Tone pots not responding

[beltzer047]

I just got done building a 'les paul' style guitar and it plays well. Wired it up and it works alright, but the tone pots seem to do nothing. It sounds like the tone is rolled all the way off on both pickups no matter what you do. I used standard les paul wiring. Any ideas as to why this problem exists?

[D2o]

Dec 14, 2009 11:32:51 GMT -5 beltzer047 said:

I just got done building a 'les paul' style guitar and it plays well. Wired it up and it works alright, but the tone pots seem to do nothing. It sounds like the tone is rolled all the way off on both pickups no matter what you do. I used standard les paul wiring. Any ideas as to why this problem exists?

Hey, Beltzer

What do you mean by "no matter what you do" ... like, literally, "no matter what you do?" ...


If you have both pickups selected and both volumes at 10, the tone does nothing?

If you have both pickups selected and both volumes at, say, 5, the tone does nothing?


If you have the neck pickup selected and the volume at 10, the tone does nothing?

If you have the neck pickup selected and the volume at 5, the tone does nothing?


If you have the bridge pickup selected and the volume at 10, the tone does nothing?

If you have the bridge pickup selected and the volume at 5, the tone does nothing?


Or does the tone do nothing "until" a certain point ... maybe around 2 or 3 ... and then it happens all at once?


Did you change any of the components (pots, caps, pickups, resistors if applicable)? If so, what were they and what are they?

If not, can you post a link to the wiring you have used?


Cheers,
D2o

[beltzer047]

I got it...bad connections...i feel really dumb. Now everything just sounds really super thick...and dull. Probably cheap pots. Need to invest in some better ones. Thanks for responding though!

[D2o]

Hey, you're not the first person around here to make a boo boo.

Ya know, when I first showed up on this forum it was because I wasn't getting any sound out of my guitar.

I had tried EVERYTHING, and was instructed to take some readings with a multimeter by slowly turning up the volume and reporting back with the readings.

As I began to take the readings by slowly turning up the volume ... well, it kinda became obvious I hadn't quite remembered to try EVERY thing to get some sound.

So don't feel bad, we've all made mistakes at one time or another.

Cheers,
D2o