Popping noise when I turn a knob.

[Teleblaster]

Hello

First post on the forum but I've enjoyed it as a resource for sometime.

I did my first major rewiring of a guitar yesterday. I installed a 5 way with the "Craig Anderten" switching on my Tele yesterday. It took a long time to get right as I found out I could not ground the bigsby's bridge without what I believe is considered "grounding out".

Now that it is working I cannot get rid of a popping noise when I turn the knobs. It is louder with the volume knob.

I tried a fabric softener sheet for static and got nothing but dust and residue on my guitar. It has a rosewood pickguard and control panel that backed with heavy duty aluminum foil and made sure tabs of foil connected between the two for grounding. What else can I do besides covering the cavities too?


This is the source I used for the Craig Anderten 5-way mod: http://www.tdpri.com/wiring5wayStrat.htm

Thanks!

 

[tunghaichuan]

When there is popping from the pot the two most common things are DC on the pot or a dirt in the pot mechanism. You're not using active electronics, are you? If you're using passive electronics, it won't be DC as the signal generated from the pickups is AC.

To clean the pots you want to use a high quality contact cleaner like Craig Deoxit Gold G5. Don't use the crappy tuner cleaner from Radio Shack. There should be a slot by the solder lugs, squirt a bit into the slot and rotate the from one extreme to the other a few times to work in the cleaner. If this doesn't take care of the problem, your pot could be bad.

Another thing that might be causing the popping is a flaky solder joint. Solder joints should be shiny, not dull and pasty looking. You may want to touch up all your joints for more of a "shotgun" approach.

Be sure to stop by the Fret Players Forum and introduce yourself there.

tung

Hello

First post on the forum but I've enjoyed it as a resource for sometime.

I did my first major rewiring of a guitar yesterday. I installed a 5 way with the "Craig Anderten" switching on my Tele yesterday. It took a long time to get right as I found out I could not ground the bigsby's bridge without what I believe is considered "grounding out".

Now that it is working I cannot get rid of a popping noise when I turn the knobs. It is louder with the volume knob.

I tried a fabric softener sheet for static and got nothing but dust and residue on my guitar. It has a rosewood pickguard and control panel that backed with heavy duty aluminum foil and made sure tabs of foil connected between the two for grounding. What else can I do besides covering the cavities too?


This is the source I used for the Craig Anderten 5-way mod: http://www.tdpri.com/wiring5wayStrat.htm

Thanks!

 

[Spudman]

Could it be a grounding issue? Have you tried touching the control plate and then with your finger still on the plate manipulate the control knob?

If you get a pop when you touch the control plate then it's a ground issue most likely. If the pot still pops then it could be an issue with the pot itself. Check the solder connection and make sure they are fluid and not cold. If one of the solder connections looks dull and gray then it might be a cold solder joint.

 

[Teleblaster]

Tung

Thank you for the info. I will try to track down some Deoxit. According to the Caig site, Radioshack now carries it so hopefully they'll have some there.

I am skeptical that it is a dirty pot because I do not have to turn the knob for it to occur. There is a buzz that gets louder and crackles when I touch the knob. For whatever reason it does not seem to be as bad in the 4th position (neck with added capacitor).

I may go through and redo the wiring with a separate star ground. Are there any wires that have to be grounded to a pot?

I will be sure to introduce myself.

 

[ShortBuSX]

I am skeptical that it is a dirty pot because I do not have to turn the knob for it to occur. There is a buzz that gets louder and crackles when I touch the knob. For whatever reason it does not seem to be as bad in the 4th position (neck with added capacitor).

Im thinking maybe you overheated one or both of the pots when soldering.

 

[Teleblaster]

Im thinking maybe you overheated one or both of the pots when soldering.

This is very possible as it was not a quick job. I spent a lot of time changing out wires only to find that the bigsby bridge plate could not be grounded

 

[Teleblaster]

Well after going through the troubleshooting prompt at guitarnuts.com I think that I can confirm ruined pots. Neither the Tone or Volume pot go all the way to 0 on my multimeter when I turn them all the way down, they end at 1. These are nice CTS Pots, this will get pricey if I cannot go a little easier on them

Hopefully I can get star grounding down.

 

[tunghaichuan]

Well after going through the troubleshooting prompt at guitarnuts.com I think that I can confirm ruined pots. Neither the Tone or Volume pot go all the way to 0 on my multimeter when I turn them all the way down, they end at 1. These are nice CTS Pots, this will get pricey if I cannot go a little easier on them

Hopefully I can get star grounding down.

I have some never-used 1meg pots that don't measure 0 resistance when turned all the way down. They measure 25 ohms or so. Because of this, I can't use them as volume controls. They are fine as tone controls.

I would agree with assessment that you overheated and damaged the pots. If you plan on doing lots of guitar rewiring I'd suggest getting a Hakko 936 temperature controled station. This station keeps the tip at whatever temperature you set on the dial, electronically. If you don't want to invest in the Hakko, Weller/Ungar makes nice 25w-35w irons, non-temperature controlled. They just plug into the wall. Hakko also makes some nice non-temperature controlled irons as well. They are almost as expensive as the 936 station, so I'd spend the extra $20-$30 and get the station. Edit: the Hakko 455-16 is less expensive, but still a very good iron.

I'd also invest in a pair of hemostats or some kind of heat sink to keep the component from overheating when you solder.

tung

 

[Teleblaster]

Well after all of this mess and Deaf Eddie himself helping me locate the problem it turned out to merely mixed up hot and ground wires at the output jack. :thwap:

The guitar plays very quietly now!

I'm struggling though with a good combo of tone caps for the alternative neck position on this mod. Anyone have experience with this one or have an idea?

 

[marnold]

Can't comment on tone caps since none of my guitars have tone knobs! However with the hot and ground leads swapped, isn't it funny that the solution always tends to be the simplest and the one that you thought FOR SURE that you did right the first time? I never know whether to be mad or happy about that.