Mooncaster SSB

[Cagey]

Emerson pro CTS pots turn slightly easier. If that's important, then spend the money, keeping in mind they also get turned easier from inadvertently brushing against them. Otherwise, there's nothing further to be gained.

Always use deep mount (long shaft) pots. You can put a second nut on them behind the mounting point to set outside thread exposure, while the short pots can't be made longer. That's why they include two nuts/washers with those pots.

Use 500K pots across the board. You can always modify later if necessary. I strongly suspect you won't find it to be necessary.

 

[ghotiphry]

Yessir, I like that they turn easy.  I also like the tighter tolerances.  And maybe I'm a bit weird about it, but I had the first "standard" CTS pot I bought break into pieces in my hand.  So, it's either the Emerson, or I try Bourns.  And if I try Bourns, it's going to be the model 82 or 95.  Which cost twice as much as the Emersons.

Okay, I'll give the 500K pots a whirl.

 

[Cagey]

There's not much holding most pots together. Some bend-over tabs are usually about it. Where they often fail is while installing push-on knobs. The metal pot housing is very  thin, so the tabs don't have a lotta holding strength. The amount of pressure needed to push on a knob is often greater than the holding strength of the tabs, so you just push the whole thing apart and you've got 3 or 4 pieces where you used to have a pot. Just happened to me again the other day and I know better than to do what I did.

Fortunately, they can be reassembled and used without issue, but of course it's better not to have to do that. So, when using push-on knobs, if at all possible apply pressure to the back of the pot and the top of the knob, rather than using the pot's mounting bushing as the resistance to push the knob against.

 

[ghotiphry]

No no, the circuit board broke into pieces.  The pot was still assembled.  And I didn't do anything with it besides pick it up.

 

[Cagey]

Uh huh. I know. Fiberglas boards often fall apart just by looking at them wrong; the stuff has no structural integrity at all. There oughta be a law... :laughing7:

 

[Sovereign_13]

One observation: you've got linear volume pots and an audio/logarithmic tone pot.  You might consider the inverse of that (linear tone, logarithmic volume) if the specs are acceptable to you.

We perceive volume as a(n approximately) logarithmic function of power, so a logarithmic pot should give you a more linear volume response.  With a linear pot, you might find that the pot doesn't do much down around the bottom of its range and suddenly comes "on" near the middle.  I know at least a few amplifiers use linear tone pots and audio volume pots, so there's at least some precedent there.

 

[Cagey]

Good eye! I missed that. Absolutely true. Never want linear volume controls. They don't behave much better than on/off switches. For the tone, opinions vary. I believe in linears, many will argue otherwise. They're wrong, of course, but they're their toys so you gotta let 'em play. On the plus side, it keeps stock simple, too. Long shaft, 500K, audio taper pots work great for everything.

 

[ghotiphry]

Whoops!  I knew that, and had them reversed.  Corrected, thank you.

I think I'm going to forego the treble bleed circuit for the initial install.  I'm going to try it, but removable, soldered to alligator clips.

 

[Cagey]

You might want to consider one of these little lovelies from Guitar Electronics...

It's a treble bleed with a trim pot, all mounted on a little PC board that's easier to implement. The trim pot allows you to adjust it so you get a nice flat response. For $10, it's a fairly painless and clean solution.

 

[ghotiphry]

Yeah, I saw that.  I'm thinking it's a great idea.

 

[Cagey]

I've got some coming, we'll compare notes.

 

[rgand]

Thanks for that link, Kevin. I bookmarked it and may put one on my current build (almost roaring forward :icon_biggrin.

 

[ghotiphry]

I got some time to work on this over the weekend!  Ferules...  Hm...

I don't know if this method has been put forth here before.  Here's what I did.  I used this contraption here.  A 2.5" #8 x 32 bolt and nut, a couple of large washers, and a cut up t-shirt.

And here is the working operation about halfway through.

I removed the finish from the inside of each hole with a dremel.

And the end result.  I had a little trouble with the one on the far right in that it didn't want to go in straight.  I had to keep it straight with the screwdriver i was using to keep the head from spinning.  A little bit of a dent on the inside of the ferule.  But, it's in, and it's not coming out.  It's on the back side, and no one is going to notice besides me.

And the front side turned out perfect.

And the only real casualty of the process?  A couple of stripped screws.  Each screw was good for maybe two ferules.  Lucky I bought extras.

 

[Logrinn]

A simple smart solution. They're usually the best.

 

[ghotiphry]

Exactly.  By the way, anyone know what that hole is for between the second and third ferule on the front?  Warmoth was kind enough to supply a ground wire for the bridge, which looks like it was installed and connected when they installed the bridge inserts, so I don't think it's for a ground.

 

[Logrinn]

The compulsory NSA spy cam/mic cavity? They can't spy by microwave alone, now can they? :icon_jokercolor:

 

[ghotiphry]

 

[BigSteve22]

Exactly.  By the way, anyone know what that hole is for between the second and third ferule on the front?  Warmoth was kind enough to supply a ground wire for the bridge, which looks like it was installed and connected when they installed the bridge inserts, so I don't think it's for a ground.

Sure looks like a ground wire hole..... Am I right that it will be covered by the bridge plate? (BTW, what bridge is that?)  :icon_scratch:

 

[ghotiphry]

It's this one, the Hipshot D-style.  The only bridge option on the MoonCaster bass.  As part of the specs you can buy the bridge and have Warmoth install the studs, which was a no-brainer for me.  There's a black wire in the control cavity which runs in that general direction.  I can only assume that as part of the stud installation they stick a wire in there and ground it.  It's a first for me.  I'm used to working with a Gotoh 201 mount.  And, yes, it will be covered by the bridge.  But I still can't figure out why it's there.  If it is for a ground wire, I can't see where that hole goes, because it doesn't exit into the control cavity.

 

[mayfly]

I'm wondering if it's actually the index hole.