Fender Americian Deluxe P-Base - Blend Knob Issues

jastacey · #1 11-16-2010, 09:10 AM

Here's the things you need to know, I bought a 2004 Fender Deluxe American P-Bass, the one with the large humbuckler, a few months ago, and it was working fine, until a day or so ago. It seems the blend knob, when turned to to split neck pick-up, went dead, as soon as it went past the middle dent .... well, I called Fender to see what they could advise, and had a thrilling conversation, that was like talking to myself ... they really couldn't/didn't help at all, except giving me the ohm value for the split pick-up. Anyways, I opened up the bass to get to the electronics, and removed the split pick-up and upon testing each coil, I had a dead one, I never had that happen to me, so I was a bit surprised, well, I had an old set of Quarter-Pounders, laying around, so I installed them and the issue that has appeared, is the blend knob, when fully turned to the position of using the humbuckler, it kills the sound/no-sound at all, it blends the sound from the center dent position, and it continues to shift the signal from the humbuckler to full on ,then it goes dead, so I'm thinking that the blend knob is defective .... so, I'm asking if anyone has had this experience, with this type of bass? ... yes, I did check the batteries and did check all the connections, and down loaded the wiring diagram from Fender, as a side note, the set of Quarter-Pounders, really sound good in this bass, the preamp is really responsive with this pick-up set, I was going to use a set of the Reissue 62 pick-ups, but I'm going to try these for a while, any comments?

Vic · #2 11-16-2010, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jastacey

Here's the things you need to know, I bought a 2004 Fender Deluxe American P-Bass, the one with the large humbuckler, a few months ago, and it was working fine, until a day or so ago. It seems the blend knob, when turned to to split neck pick-up, went dead, as soon as it went past the middle dent .... well, I called Fender to see what they could advise, and had a thrilling conversation, that was like talking to myself ... they really couldn't/didn't help at all, except giving me the ohm value for the split pick-up. Anyways, I opened up the bass to get to the electronics, and removed the split pick-up and upon testing each coil, I had a dead one, I never had that happen to me, so I was a bit surprised, well, I had an old set of Quarter-Pounders, laying around, so I installed them and the issue that has appeared, is the blend knob, when fully turned to the position of using the humbuckler, it kills the sound/no-sound at all, it blends the sound from the center dent position, and it continues to shift the signal from the humbuckler to full on ,then it goes dead, so I'm thinking that the blend knob is defective .... so, I'm asking if anyone has had this experience, with this type of bass? ... yes, I did check the batteries and did check all the connections, and down loaded the wiring diagram from Fender, as a side note, the set of Quarter-Pounders, really sound good in this bass, the preamp is really responsive with this pick-up set, I was going to use a set of the Reissue 62 pick-ups, but I'm going to try these for a while, any comments?

If you're ok with doing a little soldering/wiring, just check the wiring and replace the blend pot as needed yourself. Otherwise, take it to a tech to get that all done. Just sounds like a failed blend pot to me unless it's a cold solder joint and you just lost connectivity is all. Should be no biggie.

rust_preacher · #3 11-16-2010, 10:58 AM

Most likely the center terminal (wiper) hits the side of the pot casing at the end of travel. I have a 2007 model and I have had mechanics trouble with the pots (that I have fixed by diligent use of pliers).

jastacey · #4 11-19-2010, 07:12 AM

Many thanks, for all the input ... looks like I'll have to find a new replacement knob/pot

rust_preacher · #5 11-19-2010, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jastacey

Many thanks, for all the input ... looks like I'll have to find a new replacement knob

Most likely the knob is all right, you need a potentiometer...

jastacey · #6 12-04-2010, 03:39 PM

Well, here's an update, I checked the wire connections and reflowed them, and the issue seems to have gone away, I have been using the Quarter Pounder's, and even with the preamp, the pick-up still sound somewhat mid-scooped, which was the reason I went to the RI-62 pick-up in my other basses, well I ordered a set of the Fender Original Pick-up's ( I don't know if these are the same as the Reissue - 62 pick-ups ) and loaded them in the bass and all I can say is the full rich sound of the P-bass is back, and when blended with the humbuckler, there's lot's of different tones, anyone thinking of swapping out the pick-up, you won't be disappointed ... IMHO