MattW

That's not actually shielding, it's paint peeling and what looks like silver is actually just lots of dust - presumably from manufacture! But you make a good point, I will definitely clean that all out and put some shielding in and earth it all while I am working on it. I've just had another look at that middle tone control, and moving the capacitor/wiring slightly suddenly brings the treble back in! So the poor sound is definitely from there. All the electrics were loose when I got it so I'm not overly surprised. So going to get a rotary switch ordered and swap that out. Thanks all!!

Thanks for your thoughts. You're right about how tight it all is and I'll double check there are no accidental shorts that are effectively bypassing this tone pot. Might explain a few things! Even if it is I agree - a rotary switch is definitely the way to go!

Thanks for this - I'll check that thread + really appreciate the advice!

Yep absolutely correct!

Unless anyone can day otherwise I can only think the middle one is there for show and the capacitor value is such that it doesn't actually do anything!! I really like your suggestion of the rotary control, that's definitely something I'm going to look into. How did you set yours up? Did you have a 3 way switch so effectively rear coil/both/front?

Hi All, I picked up an unloved "Vintage" brand Stingray from Facebook Marketplace recently with only 3 strings! I've cleaned it up, sorted the fretwork, put a new Nut on and it's playing very nicely. However having plugged it in it just sounds awful! Really bass heavy and boomy. I've cleaned the pots which were very scratchy and checked everything is secure, but before I work out what to do to make it sound better I'm trying to understand what is there currently. I assumed before I took it apart that the control would be volume, tone and some sort of split between the coils of the humbucker, but it actually appears to have 2 tone pots. The first/middle tone control doesn't appear to do anything, the second one does add/remove some top end but not a great deal. Can anyone shed any light on this, and also any possible repairs/upgrades. I don't want to spend a lot on it, I just got it as a project which I'll probably sell at cost to a friend whose son wants a bass - but if he has it now the sound will put him off bass forever 🤣 As far as I can tell the Pup is wired directly into the Volume Pot and then there are two tone pots with capacitors in series before the jack sockets. The "Series Link" wires for the pup are attached together so there's definitely no coil spitting going on. It could well be that the middle pot is the issue as it seems to be non functional. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Chris bought a cab from me. Great comms, really easy deal, thanks very much 👍