Do I have a 250k in my guitar???

[jm1681]

I recently had EMGs pulled out of my ESP, and a pair of DiMarzios installed. Since the pots had to be replaced as well and I never told the tech what values to use, I was wondering if a 250k volume could be the cause of the problem I'm having...

My bridge pickup (Steve's Special) sounds like a neck pickup; It is VERY bassy. I have the same pickup in my RG and its MUCH brighter than this. Said ESP is made of Hard Ash to boot so I would imagine it should be even brighter than the RG.

Does this sound like a pot value problem, or is something else possibly wrong here? I know the tone pot is 500k (A buddy of mine just checked it for me), but there are no visible numbers on the Volume pot.

[waylay00]

Is it installed facing a different direction? That can make a difference.

[jm1681]

I thought of that but I haven't taken it out to check.

I do know there is a visible ball of solder on one of the corners of every DiMarzio I've ever seen. When compared to my RG, said ball is in the same place leading me to believe it is oriented the same way.

[jm1681]

Hello again.

The problem persists. The volume is a 500k, so thats out.

The capacitor on the Tone control only has an effect on tone when the knob is moved right? Or IOW, when its all the way up, its bypassed right?

Anyone else have any ideas as to some other possible causes of an exceptionally bass ridden tone?

[TommyGuitar]

Are you sure he didn't wire it in so that the neck pickup is used in the bridge position of the switch?

[jm1681]

Gimme some credit.

No its definitely not selecting the neck pickup.

[Ki swordsman]

what tommy said does sound likely, it's an easy mistake.. did you check it by tapping the pup poles with your finger and pushing the strings onto them to get the loud pop sound when selected to see which ones are on?..

and another possibility- are you sure it's wired in serial not parallel or something?

[jm1681]

Originally Posted by Ki swordsman

...did you check it by tapping the pup poles with your finger and pushing the strings onto them...

Was the first thing I did

Originally Posted by Ki swordsman

...are you sure it's wired in serial not parallel or something?

This I am not sure of, but last I checked, the wiring appears to be typical of series.

[Ki swordsman]

cool, had to cover those bases.. is the RG definitely also 500k? and the RG does have a tone pot or raplacement resistor?

i think it's probably time to check the direction of the pup, i'd go by where the wire comes out not the solder ball..

[jm1681]

RG's controls are stock.

I'll check the direction, but I'm not holding my breath.

I think the problem is between the pickup and the output jack. The switch is an EP1111, and everyone insists it is NOT the problem. For some reason, I'm convinced it is. The guitar does have a bit of ground noise as well.

Could a bad ground cause a shift in overall tone?

[Ki swordsman]

i'm pretty sure it's either grounded or it's not, you don't get a 'bad ground' unless it's just a sketchy connection.
a bit of noise is normal, it's down to the different levels of shielding each guitar has and the different pups and electronic parts.. if you wanted to lower the noise you could shield the cavities more.

does the pup also sound weaker? if so especially, i'd make a good check that it's wired in series for sure.
and are all pups in the guitar bassier? or definitely just that one? if it's just that one, the problem is probably in the switch wiring or the direction, and my guess would be that the wiring is wrong, and when you have the bridge selected it's selecting Bridge+neck or +necksplit or +middle..

[jm1681]

I'll double check it in a bit.

It does sound weak, hopefully that is the problem.