Les Paul Pot Angles:

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

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Question. I noticed tonight at Guitar Sinner that the knobs on a Les Paul seem to sit correctly in relation to the carved top, but when you look at them in a group, the tops are at different angles...normal???
 
Robert Herndon said:
Question. I noticed tonight at Guitar Sinner that the knobs on a Les Paul seem to sit correctly in relation to the carved top, but when you look at them in a group, the tops are at different angles...normal???
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Not in my experience. How much difference? There will be a bit of variation because of the limited number of angles offered by the splines.
 
DonP said:
Not in my experience. How much difference? There will be a bit of variation because of the limited number of angles offered by the splines.
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Example I found online...see that all align with the body contour, but all have different angles in relation to each other????

les-paul-guitar-nc.jpg
 
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Are they original, or after-market? Either way, not too good. A coarse spline has 18 teeth, so a twenty degree spacing. So it must be possible to fit knobs with no more than a ten degree error.
 
DonP said:
Are they original, or after-market? Either way, not too good. A coarse spline has 18 teeth, so a twenty degree spacing. So it must be possible to fit knobs with no more than a ten degree error.
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Its the angularity of the carved top. They rotate fine. Its their angles relative to the curvature of the maple cap.
 
Robert Herndon said:
Its the angularity of the carved top. They rotate fine. Its their angles relative to the curvature of the maple cap.
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Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you meant that when they were all rotated fully clockwise the numbers weren't all pointing the same way. Are you actually talking about whether the pot shaft is vertical to the face of the guitar?
 
DonP said:
Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you meant that when they were all rotated fully clockwise the numbers weren't all pointing the same way. Are you actually talking about whether the pot shaft is vertical to the face of the guitar?
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Exactly correct. Please forgive my bad description!
 
From my analysis on construction and angles etc. The pots are mounted from the inside of the cavity which should be routed flat. Thus the pot itself and hence the shafts will theoretically all be pointing in the same plane/angle. Now flip the guitar over and look at the body of the guitar. One will see a contour with the LP body. The angle of the shafts did not change, the angles of the shape of the guitar changed relative to the shafts. Now add knobs to the splines. One can press them on very straight and fully bottomed on the shaft. No wiggle side to side and all with a slight gap above the body. Unless the body of the guitar is a Flat Slab like a Strat or Tele etc, the "angle" of the knobs might appear to be heading in various directions. But in reality they could literally be all 100% perpendicular to each shaft yet look as if they go in all sorts of directions. Basically, it is the curvy wurvy undulations of a LP that are the directional forces our eyes perceive. No?
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
From my analysis on construction and angles etc. The pots are mounted from the inside of the cavity which should be routed flat. Thus the pot itself and hence the shafts will theoretically all be pointing in the same plane/angle. Now flip the guitar over and look at the body of the guitar. One will see a contour with the LP body. The angle of the shafts did not change, the angles of the shape of the guitar changed relative to the shafts. Now add knobs to the splines. One can press them on very straight and fully bottomed on the shaft. No wiggle side to side and all with a slight gap above the body. Unless the body of the guitar is a Flat Slab like a Strat or Tele etc, the "angle" of the knobs might appear to be heading in various directions. But in reality they could literally be all 100% perpendicular to each shaft yet look as if they go in all sorts of directions. Basically, it is the curvy wurvy undulations of a LP that are the directional forces our eyes perceive. No?
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Yes. I think that's what I am seeing...
 
For me, the angle was a real change, after I removed the mounting plate. The flat plate forced the shafts to all point in the same direction. Once plate was removed, tightening the nut formed it to the contour of the body.

I noticed the change instantly.....I thought, hummm is this wrong? But, in the end, I kept it as is....and I like it.

20170105_201121-1195x2124.jpg20170110_204138-1195x2124.jpg 20170204_144751.jpg 20170207_180522.jpg
 
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I should ad, I don't think the cavity was absolutely flat....I do believe it had a very slight curve....seemed like it anyway. Could be mistaken, but don't think I am, maybe I am, no it's curved, just a little, I think. Oh, who the hell knows.
 
JohnnyGoo said:
Ive never seen a pot mounting plate like that Bocc69.Is that stock ? If so why didnt you re use it ? Im just curious.
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Yes, stock.

I must have put everything in that cavity a dozen times, with and without the plate....and I realized, it's much easier without that plate. Especially if I ever needed to remove just one pot. Otherwise, you need to remove the entire thing, for just one pot.....and, unsolder the pickups.

And, I just like to remove extra stuff sometimes.
 
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JohnnyGoo said:
Say Bocc69,the hardware store sells that copper ground wire in various guages so when you need to lengthin it :)
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Yea man, I was getting nervous with that little raskel....thought it was going to snap from all the removals. It sure is cute though.:)
 
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