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Trying to turn 2 volume knobs into volume/blend - wiring doesn't match diagram


polvo
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Before I get to my main question - what is the point of 2 separate volume knobs rather than a blend knob? It really annoys me that I can't quickly & easily adjust volume without impacting on the tone, or vice versa. I can't really see any advantage of double volume knobs but it's so common... what am I missing?

 

Ok, and now the main bit. The plan is to turn the 1st pot into master volume and replace the 2nd with a blend. But I'm kind of confused by the wiring under the hood, and it doesn't seem to match what I'm seeing in the diagram...

 

image.thumb.png.05262da6645dddbcaee09f52640fd29b.png.

 

 

 

Based on that, I was expecting to see three wires connected to the 1st pot (two from the pickup, and one going to the 2nd pot). But instead I have one from the front pickup (yellow in the photo below), one going to the jack (white), and one to the 2nd pot (white/red). The front pickup also has another two other wires (both black), one going to the 2nd pot and one going to the tone knob.

 

image.thumb.png.4d9f4bda87392f8cf6019c3c8bb25aa6.png

 

 

Does anyone know why the wiring seems so different to the diagram? Or am I missing something obvious here?

 

 

And any advice on how to approach the rewiring?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I would love to write a hypothetical story about a man living in the '50s, and his name could be Feo, so back in the days...

...but today there are balance pots readily available contrary to the ancient times. Just buy a Bourns 250k MN, or 500k MN.

 

If you put one point (jack ground, or the closest pot cover) as the centre point, you can connect every ground wire to that one particular (star) ground. In the schema the wires are chained from one point to another. Star is a better way to handle certain issues: do some search, if needed.

 

When you rewire the set, pickups go first to the blend:

pickups - blend - vol - tone - output

This is the signal path! You certainly want to put vol closest to your hands to the bass' top: wires have to be long enough.

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Whats missing in the diag and may add to some confusion are extra grounds, wires from solder tags in the pup cavities, and an earth wire from the bridge.

 

Search for 'MN Taper' on here might help 250k or 500k.

 

I've replaced all my Twin Pickup,Twin Vol to Blend. About 6...

Edited by PaulThePlug
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My starting point for any wiring task is always the Seymour Duncan website HERE, they have clear easy to follow diagrams for most arrangements.

 

as you are rewiring and replacing one of the pots i would suggest replacing all of them with good quality ones (CTS would be my top pick, with Alpha second choice) while you're in there, I will often make most of the harness out of the bass and then make the last connections before fitting it back into the bass, i generally get a bit of thick card and mount the pots into that while i'm soldering everything together if the pickup wires are long enough you should be able to do all the work out of the bass except the output jack connections.

 

another thing to check/replace is the output jack, that style are notorious for failing, fitting a switchcraft version should give you the longest life.

 

Matt

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On 27/04/2023 at 09:13, BigRedX said:

Having said that, it would be useful to see where all those wires disappearing out of the left side of the photograph go.

 

That's mostly just me holding the bundle of wires out of the way to take a clearer photo. But a few of the black wires go into the body to connect to the pickups - as I've since learnt, these are extra grounding wires.

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On 27/04/2023 at 09:32, Matt P said:

as you are rewiring and replacing one of the pots i would suggest replacing all of them with good quality ones (CTS would be my top pick, with Alpha second choice) while you're in there

Is this about the new blend pot somehow being consistent with the volume & tone pots? Or just about upgrading the other pots since I'll have them out anyway? I hadn't planned on that... but will think about it if it makes a noticeable difference.

 

On 27/04/2023 at 09:32, Matt P said:

i generally get a bit of thick card and mount the pots into that while i'm soldering everything together if the pickup wires are long enough you should be able to do all the work out of the bass except the output jack connections.

Great tip!

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23 minutes ago, polvo said:

Is this about the new blend pot somehow being consistent with the volume & tone pots? Or just about upgrading the other pots since I'll have them out anyway? I hadn't planned on that... but will think about it if it makes a noticeable difference.

 

Great tip!

 

It's mostly about upgrading whilst you're in there, the standard pots on many basses aren't that brilliant so swapping them out for good quality ones with decent reliability makes sense for the relatively small additional outlay, I've done this on many basses, not to improve the sound but so that i know that what's in there is good quality so can be relied upon.

 

from experience of cheap enclosed barrel style jack sockets that would be the thing i changed out first (i've lost count of how many of these i have swapped out over the years)

 

Matt

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you to everyone above for your help! But now comes the follow-up question, where I try to understand what I've done wrong and how to fix it...

 

EDIT: Removed the rest of this comment and moved it to a new thread here: 

 

 

Edited by polvo
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