Crackly pots on newish guitars
Comments
If multiple guitars all crackle it seems unlikely (to me) that the pots are all knackered or dirty so I wonder if it's something more systemic. Unless all of the pots came from a single source or you've been spectacularly unlucky...
Are they all wired the same way? Could there have been a mistake in the wiring diagram? Are the grounds definitely correctly wired?
Have you checked that your amp and cable(s) aren't the culprits?
Do you have any pedals in the chain? Go straight to the amp until you narrow it down further.
Have you tried them out in different locations to rule out environmental factors?
Are you plugging directly into your amplifier?
A DC voltage leak from the amp or the first pedal in line will do this.
If you have one, put a buffered pedal - anything - first in line and leave it bypassed. If you don’t, any other pedal you don’t normally use first and leave it turned on. Does the problem stop?
If you have one, put a buffered pedal - anything - first in line and leave it bypassed. If you don’t, any other pedal you don’t normally use first and leave it turned on. Does the problem stop?
It still happens straight into various amps. I'll definitely try putting a buffered pedal in line.
I have the same problem. You can cure the noise by winding the pot up and down a few times so it's a not a DC leak in my case.
I'm about to change the 25K push push in my Stellacaster for the 3rd time, these things wear out quicker than normal 250 . 500K guitar pots. It's a quality issue, eventually the wiper doesn't make good enough contact on the track and the signal falls off until you move the knob a bit.
I recently put a CTS pot in my LP though and already that's showing signs of wearing out.
I'm about to change the 25K push push in my Stellacaster for the 3rd time, these things wear out quicker than normal 250 . 500K guitar pots. It's a quality issue, eventually the wiper doesn't make good enough contact on the track and the signal falls off until you move the knob a bit.
I recently put a CTS pot in my LP though and already that's showing signs of wearing out.
This would be it. I really like the taper of CTS pots, but quite a few of the ones I have owned have developed crackling in a relatively short amount of time. Full sized Alpha pots seem to last a bit longer.JCA2550 said:I have several guitars with CTS pots mostly replaced by me but all crackle noticeably. I use the volume pots constantly.
Cheers,
JCA