My guild hollowbody appears to be wired like a Les Paul.
When my switch s in the middle position for both pickups, the volumes for both go from off to all the way up dramatically in about a quarter of a turn. No mods have been made on this guitar. Any thoughts?
Do the volume knobs act right when a single pickup is selected?
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Thanks for your responce.
Yes, this is what is so strange. They work perfectly when selected singlely. I have pulled all the components out and cannot see anything visually that is wrong like a bad connection or bad solder joint. Could the caps have anything to do with it?
OK I own several Les Pauls and Les Pual clones, so I am familiar with how they work. Next question. Is one pickup turned up all the way when you are adjusting the other's volume knob? On my guitars, if you turn one volume off, both go off but once you "bring them back to life" the volumes work independantly on their assigned pickup. If you are adjusting say the bridge pickup and the neck is at 10, the neck will go to full volume once you turn up the bridge pickup just a little bit. Maybe nothing is wrong. Just a hunch.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Ok, let me get this straight, one pickup needs to be at 10 in order for the other one to be adjustable? Also when I have one turned all the way up, the other only kicks in about 2, then from 3 to about 9 is the same volume, and 9 to 10 jumps up to full volume. Is this typical of a Les Paul?
+1 … nothing is wrong.
the switch in center position parallels both pot wipers (center terminals of each) and connects them to the output jack signal terminal. if one of these pots is turned fully CCW, its wiper is effectively grounded (= corresponding pup is off). unfortunately, that will effectively connect the other pot output (wiper) to ground as well, killing output from the other pup. but it is better than some other designs in terms of loading the pup with a more constant impedance, making its freq response more consistent at various volume levels. (OTOH, it provides a variable source impedance to the cable and amp, causing other issues, that are usually addressed with a treble bleed cap on the volume control). these are trade-offs and weaknesses of passive combining designs.
I believe Epi used to wire some of its guitars so the pup connected to the pot wiper and the output was taken from the "hot" side of the pot (remaining side grounded). this behaves better for combining two pups, but is a lousy volume control scheme as it severely alters the pup tone as the volume is reduced. you don't want that.
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