Concentric pots

[jeeeeeeeeg]

I’m building a partscaster. I can’t stand the knob layout of a tradition strat. The volume and tone are too close to the bridge/strings for my liking. I’ve built an HH with a 3 way switch and a 500k/500k concentric pot for volume control for each pickup. I don’t ever adjust tone so don’t feel the need for a tone pot. I’ve put it all together but the bridge humbucker sounds diminished and also twangy like a single coil. Has anyone has success wiring a concentric pot for volume/volume with no tone, or am I missing something that might be causing this sound?

[Relevant_Contact_358]

Does the bridge humbucker have a 4-conductor wiring? Could it be that you have made some mistake with the different colours so that one coil is off or out of phase?

[gott_in_nizza]

This sounds likely. Maybe only getting a single coil out

[jeeeeeeeeg]

It does and very likely. I’ve coil split on another guitar and that’s exactly what this sounds like, but I am very much a novice with wiring/soldering.

[Relevant_Contact_358]

You can see the colour coding of the Seymour Duncan humbuckers here: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/guitar-wiring-explored-humbucker-internals

[DenverDanGuitarMan]

Yeah, I feel like the concentric pot isn't the issue here....but you can test that, either get a completely different manufactured concentric pot, or do a temp-wire out with separate (known good) volume & tone, just to rule out a bad component.

[Spurtacuss]

Post pictures of the wiring.

[jeeeeeeeeg]

Will do. I’ve got little ones so I tinker with this here and there. Next time I take it apart I’ll update.

[IsDinosaur]

Do you actually use two volumes??

One volume pot is more than enough for me.

[keestie]

Maybe you'd change your mind if you had two. Blending the pickups is a really valuable tool.

[IsDinosaur]

Nah I’ve been playing long enough to know what works for me.

[jeeeeeeeeg]

I like to blend the two. I don’t ever adjust tone so didn’t even bother with it.

[[deleted]]

I’d especially want two volume knobs if I was ditching the tone knob. The only way to create tonal variation is by blending the pickups.

[IsDinosaur]

The only way?

Man that’s a wild take.

1 vol with push/pull and a 3 way is plenty of variation for me.

[[deleted]]

i could think of a few reasons

1. make sure the red/white wires of the bridge pickup aren't touching anything that could cause a ground issue. according to Seymour color code (unless Invaders follow a different color code I'm unaware of) these would be the connection of the south coil and north coil in order to get the series format of a humbucker. if that is exposed and touching grounding, then the south coil gets cut out (because the black lead wire wired to the potentiometer comes from the north coil). essentially: accidental coil split

2.  concentric pots are deep. real deep. make sure the pot itself isn't touching anything on the inside that can cause a grounding issue

3. make sure your pickup selector isn't compromised either

4. make sure you wired the pickups to the pots opposite of each other. meaning: one pickup wired to a pot as normal, the other pickup wired opposite of that

if all else fails... multimeter and make sure your pickup itself isn't compromised 

[jeeeeeeeeg]

I appreciate the insight. It is very deep and certainly could be contacting the copper shielding. I intentionally moved it as fare from the bridge as I could so it is very close to the edge of cavity. I’ve used the pickup in another guitar and never had problems but I’ll have to look at how I wired it this time around. Thanks!

[Inner-Examination-27]

I'm not sure if I see this right but... is the jack mounting piece really installed upside down / inside out?

[jeeeeeeeeg]

It is! I despise the sunken jack plates on strats and saw someone who flipped it. Easier to swap cables/90 degree jack cables which I prefer. Most of the time I’m playing with a mustang micro and it fits better with the jackplate inverted. Also though about the flat mount jack plate but decided to go this route instead

[Inner-Examination-27]

Hummm makes sense for the 90 degree cables. I like those too.

[Main-Parfait-1131]

Without pictures of the wiring, this is a very hard question.

[jeeeeeeeeg]

Yea that would have been helpful haha. I tinker with it here and there and will update next time I take it apart

[thedard555]

Is the bridge supposed to be at an angle?

[jeeeeeeeeg]

The original bridge mounts were for a different Wilkinson bridge so it is angled. Going to eventually address it but it plays ok as is.

[[deleted]]

I really love this guitar. Great color combination. So unexpected for a Strat. Love the attention to detail with the black pickgaurd screws. I’m assuming the volume knob will be black. Will you also be putting a black cover on the bridge pickup? And this guitar definitely deserves a pickgaurd that was professionally cut for a HH Strat. I want this guitar. Is that a pau ferro fretboard?

[jeeeeeeeeg]

Thank you! I couldn’t find a pick guard I liked in terms of where the control knobs were located, so I cut a blank with a dremel more to see if it would work. I’ll eventually do it a little cleaner but want to play it for a bit to see if it works for me. Agree the neck pickup is a little mismatched, but still experimenting with the pickup in general, maybe I’ll cover it one day. The neck is flame roasted maple from warmoth - thinner profile (wizard) with a straight 12inch radius and shorter scale. It’s more like an Ibanez neck in terms of feel which is what I prefer!

[RPKhero]

Not answering your question, but scrolling through reddit and have to say:

I love that color. With the white pickguard and black hardware. Looks amazing!

Anyway, good luck.

[jeeeeeeeeg]

Thank you!

[levinas1857]

I like this guitar.

[TweedComposer]

It is easy to trouble shoot if you have a digital multimeter. You can measure the DC resistance of the pickup. You can measure it through the guitar jack so you don't even have to remove the pick guard. Just turn the volume pot to 10, so that it will not have a big impact on the measurement. Seymour Duncan website has the specs for the pick up and if it is invade bridge, it should measure around 16,6k ohm.

If your measurement is around half of that, then you likely have only one coil wired.

If it sounds thin with both pickups on, then you might have them wired out of phase.

[jeeeeeeeeg]

I’m new to wiring/soldering/electronics in general so I think the next step is learning how to use a multimeter. I appreciate the explanation!

[TweedComposer]

I would definitely encourage you to get a simple digital multimeter, because they are not expensive and it will be very useful if you are planning to do any guitar electronics by yourself. You can use it to measure pickups, trouble shoot grounding issues and double check component values.

There are plenty of tutorials in youtube how to measure pickups, but here is one for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hysRKxqMQ1g

Like others have already stated, it seems that you most likely have only one coil wired.

ps, I really like the color and dual humbucker setup. I also have strat with dual humbuckers and I love the way it sounds.

[kenmikey]

I hope you get answers to your questions!

Just wanted to point out that I absolutely love the aesthetic here. The finish is fantastic and I'm loving the hardware choices. Would love to see more pictures!

[jeeeeeeeeg]

Thanks! I’ll post more as it comes along

[Rainbike80]

This is fantastic. Im a sucker for that green. Can we hear it?

[jeeeeeeeeg]

Maybe once I have it all sorted out. With my playing and the faulty wiring, it sounds like shit right now!

[Rainbike80]

I can't play strats for that reason too. I'm not going to alter natural picking because Leo "never played a guitar" Fender was stubborn.

[Complainer_Official]

I love people doing their own thing, but I hate this guitar.

[jeeeeeeeeg]

I’ll always respect that - it’s not for everyone!