My guitar is still making a sound through my amp when I turn volume down on the guitar

kipple

My guitar is still making a sound through my amp when I turn volume down on the guitar.
It's not a major deal but I don't think it should do it and would like to fix it myself.
Can anyone tell me what is possibly causing it
How do I trouble shoot and fix ?

ICBM

What type of guitar?

The likely cause is a bad contact at the ground end of the pot track, but there are different wiring schemes which might mean it's something else.

kipple

ICBM said:

What type of guitar?

The likely cause is a bad contact at the ground end of the pot track, but there are different wiring schemes which might mean it's something else.

It's a Kramer pacer vintage model. two volumes 1 tone and push pulls. not even sure what the Push pulls do.
When you say the pot track does that mean it would need a replacement pot if that was the issue ?

kipple

This is what it looks like..https://i.imgur.com/c5jev2P.jpg

ICBM

kipple said:

It's a Kramer pacer vintage model. two volumes 1 tone and push pulls. not even sure what the Push pulls do.

When you say the pot track does that mean it would need a replacement pot if that was the issue ?

Probably not, it's usually fixable.

Is it both volumes that do it or just one?

The push-pulls probably coil-split the pickups, but it's hard to see for sure. The wiring is a total mess though, it would actually be worth rewiring the whole thing properly and getting rid of 90% of the excessive amount of cabling, most of which is unshielded - that would (probably drastically) reduce noise as well.

kipple

ICBM said:

kipple said:

It's a Kramer pacer vintage model. two volumes 1 tone and push pulls. not even sure what the Push pulls do.

When you say the pot track does that mean it would need a replacement pot if that was the issue ?

Probably not, it's usually fixable.

Is it both volumes that do it or just one?

The push-pulls probably coil-split the pickups, but it's hard to see for sure. The wiring is a total mess though, it would actually be worth rewiring the whole thing properly and getting rid of 90% of the excessive amount of cabling, most of which is unshielded - that would (probably drastically) reduce noise as well.

I will check tomorrow if it's both or one

kipple

I checked today and it's actually both pots are doing it 

ICBM

It's hard to see how the pots are wired in the pic, but it's possible they're not done the best way. It's also possible both have the same fault, although that's slightly less likely.

Would it be possible to take one of them out and get a clear pic of the wiring connections on it?

kipple

Here you go bridge pickup volume pot

https://i.imgur.com/5yxAZ2p.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wJrsI8s.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VST28bf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eqb4tin.jpg

ICBM

That is wired the proper way...

In that case the pot may have a faulty connection at the ground end. If you look at the connection on the right in the pics, with the short wire that connects to the pot casing, you can see it's rivetted through the track board. If this connection isn't fully tight, the pot won't go quite to zero. Try squeezing it hard with a pair of narrow-nose pliers and see if that fixes it.

The push-pulls switch the pickups to parallel, by the way - a bit like coil splitting in terms of tone, but both coils remain on and you still get hum cancellation.

kipple

Which part do I squeeze do you mean the rivet

ICBM

kipple said:

Which part do I squeeze do you mean the rivet

Yes. Tighten the metal terminal piece against the pot track on the board.

kipple

Made no difference, I got 2 replacement pots is it better just replacing them

ICBM

kipple said:

Made no difference, I got 2 replacement pots is it better just replacing them

Probably, they're not great quality anyway.

Best to completely rewire it - use the shortest sensible length of shielded cable in each place, get rid of all the unshielded stuff and keep the exposed core ends as short as you can, including where the pickups connect to the pull-switches.

kipple

Ok will do, Thanks for helping me again 
You are a godsend thanks