gerryblue
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 2
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Post by gerryblue on Aug 25, 2007 20:29:02 GMT -5
Hi I wired two strats (one lace sensors, one vintage noiseless) but I may have a short cause even when I roll the volume down, I still get signal from the pickups. I've tried everything, please, check a picture here: www.freewebs.com/sirgerry/stratwire.jpgThanks!
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Post by ChrisK on Aug 25, 2007 21:51:37 GMT -5
Hi, welcome a'board. On the guitar on the right in the pic, it appears that the ground terminal on the volume pot IS NOT soldered to the pot case. If so, the volume pot becomes just a signal weakening pot (series rheostat). The guitar on the left "looks" like this connection is made, but I can't tell for sure. I notice that you are depending on the pickguard foil shields to connect all of the pot shells (backs) together. Are you sure that they are actually connected? Are you sure that all of the copper foil sections on the guitar on the left are actually interconnected? Continuity IS. I never depend on the shield to make circuit signal connections 'cuz it's, like a shield.
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Post by sumgai on Aug 25, 2007 23:11:43 GMT -5
gerry, Hi, and welcome to the NutzHouse! ;D Like Chris above, I see that you don't have a short, you have an open! And some of those solder joints are of questionable quality, if you know what I mean. Don't burn the place down, but leave the iron on for a few moments longer, and make sure the wires can't move for at least 4 seconds after you remove the iron. The connection needs to be solid both electrically and mechanically. Some of those joints look rather rough, like perhaps the heat had been removed too early. That also causes "cold" solder joints, which are big PITA's - they tend to disintegrate at the most inopportune moments..... like when you're on stage! HTH sumgai
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gerryblue
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
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Post by gerryblue on Aug 28, 2007 13:30:36 GMT -5
Thanks all for the help, I managed to fix the Noiseless one, soldering the third lug but no luck with the Laces one, I was thinking, would this problem happen if I use a No-Load Pot in the volume place? I got them from the internet and I think it may have been that.
regards!
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Post by ChrisK on Aug 28, 2007 18:08:22 GMT -5
A no-load, or Delta-tone pot might act as an on-off switch. If the pot has the wrong taper, it won't act as you might expect. If the volume treble mod circuit has the wrong values, it won't act as you might expect. Lace sensors (especially the "transensors") are not normal/regular magnetic pickups, and if used with traditional pot and cap values, will not act as you might expect. The fact that both of these circuits seem to act the same tends to indicate that a similar problem is afoot. Since the Noiseless circuit had a missing ground connection on the volume pot, perhaps the other one has the same fault, but internal to the pot. I would use a digital multimeter and measure the resistance of the pot out of circuit. Measure across the end terminals. Then set the shaft to 1/2 of its rotation, and measure from the wiper terminal to each end terminal. Then connect the meter to the wiper and ground terminal and slowly rotate the shaft and observe the resistance. It should change fairly smoothly and not have any jumping or bouncing of the reading. You did write down the measured values, didn't you? I rarely reuse any components. I use new ones each time, and check the functionality of each before using them. If somebody sold something, they didn't want it for a reason!
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Post by sumgai on Aug 31, 2007 3:49:14 GMT -5
gerry, I would think that if you used a true No-Load pot (as Chris says, a "Delta-Tone" pot) for a volume control, then you'd have no volume at maximum CW rotation. Those things definitely do have a missing connection between the wiper and the max-CW lug (viewed from the front). In a tone pot, that's desirable, we want to switch the capacitor out of the circuit. But in a volume pot, that won't cut the mustard, we want the connection between the max-CW lug and the wiper to be at minimal resistance - not cut off entirely! I suspect that if you fixed the problem by re-soldering the ground, and you have full volume at '10', then it's not a No-Load pot. To check this, you should feel a slight "click" when you turn from 9 to 10, and back in the other direction. For your Lace unit, I suggest that you go back to the most simple circuit possible. Three simple steps ought to do it: 1) Remove the wire that goes from the volume pot to the pickup selector switch. 2) If there's a wire going from the volume control over to the tone control, remove that too. 3) Remove the bridge pickup's hot lead from it's connection on the pickup selector switch, and connect it straight into the volume control, where the wire to the switch was hooked up. Now, test the guitar...... what happens? Does the volume pot work normally? If not, what does it do? If not, take a few resistance measurements, looking for solder joints that appear to be good, but in fact they aren't (good, that is). In this simplified circuit, there's only the pup, the volume pot, and the output jack. But if something I've said doesn't make sense, then don't hesitate to ask for more details. HTH sumgai
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