Volume control - not smooth volume increase, how to improve it?

[lanark]

The volume control on my Squier Affinity P-bass works very oddly (or maybe all guitars do this, I haven't played that many different instruments). When turning the control, about 95% of the movement increases the volume from silence to about 20% of total volume and then the last 2mm of distance increases it by about 80%. It means that I have almost no finesse over my volume, it's basically either off or on.

It this normal or is there something I could do to improve this?

Thanks for the advice in advance.

[Ou7shined]

Has it always done this?

If you have a 250k pot in ther you may want to try a 500k for a different dynamic.

This graph might help explain your situation.

[lanark]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1293198' date='Jul 5 2011, 11:26 AM']Has it always done this?

If you have a 250k pot in ther you may want to try a 500k for a different dynamic.

This graph might help explain your situation.

[/quote]

That graph is definitely something like what it's doing - it would appear to be a standard thing. And yes, it's always done it. What difference would using a 500k pot have on the dynamic?

[brensabre79]

500k pots are generally for humbuckers (which the standard JB pickups arent) so you should probably stick with 250k. You may have a particularly nasty pot, so you could try replacing with a better quality 250k log (I did this in my squier jazz and it worked) or you could try a linear pot (250k) and see if it gives you a smoother response - but these are generally better for tone controls.

[lanark]

Maybe I'll just stick with it on 100% volume permanently.

[Al Heeley]

Sorry this is cheap pot syndrome. instead of a true ramp in resistance on the pot tracks they just have 2 bands overlapping to try and approximate the smooth ramp. QC spec and tolerance on cheap pots is all over the place. It's galling when you spend a few hundred quid on a guitar that the difference between cheap pots and decent ones is about 3 quid.
Get the pots replaced with decent CTS ones, available from Allparts, Axes-r-us, etc.

Go here for pure geekness:
[url="http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/potsecrets/potscret.htm"]http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/pots...ts/potscret.htm[/url]

Edited July 5, 2011 by Al Heeley

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='1293293' date='Jul 5 2011, 12:41 PM']Get the pots replaced with decent CTS ones, available from Allparts, Axes-r-us, etc.[/quote]

Just want to point out that other 'decent pot' brands are available.

[BigRedX]

It would be useful for all of us to know what other brands are worth considering.

[escholl]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1293586' date='Jul 5 2011, 04:47 PM']It would be useful for all of us to know what other brands are worth considering.[/quote]
Alps, Alpha, Bourns, Omeg -- probably more those are just what come to mind.