Tone/volume question on 2010 Sheraton II

[moonie]

I've been on a long hiatus from the guitar and getting back into things for my own personal enjoyment, not gigging.  I just got a Sheraton II from an online sale and I'm not entirely pleased with the sound. 

The main problem is the top E tends to disappear on me and I can't seem to get it to play at the same volume and tone as the rest of the strings.  When I first got it, the wound strings came out STRONG in the amp, but that seems to have settled down now that it's had a few days to acclimate to my house.  I also swapped out the strings for GHS nickel rockers which has helped a tiny bit, but not enough.

It's more pronounced on what I would consider the bridge pickup (switch down, bottom controls for volume/tone).  I say "what I would consider" because with this issue I want to assume it's wired correctly, but I have no idea.  The online seller got really weird after the sale and I'm thinking the worst now.  I have an appointment with a local guitar tech in two weeks to have this thing completely checked out and set up properly.

Question is:  is there anything I can do to tweak this E string issue?  I have volume 100% and that string just never does seem to have the same volume as the rest.  I'm considering getting new hardware -- at least a new bridge pickup -- at this point but I want to make sure it's necessary first.

[moonie]

I followed the specs for the pickups on this thread (even though I'm on an Epiphone instead of a Gibson) and my bridge pickup WAS slightly off, but not so much to affect anything.

 

SO, it seems apparently my volume pots are shot.  If I crank the volume all the way I get a nice even tone.  If I back off ever so slightly from full, it goes super quiet, all the way to zero and back.  Only full volume works.  Both volume pots seem to have no other setting other than all the way up.  I've already got a new wire harness on the way, hopefully this Sheraton gets back into better shape once that's installed and operational.

[mihcmac]

On 3/10/2021 at 6:54 PM, moonie said:

I've been on a long hiatus from the guitar and getting back into things for my own personal enjoyment, not gigging.  I just got a Sheraton II from an online sale and I'm not entirely pleased with the sound. 

The main problem is the top E tends to disappear on me and I can't seem to get it to play at the same volume and tone as the rest of the strings.  When I first got it, the wound strings came out STRONG in the amp, but that seems to have settled down now that it's had a few days to acclimate to my house.  I also swapped out the strings for GHS nickel rockers which has helped a tiny bit, but not enough.

It's more pronounced on what I would consider the bridge pickup (switch down, bottom controls for volume/tone).  I say "what I would consider" because with this issue I want to assume it's wired correctly, but I have no idea.  The online seller got really weird after the sale and I'm thinking the worst now.  I have an appointment with a local guitar tech in two weeks to have this thing completely checked out and set up properly.

Question is:  is there anything I can do to tweak this E string issue?  I have volume 100% and that string just never does seem to have the same volume as the rest.  I'm considering getting new hardware -- at least a new bridge pickup -- at this point but I want to make sure it's necessary first.

If your guitar has been sitting for a long time you may need to clean the Pots with some contact cleaner (or something similar) to get get them working properly. If its the Sheraton II Pro version with coil tapping, the Volume Pots may need to be worked up and down to get the Coil Tapping Push/Pull switching to function, while cleaning with contact cleaner.

Sometimes just working the pots can make an improvement after not being used for a while.

Edited March 15, 2021 by mihcmac