Changed the cheap import pots and caps in my guitar and....

[75lespaul]

The ol' Jay Turser toy got an upgrade last night. I had four CTS 500k pots and three CTS 250k pots, both audio taper, and .022 orange drops. The original caps are those dark green chicklets and the pots were the usual garbage. I used two 500k for the volumes, one 250k on the the bridge tone, and the original neck tone pot for the neck pickup because I liked the way the OLP neck pickup sounded when I first put it in. I put one of my Brobuckers in the bridge.

NOW...both pickups sound like the top end is rolled off, and they have a slightly cocked wah sound. Neither sounded like that before, ever. I'm stumped because I've used CTS and orange drops from this same batch in a few other guitars and never had this problem. Since the tone pots are both different manufacturers, could the orange drops or volume pots be doing the wah thing? I'll probably swap the other 500k pots in for tone, but does anyone have any idea what is causing the wah effect? I'm more confused by the neck pickup because the only thing that is different is the cap and volume pot. Hmmmm.....

[Funkfingers]

Pics of your wiring, please.

[75lespaul]

My camera won't take good closeups, so it would be pointless. However, I always use Seymour's wiring diagram when wiring a whole cavity. The only thing different was that Seymour's diagram shows the input jack tip going to the three way switch, which I left alone, and the sleeve being grounded to the bridge tone pot. The jack was not wired this way originally. There are two wires at the jack that are coming out of the wire covering and both are soldered directly to the tip and sleeve respectively. I left it alone and everything seems okay. I double and triple checked the wiring as I was going along so I'm pretty sure it is wired correctly. Wish I had a better camera. Could my soldering be the problem?

I use this diagram

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...ic=2h_2v_2t_3w

[DalyTek]

Does this happen in all 3 positions of the 3-way switch?

[75lespaul]

Does this happen in all 3 positions of the 3-way switch?

That was a good question, and it made me plug in and jam on it again. I must have been tired last night because I don't hear the slightly cocked wah sound anymore. All I'm hearing is like the tone is rolled off, so it has to be the 500k pot on the bridge, and the only thing I can think of on the neck pickup is that the little square green cap that was originally in it must have been a lower value. I'll put that cap back in and use the other two 500k tones that I have. Unreal what a difference a day makes. Thanks man. Funkfingers, than you as well. I really appreciate you guys helping me.

In the end, this just may be a lousy hunk of wood, which wouldn't surprise me considering it's a cheap guitar. Haven't had one set of pickups in it that sounded right yet. The OLP neck sounded great before, and the Brobucker sounds like it's reaaaally trying hard to sound good in this piece of poop, ha ha. Yes, I've had the Brobucker in a few other guitars before including a 73 Gibson LP, and the mojo just knocked me out. Sounded incredible in every guitar. My favorite pickup.

[ItsaBass]

Sounds like you may have some poor solder joints, or perhaps come mixed up wires.

[75lespaul]

Sounds like you may have some poor solder joints, or perhaps come mixed up wires.

That could have been it, but I put the 500k pots for tone pots and that did the trick. Guitar sounds killer now. I'll tell you, the Brobucker seems to be the cure-all for any lousy sounding guitar for me, ha ha. Well, the bridge sounds killer anyway. I screwed something up on the neck tone because it doesn't work. It's like the tone is all the way down. Gonna go check now, but I don't use the neck too much on this guitar anyway. I've got three others where the neck pickups are exactly what I want, and I use them.

[75lespaul]

Fixed the tone control problem. I put washers next to the pot to wedge it in place when I tightened the nut so it wouldn't spin, and I forgot to take them out. They were touching the lugs and when I removed them, everything worked fine. Darn nice sounding neck, that OLP MM1 pickup.