ASAT Z3 Questions

Hello,

I'm new to the forum, but not to G&Ls. I have a Tribute Legacy that I put Dimarzio Areas in and a Tribute ASAT Deluxe with a stock G&L ceramic HB in the neck and a Fralin HB in the bridge.

I just acquired an American honeyburst ASAT Z-3 with a maple neck and fretboard. I love the neck and pickups. For some reason, the volume pot is very static-ie when used with my Shure wireless. None of my other guitars, including the two G&Ls have this problem with the wireless, so it must be the pot or the MDF style PUPs. It is quiet when plugged in direct with a guitar cord. Two questions:

1) Has anyone had trouble with MDF style PUPs and wireless units, or do I just have a bad pot?

2) How many K is the volume pot on a ASAT Z-3?

Thanks!

Looking at the wiring diagram for the Comanche in the gallery like above (which also uses the Z-coil pickups) it looks like a 250kohm volume pot.

http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/GALLERY2/main.php?g2_itemId=20836

I suggest cleaning the pot with electrical contact spray.

It's weird that the problem exists while using a wireless unit but not with a cord. That would suggest to me a grounding issue causing static build up. As already suggested first try cleaning the potentiometer. If that doesn't help I would look for loose grounds, especially the bridge grounding wire. As a last step you could change the pot. If none of those things work, send the guitar to me as I don't have any wireless units so it will be fine here.

Question: if you mute the strings, do you still get the static when fiddling with the volume?

It's weird that the problem exists while using a wireless unit but not with a cord. That would suggest to me a grounding issue causing static build up.

It does sound like something isn't quiet tight, or a cracked solder joint.

Maybe it's not that weird.

I expect there would be some (nominal) RFI produced whenever the radial arm of a variable resistor (the pot) sweeps across across the carbon trace. In a grounded pot, that RFI would bleed to ground on the other side of the circuit (i.e. it wouldn't be transmitted to the input).

In the case of a wireless transmitter the "ground" of the guitar cannot bleed out to the amp's ground through the output jack, so if there is any leaky potential seeping into the "ground" it may find it's way backwards through the circuit into the input - showing up as static when you turn the volume knob.

That being a possible case, I asked the question concerning whether the effect is present when muting the strings - since if the strings are connected to the guitar's ground (through the bridge), then muting the strings would drain off any stray potential on the ground circuit through your your body to the actual ground - presumably sinking the RFI in the same way a plugged in cable would... That was my original hypothesis, which could be tested by muting the strings. If the noise disappears when the strings are muted, that means that the strings are properly grounded, and the stray RFI is being sunkto ground through your body, instead of finding it's way into the input. If muting the strings does nothing, I'd double check to make sure your strings are grounded (I'd use a meter rather than eyeballing it). If the strings are grounded properly, and muting them makes no difference, then I'd look at the cap on your volume pot - since if the pot was bad, it'd be bad through a cable also.

I mean it could be the pot, but if it's quiet through a cable, I'd look at everything else first. I'm no expert on these things - just a tinkerer who is thinking out loud - trying to imagine a scenario that would make sense given the fact that [1] the same transmitter works well on other guitars, and [2] that particular guitar (The ASAT Z3) plays quiet as anything through an amp on a cable.

In any case, when you discover what is causing the problem - let us know. I'm curious as heck.

edited for clarity

Hello,

I'm new to the forum, but not to G&Ls. I have a Tribute Legacy that I put Dimarzio Areas in and a Tribute ASAT Deluxe with a stock G&L ceramic HB in the neck and a Fralin HB in the bridge.

I just acquired an American honeyburst ASAT Z-3 with a maple neck and fretboard. I love the neck and pickups. For some reason, the volume pot is very static-ie when used with my Shure wireless. None of my other guitars, including the two G&Ls have this problem with the wireless, so it must be the pot or the MDF style PUPs. It is quiet when plugged in direct with a guitar cord. Two questions:

1) Has anyone had trouble with MDF style PUPs and wireless units, or do I just have a bad pot?

2) How many K is the volume pot on a ASAT Z-3?

Thanks!

Welcome to our site!

Being that this is your first post, I moved it to this sub-forum. Please see: Welcome! Read This First post.

Your ASAT Z-3 pickups are MFD (Magnetic Field Design) pickups.

We need photos otherwise your guitar does not exist!
And don't forget to add it to our G&L Registry.

Tell us a little more about yourself and where you reside.