Wiring Potentiometers

[Franklinscott57]

Hey CB,

This is more of a personal dilemma, not so much work related. But, I have two guitars which I am trying to fix up. The wiring has been detached somehow and I am not sure exactly how I would want to hook the potentiometers back up.

I have searched for documentation on such a subject, but am still finding most of this hard to understand. The guitar I am working on only has one potentiometer, and it is used for volume control. Any helpful advice, and/or websites, out there?

 

[headcrab]

I assume you're talking about panel mount pots, the kind with three pins or lugs on one side? If so, generally the center pin or lug is the wiper. The two outer pins or lugs are the fixed resistance. So if there are only two wires, connect one to an outer pin and one to the center pin. If the control acts backwards (i.e. max volume at hard ccw) then move the wire to the other outer pin.

 

[Chris15]

Generally speaking, one would wire a pot for volume control thus:
Looking from the front,
Left to ground
Centre (wiper) to output
Right to input

That presents a relatively constant impedance to the incoming load if the output impedance is relatively high. It should also be an effective mute when turned down, other wiring arrangements are applicable for other purposes...

If you have stereo or balanced, repeat for the second audio line on the other gang of the pot. There are other tricks for balanced, but we'll ignore those for now...

 

[TimmyP1955]

Generally speaking, one would wire a pot for volume control thus:
Looking from the front,
Left to ground
Centre (wiper) to output
Right to input

This is correct looking from the front (knob side) if the tabs are on the bottom.