software

hey guys.

OK, I just installed a Rio Grande Bluesbar in the bridge of my Les Paul Jr. Faded DC. Since its a relatively airy sounding guitar, the thickness of the bluesbar worked perfect...except..

at high volumes, it sqeals like a cat in heat, and you can hear every tiny little brush, tap, rattle, movement. everything. Its like the entire guitar body has become a pickup itself, when the selector is in the bridge or middle position.

when its in the stock neck position, its fine.

Rio Grande claims they wax pot their pickups, but to me, it sounds WAY WAY unpotted. Could it be that this is the problem, or is it that I have a broken potentiometer that is routing the signal partially to ground and making extra noise?

I'm usually not a wiring moron. Iquot;m great at coil splitting, phasing, soldering, etc...but this problem is baffling to me.

What happens when you roll down the tone?

And welcome to the forum.

I'll see what happens tonight, by rolling down the tone pot.

I have a brand new Gibson 500K pot, so I guess I'll try installing that too...

thanks for the welcoming!

I'll keep ya posted.

Its not likely that a pot would cause the symptoms you're describing, but then again, I've been involved in electronics long enough to have seen the unexplainable happen on several occasions.

The only way to answer this definitively, is to change the pot. Fortunately, pots are cheap.

Yeah I'm suspecting its a lack of wax potting, or not enough wax.

I know some people say wax potting changes tone, but I'd rather have slightly less tone, than 1000% more sqealing.

anyone know a good place to send pickups out to get wax potted? I'm assuming I could send it back to rio grande too...

Another thing that can cause squealing is if the components are loosely assembled. Make sure the screws that hold the bobbins down are tight enough to hold the assembly.

Bad pot makes everything worse.