disconnecting tone pot?

[_tom_]

Sometimes (it might just be my setup though?) my neck Mule sounds muddy/not alot of defenition, doesnt seem as "crunchy" or open as the bridge Mule sometimes. I'm wondering if disconnecting the tone pot will do anything to help? If so how would I do that? I think they must wire Epis different to most, because on the bridge pots, the pickup is connected to the bridge Tone pot instead of the Volume, and the neck one is wired to the neck Volume  :? It looks like something is being grounded onto the back of the neck Tone, so I guess I dont wanna remove that?

Any helps great thanks, it seems like its worth a try!

[MDV]

You can ground it on the vol. Just look up a single volume diagram and rewire accordingly.

[PhilKing]

You will get a more open and brighter sound without the tone pot.  However there are many ways of wiring in the tone.  The Gibson Les Paul wiring puts the pickup to the volume and then run the capacitor across to the tone.  I have noticed on some cheaper copies that they are only using one capacitor for both pickups.

You can also open the sound up by using a 250k pot for the tone.

[Ratrod]

I believe there are pots available that allow you to take it out of the circuit. Click past the notch and it's out. Just like old car radio's. I think Fender uses this on some of their guitars.

[HJM]

You can make these pots - it's a Gerald Weber design trick...

bend back the small tabs on the pot case, the bottom of the pot comes away, figure out which ind of the carbon track you want to be off and use a knife to scr@pe the conductive material off so that the wiper has no contact.

Save your £££££

[_tom_]

You can make these pots - it's a Gerald Weber design trick...

bend back the small tabs on the pot case, the bottom of the pot comes away, figure out which ind of the carbon track you want to be off and use a knife to scr@pe the conductive material off so that the wiper has no contact.

Save your £££££

I'm confused... :lol: Can't I just disconnect all the wires, then if I dont like it, reconnect right? I'm just confused by Epiphones way of wiring it really  :?

[HJM]

Sorry, we all started talking about No load tone pots, they switch themselves out of circuit on 10...

Is the circuit sharing a capacitor?

I'd rewire the lot, new caps pots and wire, it may make all the difference!

[_tom_]

Sorry, we all started talking about No load tone pots, they switch themselves out of circuit on 10...

Is the circuit sharing a capacitor?

I'd rewire the lot, new caps pots and wire, it may make all the difference!

yeah I'm planning on redoing all the electrics. What do you lot think to getting the "Gibson Electrics Pack" or something from www.axesrus.co.uk ?

[HJM]

Should be fine - or call Tim, he stocks everything you need, including proper switchcraft Gibson switches.

[_tom_]

Should be fine - or call Tim, he stocks everything you need, including proper switchcraft Gibson switches.

Cheers! Does Tim do whole kit things, with wire, caps etc coz I'd like to redo it all if possible..

[_tom_]

You will get a more open and brighter sound without the tone pot.  However there are many ways of wiring in the tone.  The Gibson Les Paul wiring puts the pickup to the volume and then run the capacitor across to the tone.  I have noticed on some cheaper copies that they are only using one capacitor for both pickups.

You can also open the sound up by using a 250k pot for the tone.

I thought a higher "k" pot openeed it up more, Ie I'd need a 1 meg pot? I think my Epi was wired with just one cap for the tone, like you were saying. I disconnected it all totally earlier, it sounded almost the same to me  :(  I dont know why its sounding so muddy.. The bridge one sounds nice and defined/open, but the neck one seems "sludgy" and all the notes blur into each other if you know what I mean, no defenition..then again that may just be the nature of all neck humbuckers? I'm not quite getting the slash neck tone I want!

[HJM]

You're thinking of the volume pot!

[_tom_]

ohh, so its the opposite for a tone pot? Will different cap values give a brighter/clearer sound aswell? I'm all open to ideas, as wiring/replacing a doesnt seem to take much skill, if I can do it anyway :lol:

[PhilKing]

Fitting a .022mfd would let more treble through than the normal .047, but if you have tried it without a capacitor, then there is something else causing it.  The tone at the neck is different to the tone at the bridge because of the string movement being greater, so there is more output from the pickups.  

What settings have you got on your amp? If the bass is at 10 this might also be a problem, as the neck will push out more bass than the bridge.

A couple of other things you might want to check are that the pickups are the right way round (the red dot is the bridge, if the dot is not there, then the higher DC is the bridge).  If this is the case, then try lowering the neck pickup a bit.  I have a neck mule and can get good definition out of it.

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

Sometimes (it might just be my setup though?) my neck Mule sounds muddy/not alot of defenition, doesnt seem as "crunchy" or open as the bridge Mule sometimes. I'm wondering if disconnecting the tone pot will do anything to help? If so how would I do that? I think they must wire Epis different to most, because on the bridge pots, the pickup is connected to the bridge Tone pot instead of the Volume, and the neck one is wired to the neck Volume  :? It looks like something is being grounded onto the back of the neck Tone, so I guess I dont wanna remove that?

Any helps great thanks, it seems like its worth a try!

The neck Mule shouldn't sound muddy at all, it’s the cleanest humbucker we do. Check your pickup heights and all of your connections. Epi's have very poor quality electronics and pots (that is their only downfall, other than that they are very good guitars!) so it maybe a problem with that. I would suggest re wiring the guitar, It wont cost too much and isn't too difficult to do.