Tone gets dull when "cleaning up" with volume knob

[bubbastain]

Just picked up a new Squier version of my Fender. The Fender has a Atomic humbucker in the bridge and a TexMex single coil in the neck. Squier version has unknown, no name humbucker and single coil. The Squiers pickups sound very similar and just as good but when I roll down the volume on the Fender, it cleans up great and stays bright. Doing the same thing on the Squier and it cleans up, but it gets dull and muffled like I rolled back the tone knob all the way. At full volume they both sound great. Is it the pots? I haven't opened it up yet to compare. Maybe a resistor or cap they put on the tone knob(if there is one). One might think that's just what cheap pickups do but I had a cheap LP copy that cleaned up and stayed bright. ANy Ideas? I am going to open it up and take a look in a couple of minutes.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I'm thinking it's either that the legit Fender may have a bright cap on the volume (some older Fender's did this... but mostly Tele's I thought...) or that the Squier may have a 1M volume pot. Or both... Definitely look at the values on both volume pots and compare. The lower the value on the volume pot the "nicer" it tends to roll back. On the Fender, just look for a cap from in to out on the volume pot, if there is one there, and both guitars have the same value pots, you may want to emulate this on the Squier by adding the cap.

 

[bubbastain]

I'm thinking it's either that the legit Fender may have a bright cap on the volume (some older Fender's did this... but mostly Tele's I thought...) or that the Squier may have a 1M volume pot. Or both... Definitely look at the values on both volume pots and compare. The lower the value on the volume pot the "nicer" it tends to roll back. On the Fender, just look for a cap from in to out on the volume pot, if there is one there, and both guitars have the same value pots, you may want to emulate this on the Squier by adding the cap.

Thanks. Just opened them up. The Fender volume pot only has a 037407 9824 on it. No other number I can see. The Squier has an Alpha 250K pot. There is not a cap on either volume pot. The Squier does clean up. It just looses all the brightness. Not sure if this matters, but both guitars have a single coil neck and humbucker bridge pickup that share a single volume and tone. I was under the impression that 250K pots were used for single coils and generally, 500k for humbuckers. Should I try a 500k? Is there a way for me to measure the Fender pot? I'd hate to mess up the very clean solder job the Squier has with my crap (but functional) soldering.

 

[JakeAC5253]

It's tough to say, it sounds like there is something else at work here, like a bad stock wiring job or something, but even that doesn't make any sense given the symptoms... It could just be a shoddy pot, import guitars typically have really bad electronics work. Yeah I would likely replace the volume pot with a known good quality 500k Audio taper pot as a first move.

 

[bubbastain]

It's tough to say, it sounds like there is something else at work here, like a bad stock wiring job or something, but even that doesn't make any sense given the symptoms... It could just be a shoddy pot, import guitars typically have really bad electronics work. Yeah I would likely replace the volume pot with a known good quality 500k Audio taper pot as a first move.

Double checked the Fender pot. The number is 037407 9824 and it is a CTS pot. Still not number indicating the ohms. The wiring looks clean and it sounds good at full volume. Hmmm