MIM P- Limited Control Cavity Space

[Rip Topaz]

I recently had to rewire the electronics in my new MIM P when they stopped working. Yeah, brand new bass, I should've sent it back. But here's the thing, I made an instant connection with the bass.

Structurally I have a great bass. Not gonna send it back and risk ending up with a total dog as a replacement. I feel much better just rewiring it to fix the problem.

Problem is, there is ZERO wiggle room inside the control cavity. It came wired with full-sized pots, but when I went to rewire it I couldn't fit everything back in the cavity.

All the cavities are painted with conductive paint, which surprised me since my MIA P had no shielding at all from the factory (did my own shielding when I got it). There's a ground wire from the bridge, as well as a ground wire screwed into the cavity itself. Nice job for a standard instrument. I was actually surprised by the shielding job. Very well done.

But fitting everything back into the cavity after rewiring left me with pots that are grounding out on the sides of the cavity because of so little room.

Anyone else have this problem? What was your solution? Should I replace the full-sized pots with mini ones?

Frustrated because of having to rewire a brand new bass, but more frustrated by having so little room to fit everything.

anyone else have this issue?

 

[rllefebv]

The cases of the pots SHOULD be connected to the ground, (that's where the grounding wires tend to connect)... The issue will be if a HOT connection is touching the sides... Try orienting the pots so that the tabs are face-to-face when mounted to the guard. You should have a little wiggle room from side to side, but yeah, it's tight... Good luck!

-robert

 

[Rip Topaz]

I used a bit of electrical tape on the walls of the cavity where the pots might touch. Seems to have worked.

I still may switch to smaller pots when I swap the pickups. Not 100% sure I'm replacing the pickup but if I do I'm planning on EMG GZR's (which I have in another bass and it sounds great) or possibly Steve Harris sig model (the bass is Lake Placid Blue so modeling it after the Harris P would be cool.

I'm really surprised that the guts stopped working within 48 hours. Like I said, I would send it back but other than its electrical issues its a really cool bass.