MiKro Posted July 5, 2018 Report Share Posted July 5, 2018 From there description. " Compared to the SH-14 custom 5, the JB has a stronger treble detail. Some players use it with 250K pots to smooth out the highs. " So, Whatever you prefer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylano Posted July 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2018 Well, I'll measure my diameter this weekend, and order some new ones. I'll keep you guys in the loop! Thanks again! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiKro Posted July 6, 2018 Report Share Posted July 6, 2018 I was thinking about this again, What are the taper of the pots you have? You said they are from an LP? Gibson for some time used only linear taper pots? I am thinking you need audio taper pots. Just thinking out loud. Linear taper would exhibit some weird things on the volume I am thinking? Fender used linear for tone only Audio taper for Volume? ???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylano Posted July 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2018 I'm kinda thinking what you are. That's part of why I'm gonna order new pots. Just bought two of these bad boys: https://www.ebay.com/itm/222486682891 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylano Posted July 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 SO, I got the new pots in, and installed them, the way I originally had the first set. They gave me the exact same issue! BUT, I WAS THINKING last night, I'm wondering if the + and the ground from the bottom pickup being switched would cause this issue. Because the color coding isn't very black and white (haha) The bottom pickup has a red and a yellow wire. When I disassembled it the yellow was soldered to the casing of the pot, so I tagged it as a ground and have used it as the ground and the red as the positive ever since. Yellow definitely is not a ground color, but red makes more sense to me as the positive. WHAT IF the people who owned this guitar before me messed up the wiring and I've been following their lead (haha)! I'm gonna try and switch those wires and I'll let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted July 11, 2018 Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 So you're running a P-bass pickup pair but each element of the pair has their own volume controls? Provided you have wired it exactly as you've shown it drawn in the first post I can't see why it shouldn't work: Both volume pots down = no output Volume 1 up/volume 2 down = pickup 1 should be heard Volume 1 down/volume 2 up = pickup 2 should be heard Both volumes up = both pickups should be heard The resistance and taper of the volume pots shouldn't matter. Linear/log taper will just affect the apparent linear-ness (or lack of) of the volume of each pickup relative to the rotational position of the volume pot. 250K/500K will only affect relative output and brightness of the pickups Flipping the connections of one pickup shouldn't matter. Although if one is flipped and the other is not, with both volumes up you will find that the combined output will be much weedier-sounding due to the way the two pickup outputs combine - Is this perhaps what you're experiencing with both volumes cranked up? Not so much a total loss of volume, but a thinning out of the overall sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylano Posted July 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 With both at max there is no volume at all. Like I said in my previous post, I'm thinking the bridge pickup might be wired backwards, and am going to check when I get home. It has a yellow and red wire, and the yellow was being used at the ground, but I think that may be wrong. Although red should never be a ground in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylano Posted July 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2018 And I actually have a pickup pair (two smaller pickups off-set acting as one) wired to the top pot and a standard longer bridge pickup wired to the bottom pot. I don't have the pickup pair separated or wired separately or anything weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 Without seeing the actual guitar, I'm completely banjaxed. There has to be a wiring error in there somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylano Posted July 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 10 hours ago, Dylano said: SO, I got the new pots in, and installed them, the way I originally had the first set. They gave me the exact same issue! BUT, I WAS THINKING last night, I'm wondering if the + and the ground from the bottom pickup being switched would cause this issue. Because the color coding isn't very black and white (haha) The bottom pickup has a red and a yellow wire. When I disassembled it the yellow was soldered to the casing of the pot, so I tagged it as a ground and have used it as the ground and the red as the positive ever since. Yellow definitely is not a ground color, but red makes more sense to me as the positive. WHAT IF the people who owned this guitar before me messed up the wiring and I've been following their lead (haha)! I'm gonna try and switch those wires and I'll let you know. I GOT IT! THAT WAS IT! Previous owner had the ground and + backwards on the old broken pots and me following their lead screwed me! I switched the wires on the bottom pickup, yellow to middle jack, and RED to ground (baffles me that red is ground) and both work independently and correctly! YAY!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted July 12, 2018 Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 That makes absolutely no sense at all why swapping the pickup leads would cause that behaviour, but anyhoo; glad you got it working Colour codes don't mean anything for pickup wiring. They're just provided to make each wire easily identifiable from the next. Defined wire colour codes don't have any real meaning unless you're dealing with things like industrial and domestic mains wiring, where there is a legal obligation to follow particular standards or regulations for identifying wires and cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylano Posted July 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2018 That being switched makes sense to me, If the hot and ground are switched on one, that one having the knob all the way up is basically grounding the power coming from the other one and vica versa. When the switched on is up and the correctly wired one is down, it's basically using the pots backwards which is kinda cool, pushing the electricity through the body of the pot, which is normally the ground. There may not be a legal required standard of wire color coding for all electronics, but I've taken apart thousand upon thousand of electronic devices, and there is definitely a common way things are done. Black is usually ground, I'd say 90%+ of the time. Sometimes I've seen white as a ground, maybe brown a few times on something really old. The only time I've seen a red ground was on a friends Nova where he only had 0 gauge red colored wire to run for the battery leads. Red in every other circumstance I've encountered meant it was a hot wire, Thanks for your help everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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