Volume Pot question?

Murphy Slaw · January 22nd, 2008, 08:08 PM

My 91' American Standards volume pot suddenly refused to turn Sat night at a gig. (first set, of course!). I got through the gig but am booked again this Sat. And the rest of the year, pretty much.

I live in Hooterville and couldn't find one local, so have 2 coming from Musicians Friend. Same Fender 250K pot. Looked at the wiring diagram on this forum after tearing mine open.

I'm not seeing the caps on mine. I bought it used a few years back. There is one on the bottom of the tone control.

The guitar is very quiet, has great tone, ect. Can I just r&r the pot, and go on or should those caps be there? I'm a guitar player, not an electronics guy, obviously, but figured this looked easy enough until I looked at the diagram in this forum.

Thanks in advance, this is the best forum I've ever seen for guitars, and I've been hooked on my Tele since I got her, after decades of gigging Les Pauls, S.G.'s, and then Strats.

Best of luck.

Murph.

MulliganChebichev · January 22nd, 2008, 08:16 PM

Is it wired like this:

Than its fine

spankdplank · January 22nd, 2008, 08:34 PM

Mulligan's diagram is for a standard telecaster, not an American Standard, which is wired a little differently because of the TBX tone pot. Regardless, if your volume pot died, just replace it and wire it like the one you took out. There is no cap on the volume pot, the cap is on the tone pot, as shown on Mulligan's diagram, and shouldn't be an issue when you replace the volume pot.

Murphy Slaw · January 22nd, 2008, 08:40 PM

Pretty much. Both wires from the jack go straght to the volume pot though. And there is only one black wire going from the volume pot into the cavity to the bridge pickup, and a yellow from the selector. The neck pickup grounds at the base of the selector along side where the white solders to the selector.

Sheeze!

Is it wierd or am I okay?

Thanks.

Murph.

spankdplank · January 23rd, 2008, 01:13 PM

That sounds odd to me, and like some one re-wired it later. Ive never seen a factory wiring from fender that grounds to the selecter rather than the pots. You should be able to follow Mulligan's diagram and just re-wire it the correct way. If yours still has the TBX tone pot, just leave that as is. Sorry if that isn't much help.

giantslayer · January 23rd, 2008, 03:05 PM

Something I'd highly recommend is moving the wire that connects the volume and tone controls to the middle lug of the volume pot instead of the left, so it's on the same terminal that the output to the jack is. I did this on my strat, which is wired with master volume, master tone, and it does a nice job preserving my highs as I roll the volume back. It also doesn't cause an apparent treble gain as the bleed cap does. However, if you like having your treble get rolled off with the volume pot, just wire it the way the diagram says.

Murphy Slaw · January 24th, 2008, 09:33 PM

Got the pot today, wired it sloppily just as it was, and it sounds fine.

It is a different setup than the picture above though, and the only cap is under the tone pot. The nut has some work done on it too, I bought it used actually about 4 years ago, wish I knew who owned it before, but anyhow, all is good.

Thanks for the help.

Murph.

January 22nd, 2008, 08:08 PM	#1 (permalink)
Murphy Slaw Tele-Meister Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Joppa, Il. Age: 50 Posts: 439	Volume Pot question? My 91' American Standards volume pot suddenly refused to turn Sat night at a gig. (first set, of course!). I got through the gig but am booked again this Sat. And the rest of the year, pretty much. I live in Hooterville and couldn't find one local, so have 2 coming from Musicians Friend. Same Fender 250K pot. Looked at the wiring diagram on this forum after tearing mine open. I'm not seeing the caps on mine. I bought it used a few years back. There is one on the bottom of the tone control. The guitar is very quiet, has great tone, ect. Can I just r&r the pot, and go on or should those caps be there? I'm a guitar player, not an electronics guy, obviously, but figured this looked easy enough until I looked at the diagram in this forum. Thanks in advance, this is the best forum I've ever seen for guitars, and I've been hooked on my Tele since I got her, after decades of gigging Les Pauls, S.G.'s, and then Strats. Best of luck. Murph.

January 22nd, 2008, 08:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
MulliganChebichev Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Eugene, Oregon Age: 18 Posts: 1,742 3 Photos	Is it wired like this: Than its fine

January 22nd, 2008, 08:34 PM	#3 (permalink)
spankdplank Tele-Holic Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Houston, Tx. Posts: 692 28 Photos	Mulligan's diagram is for a standard telecaster, not an American Standard, which is wired a little differently because of the TBX tone pot. Regardless, if your volume pot died, just replace it and wire it like the one you took out. There is no cap on the volume pot, the cap is on the tone pot, as shown on Mulligan's diagram, and shouldn't be an issue when you replace the volume pot.

January 22nd, 2008, 08:40 PM	#4 (permalink)
Murphy Slaw Tele-Meister Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Joppa, Il. Age: 50 Posts: 439	Pretty much. Both wires from the jack go straght to the volume pot though. And there is only one black wire going from the volume pot into the cavity to the bridge pickup, and a yellow from the selector. The neck pickup grounds at the base of the selector along side where the white solders to the selector. Sheeze! Is it wierd or am I okay? Thanks. Murph.

January 23rd, 2008, 01:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
spankdplank Tele-Holic Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Houston, Tx. Posts: 692 28 Photos	That sounds odd to me, and like some one re-wired it later. Ive never seen a factory wiring from fender that grounds to the selecter rather than the pots. You should be able to follow Mulligan's diagram and just re-wire it the correct way. If yours still has the TBX tone pot, just leave that as is. Sorry if that isn't much help.

January 23rd, 2008, 03:05 PM	#6 (permalink)
giantslayer Tele-Meister Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Colorado Springs, CO Age: 22 Posts: 289	Something I'd highly recommend is moving the wire that connects the volume and tone controls to the middle lug of the volume pot instead of the left, so it's on the same terminal that the output to the jack is. I did this on my strat, which is wired with master volume, master tone, and it does a nice job preserving my highs as I roll the volume back. It also doesn't cause an apparent treble gain as the bleed cap does. However, if you like having your treble get rolled off with the volume pot, just wire it the way the diagram says.

January 24th, 2008, 09:33 PM	#7 (permalink)
Murphy Slaw Tele-Meister Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Joppa, Il. Age: 50 Posts: 439	Got the pot today, wired it sloppily just as it was, and it sounds fine. It is a different setup than the picture above though, and the only cap is under the tone pot. The nut has some work done on it too, I bought it used actually about 4 years ago, wish I knew who owned it before, but anyhow, all is good. Thanks for the help. Murph.