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Wiring issue sorted -useful info


MoonBassAlpha
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Just thought I'd share this issue, and the solution.

A recently acquired Mexican Mustang bass (was new this year) had a subtle issue I found. The volume and tone worked normally at first glance, but actually, when the tone control was fairly far down, the volume control no longer worked in a linear manner. The volume suddenly drops below about 8 (there are no actual numbers on these!)

I've found the solution, but would you guys care to have a guess? (maybe you've come across it yourself?) Enjoy! :)

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7 minutes ago, KiOgon said:

It didn't have a KiOgon loom in it 😎

Nice one!

ok, I'll spill the beans.

The wiring was wrong from the factory. The pickup hot was wired to the wiper and the output to the non-ground end tag of the volume pot. The tone control was wired correctly. Swapped the pickup hot and the output wire over and it now works normally. I've sketched both schemes out and I still can't work out why it was working oddly.  Anyone care to chip in now?

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This article explains what is happening - https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/29161-mod-garage-three-ways-to-wire-a-tone-pot

I know it's titled 'three ways to wire a tone pot' and your issue was with the vol pot, but if you look at the 'standard wiring' (top) and swap the hot and cold wires on the vol pot, this is the electrical equivalent of the ''50s wiring' option (bottom). The big difference being that, when the vol is rolled back, the tone control is no longer directly connected to the pickup and this 'decoupling' results in a change in how the vol and tone pots interact with each other. Read the blurb in the article on '50s wiring and all will be revealed!

Edited by ikay
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