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Tone Pots Question
I'm evaluating the Agile's electronics and find all vols/tones are linear taper 500k. I want audio taper in both, so will replace those.
I notice there's a .022uF capacitor on each tone pot, and I want to upgrade those, BUT what I see offered in the various assembled drop-in kits is the tone capacitor wired between the tone and volume pots, not wired just to the tone pot itself, as on my guitar. I'm guessing the aftermarket guys are doing it correctly, but does anyone know why the two are wired differently, and how, being wired so differently, does each accomplish the job of affecting the tone?? Thanks for any guidance. EDIT: More confusion - My RS Guitars drop-in kit has the cap wired to the tone pop and grounded to the top of the same tone pot, separate wire connecting the volume and tone pots - https://rs-guitarworks.myshopify.com...kit-long-shaft This BCS kit, however, shows the cap wired between the vol and tone pots: http://bcsguitars.com/wp-content/upl...-Large-Add.jpg What's happening? Last edited by ChrisN; 06-16-2017 at 07:06 PM. |
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Electrically, they're equivalent. The cap carries treble frequencies to ground to do its job, they just changed where the ground connection physically is. There is a difference in wiring on the upstream side of the cap when you look at modern vs vintage wiring schemes, though.
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
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One advantage of soldering the tone capacitor to the back of the pot is that- if the tone pot nut should work loose- turning the tone pot won't destroy a relatively costly cap. It at worst may wind up or break a wire. If the cap is between the pots, you can conceivably tear the cap apart should you turn the pot casing.
Good luck. |
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Bad practice
In the industrial electronics world soldering anything to the back of a pot is considered bad practice.
I have serviced industrial electronics for 39 years. I have seen 1000's of pots in circuits of all types. The only place I have seen the back of the pot soldered is in the musical instrument industry. Getting enough heat to solder to the relatively massive back of the pot requires a lot of heat and if your not good at it the pot can be damaged. It also makes changing the pot a lot harder. Grounding the case is done through the mounting.
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Separately, while one vid showed a guy (John Cooper's excellent vids) roughing the pot back with sandpaper, another vid said "don't do that - the backs are coated with [tin or solder, or something] that facilitates the soldering process, and sanding takes that away. |
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Some pots won't accept solder unless the surface layer is scraped. I've had good luck with CTS pots and not scraping being successful.
Guitar pots get soldered since they're mounted to wood, and grounding via that mechanical connection won't work. As far as actual technique, just making a solder puddle won't make a lasting connection. You can usually break the connection with a sharp poke with a chopstick or a tug. I use an 85W iron set to 650F with a 1/4" chisel tip. Takes a few seconds to get the target area good and hot, a couple of seconds to flow solder, and it's good to go. If the surface of a solder joint is shiny and concave, that's a good sign. Last tip: set the pots to the zero position before soldering, so if you overheat something and create a dead spot it's at the least used setting. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
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"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." -Zig Ziglar Acoustics 2013 Guild F30 Standard 2012 Yamaha LL16 2007 Seagull S12 1991 Yairi DY 50 Electrics Epiphone Les Paul Standard Fender Am. Standard Telecaster Gibson ES-335 Gibson Firebird |
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I would also suggest, ChrisN, if you not had much experience with soldering, practise on something that does not matter if you stuff it up first. Learn how to solder properly or you could end up with random problems down the road. I'm talking dry joints and the like.
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