Damaged Cap or Pot?

[slashisgod]

Hi guys,

I think I've damaged something when soldering.

I recently installed a new pickup (well, a second hand one, and sadly not BK - but I have other BK's and their pots!) and found that the output was really low. I mean, the output was about 20%, maximum.  I was sure it was the pickup.

Then, someone told me it could've been the pot that got damaged, so I changed the Tone pot but the problem still remained.

SO, I put back in the original working (Gibson) pickup, and the problem was still there!
That must mean that it must be either the other (volume) pot, or could it be the Cap?

I've installed a bunch of pickups before and generally don't have any problems, but I think something has gone wrong here.

Is there a way to tell without having to rewire everything?

[Dave Sloven]

It would be the volume pot.  Either it is wired up wrong or you have 'cooked' it with the soldering iron.

Tone pot and cap are unlikely culprits for this kind of problem, especially given that you've already replaced the tone pot.  If you have wired the volume pot incorrectly (i.e., put the wrong wire on a lug, or the right wire on the wrong lug) you might get this problem.  If you have cooked a pot you would usually be able to feel that it doesn't turn smoothly and/or you would remember how you spent a long time trying to get the solder on there (which is when you would have cooked it).