Volume control doesn't work properly

[ironflippy]

I refinished my P Bass copy this summer and rather than keeping the old electronics in it, I replaced it all. Here's what I used:

- DiMarzio Split P humbuckers
- 22 AWG wire
- (2) 250k pots
- .05 microfarad capacitor
- mono output jack

I wired this together using a schematic from Fender's site, which can be found here.

I made sure I used the proper wires for hot, ground, etc. as marked on the instructions for the pickup. As far as I know, I did everything properly.

The problem is that when I turn the volume control down, it only cuts a little bit of the volume out, not all of it. The only thing I can think of, is that I should have used 500k pots instead of 250k. Any ideas? I can take pics of the guts if it helps.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Post a picture, sounds like youve done something wrong

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by ironflippy

The problem is that when I turn the volume control down, it only cuts a little bit of the volume out, not all of it. The only thing I can think of, is that I should have used 500k pots instead of 250k.

Are you sure you have the volume pot ground lug wired to an actual ground? The schematic you linked doesn't show that connection all that clearly.

[Nick Ioannucci]

also did you buy linear taper or audio taper potentiometers?

[ironflippy]

I'll post a picture as soon as I can. I got the pots from Stew Mac, just the standard 250k pots. Not sure if they're linear taper or audio taper. Here's a link to them:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electron...Pull_Pots.html

Passinwind: Do you mean to the back of a pot, or to something like the bridge?

[RyreInc]

All grounds should lead to the sleeve of the jack, directly or indirectly. If your volume pot(s) are only grounded to the back of the pot, and the back of the pot is not grounded to the jack sleeve, then this could be the source of the problem you are experiencing. Instead of shorting the output to ground, you are merely adding 250k of resistance to the signal.

[ironflippy]

That's good news, I suppose. The solder doesn't stick to the back of these pots very well. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a soldering iron anytime soon (I'm away at school).

The grounds do all lead indirectly to the sleeve of the jack, but I might just make it direct so I don't have to worry about the solder breaking free.

[CROZ]

If the ground connection from the pickup to the back of the volume pot to the tone pot to the neg lead on your jack were broken at any point you wouldn't get any signal at all so those are all good. (if you have some foil on the back of your pickguard some of them could be bad and it would still work, though.)

Assuming that you followed the diagram correctly any bad solder joint would be at the outer lug on your volume pot opposite the one you soldered your pickup's hot lead to. Thats the one that needs to be bent over and soldered to the back of the pot.