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Post by unreg on Aug 27, 2020 11:34:12 GMT -5
Hi all!  The resistors soldered to my tone pot are untrimmed... the resistors’ ends just bend out into air in the cavity bc the person who recommended me to add the resistors said something like, “don’t trim the resistors; mine aren’t trimmed and that helps the tone.” But, ever since then, I’ve liked the tone AND there has been that hummm; it’s much quieter now with the cavity grounded. I would really like to destroy this hum... could the untrimmed resistors be the cause? Thank you for reading, unreg |
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Post by ashcatlt on Aug 27, 2020 12:51:42 GMT -5
I wouldn’t expect it to add enough noise to notice, but I also wouldn’t expect it to make a damn bit of difference in the tone. Unless the untrimmed ends contact something they’re not supposed to. Any number of things might happen then.
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Post by blademaster2 on Aug 27, 2020 14:02:42 GMT -5
Ummm - okay.
I am generally unwilling to tell someone that they are not hearing any difference, but in this case I might.
The only thing that the excess lead trimming *might* do is cause a potential for oxidation where the copper is exposed and not tinned (unless the cut tip is then soldered to prevent that). In reality, this oxidation would not be evident for many, many years and/or exposure to guitar-killing humidity environments.
It is more of a risk to leave it untrimmed, due to the possibility of a short to other contacts or wires to the extra length hanging off the end.
In theory, at very high frequencies that added untrimmed length of wire acts as an antenna, but it is only efficient at receiving signals where the wavelength is nearer to the wire length and that is many orders of magnitude higher than human hearing.
For me, I would cut the lead to length and then tin and solder it in, to achieve the longest lifespan of the connection and to keep the wiring neat and lot likely to short to anything.
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Post by unreg on Aug 28, 2020 14:41:45 GMT -5
Thank you ashcatlt and blademaster2 for you all’s wisdom!  For me, I would cut the lead to length and then tin and solder it in, to achieve the longest lifespan of the connection and to keep the wiring neat and lot likely to short to anything. So I should unsolder the resistors... trim them... tin the ends... and solder them back - making sure to cover the ends with solder? That seems good to me; I’ll try that; thank you! |
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Post by ashcatlt on Aug 28, 2020 16:14:28 GMT -5
I'd just snip whatever's hanging off and move on. I personally find it difficult to measure and then snip because if you cut it too short... Plus I tend to wrap leads through and around lugs to make the best mechanical connection possible so that it holds together and works even without the solder if possible, and that's tough to measure for.
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Post by unreg on Aug 28, 2020 20:47:15 GMT -5
Thank you ashcatlt! I’ve been thinking that it would be kind of difficult to tin the resistor wires safely bc my soldering iron is quite hot (lots of watts), so I’ll just snip the loose wires off and add a little solder covering the snipped part. Great idea about wrapping the wires around! I think I might have done that once on each side before soldering... 🤔 |
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Post by blademaster2 on Aug 29, 2020 8:26:12 GMT -5
To be honest, I would not resolder it if it is already soldered in - since the heat can harm the potentiometer and any soldering operation adds risk.
I would leave the solder intact and trim the resistor lead where it is. Repeating the soldering for that purpose is to me a needless risk as I see it (oxidation like I mentioned is not a likely risk for guitars, more for spacecraft).
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Post by unreg on Aug 29, 2020 13:44:22 GMT -5
To be honest, I would not resolder it if it is already soldered in - since the heat can harm the potentiometer and any soldering operation adds risk. I would leave the solder intact and trim the resistor lead where it is. Repeating the soldering for that purpose is to me a needless risk as I see it (oxidation like I mentioned is not a likely risk for guitars, more for spacecraft). Sigh, last night after snipping the ends off, I ended up accidentally pushing one of the snipped ends back with my soldering iron tip, bc the solder hold had melted, so its now flush with the pin it is soldered to. It moved back only like a 16th of an inch. The volume for the neck pickup is louder than the bridge pickup now. Any ideas? And my guitar does sound slightly different. Though, the hum seems less. |
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Post by blademaster2 on Aug 29, 2020 16:45:04 GMT -5
To be honest, I would not resolder it if it is already soldered in - since the heat can harm the potentiometer and any soldering operation adds risk. I would leave the solder intact and trim the resistor lead where it is. Repeating the soldering for that purpose is to me a needless risk as I see it (oxidation like I mentioned is not a likely risk for guitars, more for spacecraft). Sigh, last night after snipping the ends off, I ended up accidentally pushing one of the snipped ends back with my soldering iron tip, bc the solder hold had melted, so its now flush with the pin it is soldered to. It moved back only like a 16th of an inch. The volume for the neck pickup is louder than the bridge pickup now. Any ideas? And my guitar does sound slightly different. Though, the hum seems less. Well for sure a hanging end of the device lead is not going to do either of those things. It is possible that the soldering iron caused damage to the control contacts (they are usually riveted on to the part). I suffered with a poor connection on one of these volume contacts for years and never knew it until I saw that it was physically loose. It had exhibited good days and bad days for 20 years and I never knew why, but once I replaced the volume control part it was far better and very consistent. Without seeing it I cannot say, but for sure a longer or shorter lead protrusion from a properly-made connection is not going to be audible. |
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Post by ashcatlt on Aug 29, 2020 20:26:57 GMT -5
Well now we have to go back to the beginning. Why are there resistors soldered to your tone pot? How is that wired and what's it supposed to do?
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Post by unreg on Aug 29, 2020 20:41:18 GMT -5
Well for sure a hanging end of the device lead is not going to do either of those things. Thank you blademaster2. The control contacts? (I don’t know what those are.) I guess you don’t know, but my resistors are soldered to my new tone pot. Also, my new volume pot hasn’t been touched with a soldering iron since it was installed. Maybe a soldered ground connection on the paperclip broke when I screwed the other end of that paperclip into the wall. Could some broken ground connection increase the volume of just the neck pickup? A diagram of my wiring is toward the bottom of my other most recent thread (title ends with “ unreg?”). |
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Post by unreg on Aug 29, 2020 20:49:55 GMT -5
Well now we have to go back to the beginning. Why are there resistors soldered to your tone pot? How is that wired and what's it supposed to do? hmmm... the resistors are soldered to my tone pot bc I received that wonderful advice a long time ago from someone somewhere in an answer to my question about how to change my guitar’s tone. I believe it had to much treble. The resistors are soldered between the 1st and last pin of my tone pot. Not sure if “pin” is the correct term, sorry. |
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