The Electra Forums

Picture this here...

On my x935. Toggle in the middle position, coil tap and out of phase engaged (both push pull knobs up). Tone knobs and volume knobs for Bridge pickup and Neck pickup are all the way up. I play it. Sounds good.

Now I dial the bridge pickup's volume knob back just a little bit (only one number on the knob), and the tone noticeably fills out and it gains a little volume. I dial it back further, and the volume begins decreasing again as it should. So it's more full and a little louder at 9 on the volume knob than it is at 10. Is anyone else's this way? Are the pots designed that way? The neck pickup volume pot doesn't do this, only the bridge pickup volum pot does.

Anyone else know about this?

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

I'd say your pot is going bad.

What you describe is fairly normal. Each set of pickups will potentially behave a little differently. Look at it this way, when you flick the pickups out of phase, there is major frequency cancellation, and the volume drops, right? By backing off one of the pickups, you're changing the output balance between the pickups, basically negating the frequency cancellation...

On some pickup sets, where for example the bridge pickup is much hotter, you may have to back off the bridge pickup to get that quacky out of phase tone. If you watch any Zep videos, Jimmy Page rides his bridge volume all the time, and he uses the 'both pickups on' tone more than most guitarists... he is searching for that magic spot.

You haven't noticed this on your Westone because there is only one volume pot, and no 'blend' option is possible. I've often said that a better setup for all those three knob guitars would be two volumes and a single tone knob... but nobody listens to me!!

As you back off either of the volumes (when out of phase), the signal should at first get stronger, and then level off, then eventually go silent at the very end of the travel. Even though the other volume is all the way up, the summed both pickup signal is grounded out when either volume is at zero. That is how you can turn your selector switch into a kill switch for those Norman Greenbaum times. Enjoy, Mike.

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If I had a hat I'd eat it - but that's a great and sensible explanation Mike.

Great explanation Mike, thanks. You're right, as I begin dialing back the bridge volume it gets stronger and then weaker, as I tried to explain, although the neck volume doesn't behave that way. I'll have to play with it and surf for the magic spots I guess!

And do you know if these necks were a bayonet set like the later Westone's were?

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

I would say that your Neck pickup is probably the more powerful of the two, and when you back it off, the level doesn't really come back up even when the phase effect is defeated, the tone will change, and as you indicated, most of it occurs right there at the top 5 - 10% of the knob travel. MMK's are historically closely matched output pickups, but the Neck will seem louder because the strings vibrate more further away from the bridge naturally.

I don't know the specifics of the neck mount construction, but you can assume there is lots of hidden surfaces for glue contact between the neck pickup and the neck seam. It is very common for there to be a finish crack where the maple necks meet the mahogany body on these. Three out of the four Endorsers I own have a detectable seam if you run your finger over it. I don't even think about it anymore, and just assume it is the way the different woods cured after a couple decades. Mike.

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