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I've listed the symptoms so hopefully we can figure it out before I pull it all out (hopefully I can still get the Bridge Volume out by itself).
1) Selector on both pickups, both humbucking. Volume max on bridge volume greatly reduces volume/kills the sound, a touch off from max and it's all good: nice and loud
2) Selector on bridge, both humbucking. The bridge pickup doesn't give much volume (or maybe any?).
3) Selector on bridge, bridge push pull "up". The bridge gives perfect volume.
4) Neck volume seems to act as a global volume control when the pickup selector is on both pickups (LP wiring???)
I guess this means that there is a short on either one of the jumpers on the Bridge Volume, or it's either the white or white striped wire?
Or am I misunderstanding how to get around the comprimise you mentioned?
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Is this all with the neck tone 'up' (series setting) and only when it is up? Or, does it happen with all the pots 'down' as well?
Edit: Thinking about it, points 1 & 2 are the sort of symptoms you see when a volume pot is wired backwards. That is, the hot and ground on the left and right lugs of the pot have been swapped. What happens when you turn the pot fully counter-clockwise, do you get full volume then?
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Hey Weirdy,
The problem with the bridge volume happens whether bridge tone is up or down.
The bridge volume works perfectly when the coil is split - so maybe it's the bridge hot wire that is the problem?
Some other symptoms:
1) Bridge quiet when selector is on bridge and bridge tone is up
2) No volume when selector is on bridge, tone and volume are up.
3) Perfect volume when selector is on bridge, tone is down and volume is up (coil split)
It's the last maybe 5-10 degrees of rotation that are causing the volume problem, and it only happens when the bridge volume is towards max when the selector is on both
I can video the problem if the problem isn't obvious this way. Everything else seems to work perfectly, I think
I guess that makes it the bridge hot (orange) that is the problem?
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If it is working ok when the bridge volume is up (split), that would suggest the black & white wire has a bad connection on the bridge volume push/pull. There may also be something strange with the cross-over wires on the bridge tone push/pull that affects it when in the up position. Not sure. I don't suppose you took any photos of your wiring before you installed it?
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Nah, I was testing it outside and didn't find any problems. Maybe it happened when I was shoving it in.
I'll pull out the pot and have a look on the weekend :)
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I pulled some of it down into the body (having a hard time getting it out). It looks like I am missing the long green jumper between the tone and volume (or I connected it to the ground out of habit with green wires)
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That would probably do it, the light green link is effectively the negative for the pickup.
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I think it turned out that one of the grounds on the side of the pot was disconnected, now the volume is perfect the all the way. I couldn't quite follow my wiring because I couldn't pull it out properly and I've got some weird grounding scheme going on (semi-balanced to double the capacitance to act as an extremely subtle treble bleed), so I just added in an extra link for the parallel (green link).
I think I found out that the "quiet volume" when both were maxed was actually just out of phase working, it's still doing it now but it's working with both pots now, not just one :)
All good now!
I think maybe the caps I used also aren't ideal for these pups, but I don't really care because it's only just shy of reaching "unusably dull" when they're closed - so I've pretty much got all the range I want.
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The out of phase setting should only have an effect when in the middle pickup position, with both pickups on. Then, switching the bridge tone from down to up you should hear a thinning of the sound, sort of scooping it out (with maybe some drop in volume). If it is making the sound quiet or otherwise changing it when you are not in the middle toggle position then there may still be something wrong with the wiring on the bridge tone push/pull.
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Hey Weirdy,
Just ran a test. The "roll in" of the tone change comes in and out like I'd expect for out of something 180 degrees out of phase - it does come in a little quick, but that's probably my choice in taper.
As an example, the sound is "thin" and seems quieter when the volumes are matched, but becomes bassier and louder when they are mismatched, you can get some pretty awesome effects with it!
:)
There's no audible difference between in and out when the selector is on neck or bridge - but there's a slight click/change when the switch is "dead" between clicks (?) on the bridge, but I think that's just because of the switch and also because it's the bridge pup being used.
I think we've done it :)
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Cool, now you can spend some time playing with all the tone variations.
