Volume pot does not change volume (Tele)

[davidxw]

Hi all!

I've just completed my second Pitbull Tele kit, and on this one I wanted to wire up my own control plate. Both pickups work and sound good, but the volume pot isn't changing the volume until about 80% of the way through the turn, when it drops off quickly to zero. I'm looking for any hints on what I can do to troubleshoot this.

Here are a few more details, with a picture below.

- 500K CTS Audio taper pots (pickups are a humbucker and a P90)
- Orange Drop 0.047ΜF cap
- I have a treble bleed cap and resistor installed (which I purchased from Pitbull - .001uF and 150k-ohm in parallel)
- Standard tele 3-way switch and wiring - no coil splitting on the humbucker
- Behaviour is the same with either pickup
- Behaviour is the same regardless of amp settings, and the volume on my other tele works perfectly with amp
- I've double and triple checked the wiring, as well as test all the ground paths I can think of. Also checked the continuity of all my solder joints
- I haven't added the a tone to volume pot ground wire but they are connected via the plate (tested)

Things I can think might be wrong:

- Pot is bad
- Treble bleed causing an issue - happy to snip it out if anyone thinks it will make a difference
- ???

The tone pot seems to behave in a similar way, but this is also the case on my other tele and I wanted to focus on volume first.

Any advice or suggestions appreciated. In the absence of anything specific my next steps would be (a) snip out the treble bleed, then (b) replace the pot.

Cheers,

David

[Joe Garfield]

It looks like your .047 capacitor is going through the volume pot lug then grounding on the casing.

Signal from switch should come into volume pot on outer lug. Capacitor should be on same outer lug and go to tone pot. Opposite outer lug on volume pot gets tied to case/ground. Signal leaves volume pot on middle lug and goes to jack.
Here's a diagram with your setup, less the treble bleed:
https://www.prsguitars.com/documents...body2_2017.pdf

I hope this helps.

[Joe Garfield]

Also, typically the capacitor goes between volume outer/signal input lug, and the middle lug on the tone pot. Then the outer 'output' of the tone pot goes to ground on the tone pot casing. Then there would be a ground wire from tone pot casing to volume pot casing.

[McCreed]

From what I can see, it looks correct (for 50's style wiring) but a birds-eye view would be better to see where everything is going.

FWIW I would re-flow the solder for the cap on the back of the volume pot. It looks like it could be a cold joint.

On another note, what brand is you HB? The wire colour code for the coils and grond has me confused. This would have no effect on the volume control issue, but it caught my eye.

[davidxw]

Thanks Joe for the prompt reply. I can't remember exactly where I got it from, but the diagram I used is below (it's upside down so that it aligns with the photo I took). This is also what I've seen on a few YT videos. Clearly it doesn't work though!



After reading your post I went to wiring diagrams on my pup website and they are pretty much what you've described:

Standard tele:
http://www.irongear.co.uk/2xtele_sc_..._blade_v08.gif

My pup combo but with a different swtich:
http://www.irongear.co.uk/1_x_humbuc...e_v01_igwm.gif

I'll make the updates, but are you able explain the differences?

Also I assume the treble bleed goes in the same place, i.e on the volume pot between the switch input and jack output?

[davidxw]

From what I can see, it looks correct (for 50's style wiring) but a birds-eye view would be better to see where everything is going.

FWIW I would re-flow the solder for the cap on the back of the volume pot. It looks like it could be a cold joint.

On another note, what brand is you HB? The wire colour code for the coils and grond has me confused. This would have no effect on the volume control issue, but it caught my eye.

Yes, that joint looks dodgy to me too, but I've tested it and it seems OK. Will fix anyway.

The pickup combo is form IronGear - a Rolling Mill and an Alchemist P90 ...
http://www.irongear.co.uk/irongear_pickups_036.htm

[McCreed]

The pickup combo is form IronGear

Ahh, ok. That explains the colour code difference from Seymour Duncans as well as others.

[Joe Garfield]

Edit: sorry, I missed your original comment about the tone pot grounding.

Yes, a bird's eye view would help.

The one difference I see between your schematic and the PRS one is that the tone pot 'input' and 'output' are reversed. It seems like that shouldn't matter, but maybe try playing with the tone knob while you change the volume? Just a thought...

[davidxw]

I'll make the updates, but are you able explain the differences?

On closer inspection of the two different tele wiring diagrams there is no difference - it doesn't matter weather the signal goes to the input or wiper terminal as long as the tone cap goes to the other, and is grounded.

I'll take another photo tonight, as well as check/improve the dodgy looking cap ground connection ...

[davidxw]

Here is a birds eye view of my control plate, with a (slightly) better job on the cap ground: