Help! Luke 4 Volume Control Issue!

[Paulg1980]

Hi guys,

I hope you are all well. I bought a second L4 about 3 weeks ago from Guitar Guitar over here in the UK. Everything was all good until today when I plugged in to practice and I noticed when using the volume control on the guitar it had no effect if I rolled it down or up! It's just constantly on!

I've tried a new battery but that didn't do anything. Half way thru practicing I noticed the issue had gone but then it came back again!

I'm assuming it's the PCB board causing the issue? I've emailed Music Man to see what they say. The guitar store I bought it from want me to come back into store so they can have their tech look at it but its a long way from me and I'm pretty sure there's nothing they can do as the vol pot is fixed to the PCB board.

Anyway I thought I'd reach out and see if anyone has had this issue before?

Many thanks

Paul

 

[Rbg]

If the guitar is still under warranty let the store deal with this. If it is not, anymore. There are a couple of things: tightening the nut and and adding a washer under the pot sometime help. Taking the pot apart cleaning it inside and reassembling. As well as just replacing the pot. These push/push pots are so much better than push-pulls when it comes to convince, but they are not as sturdy and start acting out much faster. If you have a new guitar, should be taken care of by your dealer.

 

[Paulg1980]

If the guitar is still under warranty let the store deal with this. If it is not, anymore. There are a couple of things: tightening the nut and and adding a washer under the pot sometime help. Taking the pot apart cleaning it inside and reassembling. As well as just replacing the pot. These push/push pots are so much better than push-pulls when it comes to convince, but they are not as sturdy and start acting out much faster. If you have a new guitar, should be taken care of by your dealer.

Thanks for the reply! It's definitely still under warranty, my dealer confirmed it today. I'll have to take it back to them, it's a bit of pain because I'm not local to the store but if I want it sorted then I'll have to make the trip I guess. Bit annoying really!

 

[beej]

This has come up before ... I can't remember all of the details, but it sounded like the pot wasn't making a good ground connection to the cavity. As a test, you could try running a wire to the back of the pot to a ground point inside the cavity to see if that fixes if. If that does it, the suggestion about tightening the nut/washer/etc. should do the trick.

 

[Paulg1980]

This has come up before ... I can't remember all of the details, but it sounded like the pot wasn't making a good ground connection to the cavity. As a test, you could try running a wire to the back of the pot to a ground point inside the cavity to see if that fixes if. If that does it, the suggestion about tightening the nut/washer/etc. should do the trick.

Thanks for the recommendation! I just had a look to see if the nut and washer was loose but it seems pretty tight. I did unscrew it and I try and push the volume pot on the board in and then tighten the washer and nut back up but it didn't do anything unfortunately!

What's strange is, there's an intermittent issue present, when the guitar hasn't been used for a bit, the volume control seems to work ok.When I start to play and use the guitar that's when the issue occurs! Very weird!

 

[Paulg1980]

I think I might have found the other thread you were talking about! I'm tempted to try it but at the same time it's probably not a good idea just in case I break something.

Help! - Issue with Volume Pot on My Music Man Luke IV – Looking for Advice

At least tell us you registered the guitar with EBMM on the website. Of course, I did it from day 1

forums.ernieball.com

 

[beej]

You can always test the theory out by touching a ground wire to the pot housing. Use anything conductive- wire, alligator clips, piece of foil, etc. It if works then you know that’s the problem.

 

[ZeroFivefour]

My 30th anniversary Luke 4 SteamRoller had volume issues on the first day.

My issue was the volume/boost knob, at full OFF position was still transmitting a small amount of signal for a bit of time after going to full off position. At first it was intermittent, then it became permanent, within the first week or so of owning it.

I sent it back to the EBMM and iirc, they told me they replaced boost knob, or entire circuit. (it's been over a year so I can't recall specifically what they actually replaced. I know that doesn't help you with your specific diagnosis, just placing this here to let you know I had a volume related issue as well on a brand new guitar.

EBMM had my guitar fixed and back to me promplty under warranty. I was actually stunned at how fast they addressed/fixed/shipped my guitar back to me. I realize youre in teh UK, and transit back and forth, will be considerably longer than it was for me if you go that route.

Good luck and I hope your guitar issues get fixed promptly.

 

[Paulg1980]

I took it back to the store today, their tech is gonna have a look for me. They tried it before they booked it in for repair and the issue was present straight away this time so as you say what was intermittent is now happening all the time. I'm hoping it might just be a dry solder joint and nothing major.

Will have to wait and see, Its not gonna be ready till early next week hopefully! I'll let you all know what the issue is when I hear back from them.

Thanks for all the suggestions!