.

You can either hang in there til later this weekend, (I'm going to try to fix mine this weekend), or just play around with some different cap values. I'ld probably go with smaller values first. So, if you've got .047's, try .022's. If you have .022's, try .01's.
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

alright :)
i know my pots are linear, im using .047 capacitors at the moment
ill get somethin a little smaller
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

Are you sure they are linear? Audio pots have a A before the value and linear pots have a B before the value. Your problem sounded like an audio pot to me. But I could be wrong.
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

wait you might be right
explain to me the difference, being the non techy person i am :P

theyre dimarzio 500K pots.. no reference to the taper on the pot or packaging
 
Re: tone and volume pot problems

AussiePete said:
theyre dimarzio 500K pots.. no reference to the taper on the pot or packaging
Click to expand...
DMZ custom taper pots are what they are ... a custom taper that DMZ came up with ... mine don't act like that? Now their push pull pots, the taper is not specified by them ... I was told they were audio taper, but they are marked B, but an A or B marking is only a code the manufacturer uses(along with others), it's open to their interpretation. I have some older ones, so maybe they have changed manufactuers/suppliers ... that I don't know. The push pulls are very even as well, both for tone and volume use. So I'm at a loss to offer an explanation. Maybe they changed suppliers? If so they need to make it clear in their catalogues, other wise their own supplier's are ripping them off.
 
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