FirstMeasure Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 How come ground wires are soldered to the Body of the Potentiometer instead of the Ground Terminal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmurray Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 There is no ground terminal. A pot is simply a resistor with a variable center tap. The three terminals are chosen depending on how you want the pot to act, neither of them are required to be connected to ground, but they may be depending on the circuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LPC Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 It's easier, and more reliable to have ground connections soldered to the pot casing. The ground lug on the pot can then just be soldered to the case to complete the circuit. Imagine trying to solder several grounds to a small lug. By grounding the case, it also shields the conductive track. Without the ground lug of the volume pot, the guitar would still produce sound when turned to zero, and because the pot is always tied to earth through the ground / earth lug, the value of the conductive track affects the tone of the guitar. The higher the value, the brighter the sound since fewer high frequencies are passing to ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 Thanks 80LPC, that makes a lot of sense. Is it necessary to solder the Ground Lug to the case or just a good idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LPC Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 FM, yes it's necessary to solder the lug to the case. You could in theory try to bunch all grounds together at the ground lug, but the joint would be poor and the lug would most likely break. Note how all grounds connect at a volume pot case, and ground lugs connect to their respective cases. http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD2HH3T22_00/Guitar_Wiring_Diagam_w_2_Humbuckers3Way_Toggle_Switch2_Volumes2_Tones.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 Cool :) thanks again. That clears things up. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 The better question is why the body of potentiometers do not have a tab to make it a lot easier to connect and solder wires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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