left handed harness?
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line6man
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To my knowledge, some left handed guitars are set up with C taper (reverse logarithmic) pots wired backwards, so that the controls will attenuate with a clockwise rotation instead of a counterclockwise rotation. Those pots appear to be wired normally, however, so such is unlikely.
On the other hand, I would not buy that prewired harness. The soldering is quite sloppy. And also, what an odd way to ground the backs of the pots. :icon_scratch:
That is total crap!
On the other hand, I would not buy that prewired harness. The soldering is quite sloppy. And also, what an odd way to ground the backs of the pots. :icon_scratch:
That is total crap!
I personally am not unimpressed with the job he did putting it together. Those yellow spots on the pots are from old solder/flux paste that apparently was removed previously. He's using shielded/grounded wiring connecting the tone pots and the output jack, which is a nice touch and can definitely reduce noise slightly. If you look inside older hand wired amplifiers, they do the same thing when the preamplified signal needs to travel any meaningful distance across the amp.
The real question will be the tone pots. For modern day non-vintage-reissue Gibsons, they use 300K linear volume pots, and audio taper pots (500K?) for tone controls. I personally have owned American-made Gibsons, Fenders, G&Ls and Guilds and in not one case did they use a reverse-taper tone control. Do you find that on your guitars (assuming your pots are wired left-handed) the tone control acts almost like a light switch - where you roll the knob 90% of the way and there's almost no audible change, and then you roll that last 10% and the tone drops out almost instantly? Those are right-handed audio taper pots. You can buy left-handed 500K audio taper pots, though Warmoth doesn't sell them. Otherwise stick with linear pots where handedness doesn't matter (but you still need to wire them backwards, of course). You can ask them about the taper of the tone control for that auction. If the price stays in the $30-40 range, it's not a bad deal at all.
For what it's worth, the only guitar I've ever purchased with a properly tapered left-handed tone control was a Suhr.
The real question will be the tone pots. For modern day non-vintage-reissue Gibsons, they use 300K linear volume pots, and audio taper pots (500K?) for tone controls. I personally have owned American-made Gibsons, Fenders, G&Ls and Guilds and in not one case did they use a reverse-taper tone control. Do you find that on your guitars (assuming your pots are wired left-handed) the tone control acts almost like a light switch - where you roll the knob 90% of the way and there's almost no audible change, and then you roll that last 10% and the tone drops out almost instantly? Those are right-handed audio taper pots. You can buy left-handed 500K audio taper pots, though Warmoth doesn't sell them. Otherwise stick with linear pots where handedness doesn't matter (but you still need to wire them backwards, of course). You can ask them about the taper of the tone control for that auction. If the price stays in the $30-40 range, it's not a bad deal at all.
For what it's worth, the only guitar I've ever purchased with a properly tapered left-handed tone control was a Suhr.
Cagey
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First of all, Welcome to the forum! Always good to see fresh blood with the attendant new perspectives, interesting ideas, performance opinions, etc.
I'm curious, though, where you got the idea that Gibson uses linear taper pots for volume and log (audio) taper pots for tone. Far be it from me to defend that company, but while I'm quite confident they're capable of some surprisingly uninformed decisions, I have a difficult time believing they would do what you're accusing them of. There's little or no financial incentive, and a great deal of bad press that would result. It would appear that they care little about bad press, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do something just to be ornery (like install the wrong parts and make their instruments misbehave) if there weren't any money involved.
So... wtf? Are you confusing linear vs. log taper pots? Because that's what it sounds like.
I'm curious, though, where you got the idea that Gibson uses linear taper pots for volume and log (audio) taper pots for tone. Far be it from me to defend that company, but while I'm quite confident they're capable of some surprisingly uninformed decisions, I have a difficult time believing they would do what you're accusing them of. There's little or no financial incentive, and a great deal of bad press that would result. It would appear that they care little about bad press, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do something just to be ornery (like install the wrong parts and make their instruments misbehave) if there weren't any money involved.
So... wtf? Are you confusing linear vs. log taper pots? Because that's what it sounds like.
No, I'm not accusing anybody of anything - just stating fact. Linear taper pots aren't worse, per se. Just what Gibson uses. Look at these google results:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Agibson.com%2FProducts+300K+linear
When you click on one of the links, you'll see this paragraph:
It's there for the SG standard, Les Paul Supreme, Les Paul Studio, Les Paul Traditional, Joe Bonamassa signature LP, etc. The same links show 500K audio for tone, so it's not like Gibson doesn't have a stock of audio taper pots lying around if they wanted to use them. That's part of the traditional Gibson electric sound.
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Agibson.com%2FProducts+300K+linear
When you click on one of the links, you'll see this paragraph:
It's there for the SG standard, Les Paul Supreme, Les Paul Studio, Les Paul Traditional, Joe Bonamassa signature LP, etc. The same links show 500K audio for tone, so it's not like Gibson doesn't have a stock of audio taper pots lying around if they wanted to use them. That's part of the traditional Gibson electric sound.
Cagey
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I suspect that's just marketing weenies trying to use big words they don't understand. Nobody in their right mind would use a linear pot to control gain on an analog audio circuit. It would cause the exact issue you talked about earlier - all the control would be in about 5 degrees of rotation at the extreme end of adjustment.
Human ears have a logarithmic response to sound pressure levels. That's why they invented log (audio taper) pots in the first place. Use a linear pot, and it's no change, no change, no change... big change.
Now, tone controls are a different thing. Those can and should be linear, but usually aren't. The human ear has a frequency response curve, too. But, it's not something that can be modelled in a pot, and is much closer to linear anyway.
But, as I said before and have a ton of empirical evidence and witnesses to support, Gibson is pretty good at making bad decisions. So, it is possible they're using linear pots for volume. I just think it would result in a lot of returns for repair or refund.
Human ears have a logarithmic response to sound pressure levels. That's why they invented log (audio taper) pots in the first place. Use a linear pot, and it's no change, no change, no change... big change.
Now, tone controls are a different thing. Those can and should be linear, but usually aren't. The human ear has a frequency response curve, too. But, it's not something that can be modelled in a pot, and is much closer to linear anyway.
But, as I said before and have a ton of empirical evidence and witnesses to support, Gibson is pretty good at making bad decisions. So, it is possible they're using linear pots for volume. I just think it would result in a lot of returns for repair or refund.
line6man
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Cagey said:
On TalkBass, people ARGUE TO THE ****ING DEATH over both sides at least once a month. I would call it a personal preference more than anything. People's experiences, oddly enough, tend to vary.
IME, linear taper pots work very well in applications where you play clean, without overdriving a gain stage. (I would not put linear taper pots on a guitar, but I prefer them on bass.)
Audio taper pots, when used as volume controls, tend to give you a big drop from "10" to about "8-ish." Linear tapers spread out the range and give you a nice smooth sweep with plenty of adjustability. As you say, human ears have a logarithmic response to sound pressure levels, however, we are not talking about longitudinal pressure waves, we're talking about variations in signal voltage before being amplified.
Of course, linear taper pots should never be used for tone controls. They cause tone controls to act as on/off switches, doing nothing until the end of the rotation, then suddenly kicking in and removing all the treble. As I said, however, experiences vary. I can't say off hand, but at least one guitar manufacturer has produced guitars with linear taper tone pots at one point.
FWIW, keep in mind that many pots on the market that are advertised as having a logarithmic taper are nothing more than two linear tapers stuck together to approximate a logarithmic curve.
