bscur Posted March 21, 2007 Report Posted March 21, 2007 I wired up a Nashville style tele todat and the tone knob isn't working. Any idea what this could be due to? I checked and double checked diagram (http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdfs/DLXNASHTELE/SD0135300BPg2.pdf) right off Fender's website. The guitar sounds very bright and the tone pot does nothing. I rewired it twice using different pots. I'm using a fralin neck, sp42 middle, and an sp43 bridge pickup. Could it be the pickups? This confuses me because I've never had this happen before and I've wired up a number of guitars. Help. Quote
GregP Posted March 21, 2007 Report Posted March 21, 2007 Could be the pickups... but probably not. A tone pot will still have SOME effect, as long as it's in the general ballpark of guitar-rated pots and caps. A tone pot just bleeds signal to ground. You have to make sure that the lug with the capacitor on it is making its way to ground or nothing will happen. Er.. It should be mentioned that I'm not a wiring expert. Without this disclaimer, the above instructions might seem to authoritative... I'm just a guitar numpty. Quote
Southpa Posted March 21, 2007 Report Posted March 21, 2007 Did you run a ground wire between the vol and tone pot casings? Quote
bscur Posted March 21, 2007 Author Report Posted March 21, 2007 (edited) No. The diagram didn't show ground going from the volume to the tone pot if you mean not on a lug, just from one dome to the next. Should I do that? Obviously I just connect the dots without much knowledge of why (I suppose I should learn). I'll give it a shot. Thanks, Brad Did you run a ground wire between the vol and tone pot casings? Edited March 21, 2007 by bscur Quote
GregP Posted March 21, 2007 Report Posted March 21, 2007 Let me just confirm: You have the capacitor only going from one pot casing to the next pot casing? Won't work. It has to be attached to one of the tone knob's lugs. Can't remember offhand which one. Greg Quote
bscur Posted March 21, 2007 Author Report Posted March 21, 2007 I have the cap going from the tone lug to the volume lug and then to the volume casing, as per the Fender diagram. I don't have a separate wire going strictly from casing to casing. Here's the diagram I used: http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf...5300_02BPg2.pdf The result is a very bright tone and no tone knob functionality at all. Let me just confirm: You have the capacitor only going from one pot casing to the next pot casing? Won't work. It has to be attached to one of the tone knob's lugs. Can't remember offhand which one. Greg Quote
GregP Posted March 21, 2007 Report Posted March 21, 2007 Ah, I see how they're doing it. That volume lug is normally "bent back" to touch the casing, in order to ground it. So, that's the volume pot's "ground". Possibilities: 1. You're not getting continuity between that volume lug and the casing. 2. If you DO have continuity, as per #1, then your volume casing might not be grounded. Does the volume work? The "Black wire from output jack" has to be soldered to the volume pot casing. Or to put it another way, here's your tone capacitor's signal path as it currently stands: Tone lug --> volume lug --> pot casing --> ground Since it ultimately goes to ground, you can cut out the middle man by just wiring the capacitor right to the volume pot casing and making sure that the volume pot casing IS going to ground ("black wire from output jack"). ---- Additionally, that wiring scheme would make for a very straightforward conversion to "star grounding". I mean, if it ain't broke, you don't have to fix it, but when I change electronics, etc., I always take the opportunity to make a star ground while I'm at it. If you want to give it a try, I'll hook you up with the knowledge needed. Otherwise, try my above advice and see where it gets you. Greg Quote
bscur Posted March 21, 2007 Author Report Posted March 21, 2007 Help me out. What's star grounding? Thanks Ah, I see how they're doing it. That volume lug is normally "bent back" to touch the casing, in order to ground it. So, that's the volume pot's "ground". Possibilities: 1. You're not getting continuity between that volume lug and the casing. 2. If you DO have continuity, as per #1, then your volume casing might not be grounded. Does the volume work? The "Black wire from output jack" has to be soldered to the volume pot casing. Or to put it another way, here's your tone capacitor's signal path as it currently stands: Tone lug --> volume lug --> pot casing --> ground Since it ultimately goes to ground, you can cut out the middle man by just wiring the capacitor right to the volume pot casing and making sure that the volume pot casing IS going to ground ("black wire from output jack"). ---- Additionally, that wiring scheme would make for a very straightforward conversion to "star grounding". I mean, if it ain't broke, you don't have to fix it, but when I change electronics, etc., I always take the opportunity to make a star ground while I'm at it. If you want to give it a try, I'll hook you up with the knowledge needed. Otherwise, try my above advice and see where it gets you. Greg Quote
GregP Posted March 21, 2007 Report Posted March 21, 2007 Star grounding just means that all of the wires that go 'to ground' will go to the SAME place (many people use a metal washer for this purpose) and then from there, this "star" gets connected to the ground lug of the output jack. Looking at the diagram again, though, it looks like the vol casing is already a pretty good "star". The only modifications you would need to make would be sending the capacitor directly to the back of the volume pot, and then ensuring that the volume lug (on the right in your diagram) is actually soldered to the casing. In other words, make those 2 separate paths to ground instead of "ganging" them together on that volume lug. But... even if you have it wired up as per the diagram (even with tone -> vol lug -> casing -> ground) you actually probably don't need star grounding. Forget I mentioned it. One curious thing is that the tone casing isn't sent to ground (just a wee bit of extra shielding, as it were). Greg Quote
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