Tone Pot on Guitar Question

[joelorigo]

I have an old Squier Strat that a couple years ago I changed the original pickups and pots, and wired it to the G&L PTB. This week I replaced the pickguard. Now the “T” (treble) tone pot reaches it maximum brightness at about 8 on the knob, from there going to 10, it gets darker on the rest of the rotation. I’m almost certain it didn’t do this before. Can anyone explain why this would happen?

 

[BrainDrain]

I have an old Squier Strat that a couple years ago I changed the original pickups and pots, and wired it to the G&L PTB. This week I replaced the pickguard. Now the “T” (treble) tone pot reaches it maximum brightness at about 8 on the knob, from there going to 10, it gets darker on the rest of the rotation. I’m almost certain it didn’t do this before. Can anyone explain why this would happen?

The pot is most likely dead. That’s exactly what happens when the track is worn inside. You might be able to get away with spraying Deoxit but it would be better to just get a new pot. The resistance will go up as the track wears down.

 

[T-Go]

Since you believe the change happened after swapping out the pickguard, I'd check that the pot lugs aren't touching something else. I recently had a tone pot that started acting like a volume control. Turned out the pot had moved a little, causing one of the lugs to touch the cavity shielding.

 

[Mir9]

I can't answer your question, but I also like the G&L PTB setup. I put it in a Strat with H-S-H config to tame the woofy neck pickup and picked up a couple more C1M pots from G&L.

 

[joelorigo]

Since you believe the change happened after swapping out the pickguard, I'd check that the pot lugs aren't touching something else. I recently had a tone pot that started acting like a volume control. Turned out the pot had moved a little, causing one of the lugs to touch the cavity shielding.

I'll open it back up and check if something is touching something it shouldn't.

 

[joelorigo]

I can't answer your question, but I also like the G&L PTB setup. I put it in a Strat with H-S-H config to tame the woofy neck pickup and picked up a couple more C1M pots from G&L.

I also got my C1M from G&L if I remember correctly. On yours, does turning the Bass pot down also lower the volume a bit toward the full rotation? Mine does and it was like that when I first did the mod. I have never had an opportunity to check an actual G&L wired like this so I don't know if it is normal. Regardless, I usually don't have to turn it very much to cut enough bass frequencies I have needed so it really isn't much of a problem.

 

[Feral Feline]

I've had pots that got a little wacky because I over-tightened them in the enclosure — maybe the same for your pickguard?

 

[Nostradoomus]

I've had pots that got a little wacky because I over-tightened them in the enclosure — maybe the same for your pickguard?

dat extra wafer stress

 

[Feral Feline]

dat extra wafer stress

Yah, when the pot can barely turn, I know I've done it again and back off the nut a little.

 

[joelorigo]

I've had pots that got a little wacky because I over-tightened them in the enclosure — maybe the same for your pickguard?

Oh ok, thanks, I will check that out.

 

[BrainDrain]

Oh ok, thanks, I will check that out.

Yeah seeing as it was just taken apart it does sound like it could be a lug touching something or possibly from being too tight. If it’s not that, it’s the pot itself. Curious to know what it is now. lol.

 

[joelorigo]

Yeah seeing as it was just taken apart it does sound like it could be a lug touching something or possibly from being too tight. If it’s not that, it’s the pot itself. Curious to know what it is now. lol.

Haha, I’ll try to get to is soon! I’ve been spending any free time I’ve had actually playing the guitar Excited about the new look with the new pickguard and new strings

 

[Mir9]

"On yours, does turning the Bass pot down also lower the volume a bit toward the full rotation?"

There's no volume change, other than what's expected when you cut the lows. I also tend to play into some amount of crunch or drive that compresses things

I found that the mod depends a lot on your volume pot. It had no audible effect when I used a 1M, and I have to increase the cap when using 500k vol.