Members abelincoln09 Posted May 15, 2020 Members Share Posted May 15, 2020 Howdy! I just got a set of new Seymour Duncans put in my Epiphone Les Paul. But, now as soon as I turn up my volume knob on my guitar just a little, I get almost all the volume/distortion and then it just slowly moves up the rest of the way when I turn the volume up from there. When I had the stock epi pickups on, when I turned down the volume knob, I could get a clean tone if I wanted, now it's almost all distortion or nothing. Basically if the volume knob is on 2, distortion/volume is on like 8. Is this normal or is there something wrong like wiring was done incorrectly or the pickups don't match the pots or something? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 15, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 15, 2020 Well it could be several things... Did you install them, or did you have someone else do the install? Were the pots changed when the p-ups were changed? It sounds like the pots are audio taper, not linear taper. Do you know what the value of the pots are? For humbuckers, they should be 500k ohms. Are the new p-ups humbuckers? Are they coil tapped? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted May 16, 2020 Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 What daddymack said. Probably audio taper pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abelincoln09 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 3 hours ago, daddymack said: Well it could be several things... Did you install them, or did you have someone else do the install? Were the pots changed when the p-ups were changed? It sounds like the pots are audio taper, not linear taper. Do you know what the value of the pots are? For humbuckers, they should be 500k ohms. Are the new p-ups humbuckers? Are they coil tapped? I had someone else install them. It does make sense that they are audio taper. I'm pretty sure they are 500k, and they are coil tapped humbuckers. I guess I'll have to get linear taper pots. First time replacing pickups, didn't really think too much about the pots. Thanks for the reply 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 16, 2020 Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 20 minutes ago, abelincoln09 said: I had someone else install them. It does make sense that they are audio taper. I'm pretty sure they are 500k, and they are coil tapped humbuckers. I guess I'll have to get linear taper pots. First time replacing pickups, didn't really think too much about the pots. Thanks for the reply 🙂 Are you sure the pots were replaced? It's not something thats usually done on a simple pickup swap unless you ask for it. You actually want audio taper. Linear taper pots on volume controls don't give as smooth of a volume change through the sweep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abelincoln09 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 21 minutes ago, mrbrown49 said: Are you sure the pots were replaced? It's not something thats usually done on a simple pickup swap unless you ask for it. You actually want audio taper. Linear taper pots on volume controls don't give as smooth of a volume change through the sweep. No, they weren't replaced. Sorry, if I made it sound like they were replaced, I might have said something wrong. The problem I have with the pots I have now is that they don't really have a volume change at all, though after it goes from nothing to almost everything instantly. I've done some research on audio vs linear pots, and I'm just a bit confused on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 16, 2020 Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 But it wasn't that way before the pickup swap? Audio pots are typical for volume pots and linear are typical for tone pots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 16, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 16, 2020 18 minutes ago, mrbrown49 said: But it wasn't that way before the pickup swap? Audio pots are typical for volume pots and linear are typical for tone pots. yes, but linear as volume pots wouldn't give him this issue, other problems, yes......I've had people bring me guitars with complaints about the pots only to find whoever 'rewired' it switched the tone and volume pots by mistake...more than once... I'm trying to figure out how you could wire them and get full output at 2...unless the pot was wired 'backward'? but even then, it shouldn't do what the OP is experiencing...it should not make any sound until the pot is on all the way ... so, next questions... which Seymour Duncan p-ups did you have installed? They aren't 'active' are they? are the pots push/pull to activate the coil tap? or are there separate toggles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 16, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 16, 2020 2 hours ago, abelincoln09 said: I had someone else install them. It does make sense that they are audio taper. I'm pretty sure they are 500k, and they are coil tapped humbuckers. I guess I'll have to get linear taper pots. First time replacing pickups, didn't really think too much about the pots. Thanks for the reply 🙂 leave the pots for now...please answer the questions in the post ^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 16, 2020 Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 20 minutes ago, daddymack said: yes, but linear as volume pots wouldn't give him this issue, other problems, yes......I've had people bring me guitars with complaints about the pots only to find whoever 'rewired' it switched the tone and volume pots by mistake...more than once... I'm trying to figure out how you could wire them and get full output at 2...unless the pot was wired 'backward'? but even then, it shouldn't do what the OP is experiencing...it should not make any sound until the pot is on all the way ... so, next questions... which Seymour Duncan p-ups did you have installed? They aren't 'active' are they? are the pots push/pull to activate the coil tap? or are there separate toggles? I agree. Very odd failure mode. I suppose it's possible that the pots were overheated when soldering. I've seen that happen, but usually the result is a scratchy pot, or dead spots in the sweep. Never seen heat damage change the sweep response. And I can't think of a way to wire then that would result in the behavior the op describes. Honestly though, just take it back to the guy. Any tech worth his salt should have a warranty on the work they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abelincoln09 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 8 hours ago, mrbrown49 said: But it wasn't that way before the pickup swap? Audio pots are typical for volume pots and linear are typical for tone pots. No, it was not that way before the swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abelincoln09 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 8 hours ago, daddymack said: yes, but linear as volume pots wouldn't give him this issue, other problems, yes......I've had people bring me guitars with complaints about the pots only to find whoever 'rewired' it switched the tone and volume pots by mistake...more than once... I'm trying to figure out how you could wire them and get full output at 2...unless the pot was wired 'backward'? but even then, it shouldn't do what the OP is experiencing...it should not make any sound until the pot is on all the way ... so, next questions... which Seymour Duncan p-ups did you have installed? They aren't 'active' are they? are the pots push/pull to activate the coil tap? or are there separate toggles? Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. Saturday Night Special in the bridge, Pearly gates in the neck. They are passive. They are push/pull to activate the tap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 16, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 16, 2020 8 hours ago, mrbrown49 said: I agree. Very odd failure mode. I suppose it's possible that the pots were overheated when soldering. I've seen that happen, but usually the result is a scratchy pot, or dead spots in the sweep. Never seen heat damage change the sweep response. And I can't think of a way to wire then that would result in the behavior the op describes. Honestly though, just take it back to the guy. Any tech worth his salt should have a warranty on the work they do. totally concur, I don't know of a logical way this outcome would occur. I thought about 'cooked' pots at first, but as you noted, the outcome would have most likely have been dead spots, not an altered taper. Reversal of the pot would have altered the sweep, but not to this extent. Based on the last set of responses, yes, take it back, demo the issue to the install tech and tell him to correct it. It is virtually impossible to diagnose this kind of anomaly without being able to eyeball/trace/test the wiring, and with coil taps and push/pull pots, just a tad more complicated... good choices on the p-ups, btw, I do particularly like the PG in the neck position... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abelincoln09 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Members Share Posted May 16, 2020 42 minutes ago, daddymack said: totally concur, I don't know of a logical way this outcome would occur. I thought about 'cooked' pots at first, but as you noted, the outcome would have most likely have been dead spots, not an altered taper. Reversal of the pot would have altered the sweep, but not to this extent. Based on the last set of responses, yes, take it back, demo the issue to the install tech and tell him to correct it. It is virtually impossible to diagnose this kind of anomaly without being able to eyeball/trace/test the wiring, and with coil taps and push/pull pots, just a tad more complicated... good choices on the p-ups, btw, I do particularly like the PG in the neck position... Ok, thanks again. I will take it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 16, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 16, 2020 please let us know the actual cause when this gets corrected! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abelincoln09 Posted May 19, 2020 Author Members Share Posted May 19, 2020 On 5/16/2020 at 10:21 AM, daddymack said: please let us know the actual cause when this gets corrected! I took my guitar back today. The tech told me the weird taper was probably just because the pickups have a higher output compared to the stock Epiphones. He said the pots may be a little weird and they're not too sure about them because Epiphone only put some code on them they don't know anything about and that replacing them with more traditional pots could help bring a more normal taper. He also did say that they are probably audio taper which is more than than linear taper like you guys said. That's about it other than he dusted out the cavity with the pots because they somehow missed some dust which was causing some muddyness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 19, 2020 Members Share Posted May 19, 2020 59 minutes ago, abelincoln09 said: I took my guitar back today. The tech told me the weird taper was probably just because the pickups have a higher output compared to the stock Epiphones. He said the pots may be a little weird and they're not too sure about them because Epiphone only put some code on them they don't know anything about and that replacing them with more traditional pots could help bring a more normal taper. He also did say that they are probably audio taper which is more than than linear taper like you guys said. That's about it other than he dusted out the cavity with the pots because they somehow missed some dust which was causing some muddyness. They told you dust in the cavity was causing a muddy sound? Take it to someone else. They sound like snake oil salesmen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abelincoln09 Posted May 19, 2020 Author Members Share Posted May 19, 2020 5 minutes ago, mrbrown49 said: They told you dust in the cavity was causing a muddy sound? Take it to someone else. They sound like snake oil salesmen. Ok, hold on... sorry, I worded that horribly... That's not what they said, and the sound wasn't even muddy to begin with anyway, so I'm not too sure what I was talking about. They accidentally left some dust in their and dusted it out. I didn't mean for that part to be a big deal. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 19, 2020 Moderators Share Posted May 19, 2020 is this a legitimate shop where things actually get fixed on a regular basis? How did 'dust' get in the cavity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted May 24, 2020 Members Share Posted May 24, 2020 On 5/18/2020 at 6:40 PM, mrbrown49 said: They told you dust in the cavity was causing a muddy sound? Take it to someone else. They sound like snake oil salesmen. If you turn the Reverb up to high the 'wet' sound can combine with the dust in the cavity to create 'mud.' 😀 But, seriously, it sounds like a wiring error occurred during the pickup replacement. The Volume pot, in a standard guitar circuit, functions as a voltage divider. For the voltage divider to function properly as intended, the circuit must be properly grounded. Even a simple mistake, like soldering a wire to the incorrect lug of a pot, can compromise proper grounding. Also, check to see if the wires going to the output jack might have been reversed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted May 26, 2020 Members Share Posted May 26, 2020 Your tech is an idiot. I would bet money he rewired it improperly. Here are 2 diagrams on how it should be wired. Follow the diagrams compared to what you have in your guitar. https://guitarelectronics.com/2-humbuckers-3-way-toggle-switch-1-volume-1-tone/ https://guitarelectronics.com/2-humbuckers-3-way-toggle-switch-2-volumes-2-tones/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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