Volume jumps to max when pot at 0?

'59

Active member
I installed a new Mojotone Vintage Taper Volume Pot in my Telostrat project and it works just fine up until it gets to the lower range of the pot. It shuts off at roughly where 2 would be, but if you keep turning it to full off it jumps back up to full volume but sounds dark, like I have a 50 foot long cable.
 
It sounds like something is wrong with the band inside...maybe it was overheated on install?
 
It worked fine pre-install, I tested it with my multimeter. How would I know if I overheated it?

Also can someone warrant a guess as to why it sounds darker when it cuts back on? It's not so dark as to where I don't notice changes in my tone control setting.
 
It worked fine pre-install, I tested it with my multimeter. How would I know if I overheated it?

Also can someone warrant a guess as to why it sounds darker when it cuts back on? It's not so dark as to where I don't notice changes in my tone control setting.

To me it indicates the wiper is in contact with something that has capacitance to ground, possibly. Could be the wiper is just off the track at the end (e.g. bent or turned too hard at one point) and it's making contact to ground through the substrate itself or something else in the internals. The only time I've had a pot make the sound you are describing was due to a cold solder joint. If it temporarily resolved itself, then I would guess it's not the internals of the pot and is a cold solder joint.
 
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