Bad Soldering?

[Eilif]

When I play my SC 245 with the switch in the middle position, with the bridge pickup volume at zero and the neck pickup volume at ten, there is no sound. If I turn up the volume on the bridge pickup, there is sound, and I think both pickups are engaged as the sound is different than with the switch set to just the neck pickup or just the bridge pickup.

Is this normal? I just had the 57/08 pickups replaced, and I am not sure the new pickups were installed correctly.

 

[AP515]

It's normal, two volume, two tone configurations do this.

 

[vchizzle]

Normal. There must be some volume on both pots to hear sound while in the middle position.

 

[shinksma]

Yes, that is normal - think of it as the volume pots are wired in series - if either are at zero, no signal gets through. That's how you can mix some bridge and a lot of neck, or vice versa.

 

[ViperDoc]

I believe DGT wiring places the volume pots in parallel so you can blend the pickup volumes individually. If you wanted the series humbucker tone in the middle position, you could place a series/parallel switch after the volume pots. Anyone done this?

 

[NomadMike]

When I play my SC 245 with the switch in the middle position, with the bridge pickup volume at zero and the neck pickup volume at ten, there is no sound. If I turn up the volume on the bridge pickup, there is sound, and I think both pickups are engaged as the sound is different than with the switch set to just the neck pickup or just the bridge pickup.

Is this normal? I just had the 57/08 pickups replaced, and I am not sure the new pickups were installed correctly.

For me that was a feature, you'll see why at the 40 second ticker on this video and why I always keep something Les Paul-ish around.

BTW, even though he's playing this iconic Les Paul there is now a PRS pickup in there.

 

[Eilif]

Thanks for the replies. I'm new to Les Paul style guitars, and I thought the knobs would be more independent of each other. Every other guitar I've ever owned has had just one volume and one tone control.

Phil Keaggy! I'd completely forgotten about him. Incredible player. Thanks for the clip.

 

[NomadMike]

Your more than welcome.
Keaggy showed what could be done with that circuit. Volume swells with just the neck pickup on, and horn like sounds with both.

 

[drdoom8793]

That's an interesting idea, having the volume controls be independent rather than in series like normal could allow for interesting blending options between the pickups. Hmm...anyone know if this would be possible? I'm not so good with wiring :iamconfused:

 

[alantig]

That's an interesting idea, having the volume controls be independent rather than in series like normal could allow for interesting blending options between the pickups. Hmm...anyone know if this would be possible? I'm not so good with wiring :iamconfused:

Possible? Yes. I had a Hondo LP copy (well, it's still around somewhere - not sure if it's here or at my parents') that was wired so that in the middle position, you could dial one pup down to 0 and still have sound from the other pup. When I got my first LP, it worked as described above and confused the crap out of me.

FWIW, I don't think the DGT is wired differently (or at least it wasn't originally) - same as an LP minus one tone knob. Very versatile for blending.

 

[garrett]

The volume controls are in parallel, just like the two pickups, but they still interact with each other.

Here's a good article if you ever want to change the wiring to independent.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21106-mod-garage-decouple-your-les-pauls-volume-controls

 

[dogrocketp]

I did this to a Tremonti SE Custom with USA Mira pickups. The sounds are unbelievable. I also had a blend pot with a center detente put in to replace the 3 way.