Potentiometer...Wrong way around

[Chris Richards]

Hi...

I may be asking a REALLY basic question, but the only thing I'm capable of with wiring is copying diagrams..... Ok so I'm building a solid body guitar and have fitted the potentiometers with wheels like the Jazzmaster. trouble is the orientation that I've mounted them means that the direction of rotation would be opposite to that if it was mounted in a conventional fashion. ie, say for the volume rolling the wheel forward would make it louder, when naturally you would expect the volume to decrease.

For me to mount the pots the other way around would be a real fiddle and I'm sure there is an easy way of doing this with the wiring or certainly a quicker "fix" than re doing the pot mountings....I've got a Blend, volume and tone control and all are operated by wheels rather than knobs, the vol & Tone are CTS, the blend I'm not too bothered about.

Thank you, Chris

[Rodger Knox]

It might be as simple as swapping the outside lug on the volume and tone pot, but probably not. It depends on the taper of the pots, and how the blend is wired. It would help to see the diagram you're using, and the type (500K audio for example) of pots you've got.

[David King]

Left handed pots or "C" taper log pots might be what you need for volume and tone. The blend will work either way, just swap the pickup leads for each other.
Try what you have now and see if it works OK. You might get used to the current rotation as it may be more intuitive than you suspected.

[Jedi Clampett]

Where do you find left handed pots or C taper pots David?

[David King]

Allparts.

[George Semenov]

The lettering for pots; A, B or C, F are for either linear taper or logarithmic taper. Check the manufacturer to see what they use as a key code. Logarithmic taper is normally used for volume as that is the way our hearing works. linear taper would be used when you want a linear adjustment of a signal. Tone controls would be an example. Now if you switch the outside wires on a logarithmic pot it will be a sudden change initially and taper off in the end

[David King]

The most common convention is that "A" taper is log and "C" taper is antilog. George, I'm very sorry to hear that I've been spreading misinformation for years. Can you please explain why the taper would have nothing to do with the way you turn it? That would defy my logic but you seem very sure of your position.

[George Semenov]

I did not mean to refer to your post. In that I am sorry. I have seen audio taper used for tone controls and linear taper used for audio.