geetar playr Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Hey all, I think I burned out my volume pot switching out the pups in one of my guitars. (probably something only a newb with a soldering iron could accomplish!). No problems with volume actually, but when I turn down the volume knob for the bridge pup, there is no decrease in volume until I get to 2-3, and then it goes down to a noticeable level, and then crackles, and then no sound at 0-1. So...did I fry the volume pot? Or is this something to do with my wiring? I guess that leads to my second question - any advice on changing out volume pots? I guess I'll get some ordered and try to switch out both volume pots this coming week. Alright, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 It's possible that you burned the pot with your iron. The key in these endeavours is to work quickly and avoid 'cooking' the components. What size iron are you using? When I started out I used my old man's iron which is a 125-watt monster. Those soldering guns aren't the best either; they're not really the thing for delicate work. Best is a small soldering pencil, 25 to 30 watts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geetar playr Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 Using Radio Shack 25-40 watt iron. I had it on the 40 watt setting. Wrong setting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpdeluxe Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I understand that it's a good practice to turn the shaft on the pot all the way counterclockwise ("off") before soldering to avoid damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I understand that it's a good practice to turn the shaft on the pot all the way counterclockwise ("off") before soldering to avoid damage. One of my OCDs is I always set all the potmeters to zero when I finish playing for fear of crackle and popping in the usable part of the pottaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copper1281734000 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 If you put in really hot pickups, then there will be very little difference when turning the volume knob until you get to very low numbers. If that not the case then something is likely broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geetar playr Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 OK, yeah, the bridge Tone Zone's output is somewhere around 17....I don't really hear a difference in turning down that pup until I get to around 2 or 3. And yeah, I probably did not turn volume pot to 0 when I did the work. Yeesh! Hey, I blame all of you guys, actually! After reading all the posts on guitar mods, I decided to try it myself and swap out these pickups! (actually, yeah, I blame myself) But hey, lessons learned. I got this particular guitar to do some mods on, so no worries, and appreciate all the good knowledge on this site. Of all the forums I go to, the Epi forum is the go-to site for knowledge, I think. If anyone else knows this, too... I measured the output of pups with the multimeter, and it was slightly lower than indicated on the Dimarzio website (I am measuring about 1.0-1.3 difference in output on the pups). Is that normal? Should I be worried about a relatively small difference, or do you think I did something wrong? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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