Possibly overheated my pots, help please.

[wasteofo2]

I just rewired my strat, and I noticed a few very weird things. The whole guitar sounds much quieter than it used to, I realize single coils are quiter than humbucker, but my SG with PAF emulating humbuckers sounds about 4 times louder than my strat currently does, I think I ruined the volume pot by overheating it. Some other weird things I noticed are that from about 10-7, there's normal volume lowering on my volume pot, then from about 7 to 5 it gets veeeeeeeeery quiet, then almost silent from 5 to zero, with some slight volume change audiable.

The tone pot also has some problems, from about 10 to 3, it sounds totally homogenous, no change in tone at all, as if it were on 10 the whole time. Then from like 2 to 0, it sounds as if it's just on zero. Do these sound more like symptoms of overheated pots or poor wiring?

[TheArchitect]

Pots are cheap. Replace them. As for the volume, if you are not familiar with single coils it may in fact be the usual volume drop. Vintage SC's have significantly less output than even vintage HB's. It may be the pots but its hard to say without hearing it.

[Robert S.]

This is where ohm meters suddenly become useful. Anything else is just a guess.

[Wattage]

This is where ohm meters suddenly become useful. Anything else is just a guess.

dead on

[wasteofo2]

This is where ohm meters suddenly become useful. Anything else is just a guess.

I've been meaning to get one for a long time, but I have no idea which specific one I'd need that would be best for guitar electronics, do you have any reccomendations?

[Kent S.]

I've been meaning to get one for a long time, but I have no idea which specific one I'd need that would be best for guitar electronics, do you have any reccomendations?

I forget the model number, but Radio Shack has one on their site for like 29.95, it's digital, auto ranging, continuity check, diode check ... I think it's one of the first ones that have the diode check function. Generally though any of them will work, still the first digital in the line isn't bad at all, and it's a bit more accurate than their bottom line analogues, there are technical reasons for this, but point is it'll will do you, and be around for some later stuff, they als have a descent digital one that stores in a pocket sized case with leads that roll up into the unit. All reasonably priced. Just look over their on line catalogue or MCM Electronics ... they have some cheap (read good quality, good features, and low price), also Hosfelt electronics ... look 'em up on line.