| Visit Our Catalog at SteelGuitarShopper.com |

Post new topic Remington T-8 Tone Pot Question
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  Remington T-8 Tone Pot Question
Bill Eisele

 

From:
New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2021 10:54 am    
Reply with quote

Hi All,

I have a recently acquired Remington T-8 that had a noisy tone control pot. I added a couple drops of contact cleaner to the interior of the pot and now I don't have a signal whatsoever. I checked continuity through the remainder of the circuitry and everything seems intact. My guess is that I need to replace the tone control pot. Does anyone know what the correct value is and whether the pot is linear or audio taper? If I thought the pot was functioning I would just clip it out and measure the resistance but I'm guessing that's not the case. The T-8 has three single coil pickups that are pre- Jerry Wallace Truetones. And, if anyone has a schematic of the circuitry that would be great. And, lastly, is there a way to bypass the tone control pot with a jumper somewhere in the circuit that would pinpoint whether the pot is the culprit or not? I tried at the locations that seemed logical to me, but no success.

Thanks!
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jeff Highland

 

From:
New South Wales, Australia
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2021 11:08 am    
Reply with quote

I don't know the circuitry for the remington but if it is a standard tone pot, it is NOT in the circuit between the pickup and output but bleeds off a controlled amount of treble through a capacitor to ground.
Failure of a tone pot can't leave you with no signal, only leave you unable to adjust the treble.

You have probably disturbed something else or shorted the signal to ground somewhere.
_________________
Duesenberg Fairytale
1949 Supro Supreme
1950 National New Yorker
2008 Highland Baritone Weissenborn
2020 Highland New Yorker.
2020 Highland Mohan Veena
2021 Highland Weissencone
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bill Eisele

 

From:
New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2021 11:15 am    
Reply with quote

Thanks for your very helpful insight, Jeff. What you're saying makes sense now. The tone pot does sit off to the side and is not in-line between the pickups and the output. I will continue to look for a break in the circuit or where there is short. Kind of like a rat's nest in there, so difficult to sort out.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bill Eisele

 

From:
New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 21 Jun 2021 11:59 am    
Reply with quote

Okay. Found the break in the circuit and I now have a signal when jumpering the break. But the tone pot is still noisy. If anyone knows the value of the pot, please let me know. Otherwise, I will remove it and check its value. At least it's not completely bad, just noisy.

Thanks!
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
G Strout


From:
Carabelle, Florida
Post  Posted 22 Jun 2021 5:57 pm    
Reply with quote

My D8 Remington uses 250k audio taper. Can't see where yours would be different. General rule of thumb in guitar electronics seems to be ...single coil pickups 250k pots Humbuckers 500k pots
_________________
Melbert 8, Remington S8, Silk 6 string, Rick B6, Tremblay 6 lap steel, Marlen S-10 4&4, Prestige Guild M75 and Artist Award, Benedetto Bravo, Epiphone Century Electar (the real one) and a bunch of old lap steels.... mostly Ricks and Magnatones'
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bill Eisele

 

From:
New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 22 Jun 2021 7:40 pm    
Reply with quote

Thanks! I will keep that in mind if I need to replace it. Once I got the loose connections resoldered I found out that the tone pot was no longer scratchy sounding. So the contact cleaner must have worked it’s magic while I was troubleshooting and soldering. I really appreciate everyone’s help.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Jeff Highland

 

From:
New South Wales, Australia
Post  Posted 22 Jun 2021 10:27 pm    
Reply with quote

Check that the tone pot etc are mounted tightly. Pots moving around are a common source of broken connections.
_________________
Duesenberg Fairytale
1949 Supro Supreme
1950 National New Yorker
2008 Highland Baritone Weissenborn
2020 Highland New Yorker.
2020 Highland Mohan Veena
2021 Highland Weissencone
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bill Eisele

 

From:
New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 22 Jun 2021 10:38 pm    
Reply with quote

Thanks for the tip, Jeff. I did make sure that the pots were mounted securely to the panels before I buttoned everything up. You make an excellent point because the number of signal and ground wires beneath the panels is significant and I noticed that it was easy to short out the signal to ground just by slightly moving the wires around even after repairing the broken connections. A loose pot would definitely do that and pull on the wires to possibly break cold solder joints again.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Danny Roy

 

From:
Calgary Alberta, Canada
Post  Posted 25 Jun 2021 3:26 am    
Reply with quote

I replaced the tone pot on my Steelmaster T8 with a 1 Meg pot, just like a Stringmaster, and it made a world of difference. I now can get a much wider range of tones between dark and bright, somewhere in the middle being my “neutral” tone. It also gives you a quick response for wah-wah and boo-wah bar slams, but also darkens really nicely for those butter tones. Why a 250k pot was used for a humbucker is a head scratcher for me. Hope this helps.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bill Eisele

 

From:
New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 25 Jun 2021 11:59 am    
Reply with quote

Thanks for the info, Danny! When I was looking up the appropriate value for the Steelmaster tone control pot, I found that the Stringmaster had the 1 Meg pot. Good to know that you can dial in the tone you want with that value of pot. I guess it really comes down to the brightness of the pickups given their DC resistance and how much you want to tame it. I really won’t know the value of the control pot in my Steelmaster T-8 unless it needs to be replaced and I have a chance to measure it outside the circuit. I will report back on the Forum if/when that happens. Oh, and my Steelmaster has single coils so if they are inherently bright like Fender single coils then the 250k ohm pot would make sense.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Danny Roy

 

From:
Calgary Alberta, Canada
Post  Posted 25 Jun 2021 1:23 pm    
Reply with quote

Oh that’s right, you bought the early version white T8 with singles that was just up for sale. I would have bought it but he wouldn’t ship to Canada. You got a steel of a deal on that one!
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Bill Eisele

 

From:
New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 25 Jun 2021 2:35 pm    
Reply with quote

Yes, that’s the one. I did get a steel of a deal on it! My friends are making fun of me because it’s a triple neck. And, my back is complaining because of the weight of the console and case. It’s heavy and unwieldy. Packing it up tomorrow to take to a gathering of guitar guys at a house and not looking forward to it. I had a Remington S-8 and an eight string lap steel and I decided to sell them to buy at least a double neck console. I’d say if I ever did sell it to try something else I would probably just consign it because the thought of packing it would be daunting. Tom Campbell did a great job packing it and I don’t know if I could do as good a job. Thanks, Tom! But I will keep you in mind, Danny, if I ever decide to let it go in the future.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  
Please review our Forum Rules and Policies
Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction, and steel guitar accessories
www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

The Steel Guitar Forum
148 S. Cloverdale Blvd.
Cloverdale, CA 95425 USA

Click Here to Send a Donation

Email SteelGuitarForum@gmail.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for Band-in-a-Box
by Jim Baron