I have built a few dozen pedals, but I have never done any mods or upgrades to any of my guitars or basses. I have a Hondo Alien bass (see this thread) that I picked up a couple years ago. It has a single humbucker with a coil tap. It fits my needs quite well, but has a couple shortcomings.
First, it's a bit trebly. I think the low mass, aluminum neck & short scale contribute to the thinner tone. Fortunately I have been able to find settings on my pre-amp & amp that allow me to manage this problem.
Second, all the volume gain occurs in the first 10% - 20% of rotation. I figured it had a linear volume pot & I would swap it out. Turns out that it has a 500k linear pot for volume & 500k audio pot for tone. There is evidence that one of them was changed, but I can't tell which one. I understand that many / most basses use 250k pots because 500k pots are brighter. The 250k pot might even help with my first problem. I ordered a P-Bass wiring kit and plan to install it next weekend. This is where I need help.
I sketched the current wiring diagram and it doesn't match others that I have found online - there are several differences.
![](https://i.postimg.cc/tCt4JTwr/Hondo-Alien-Wiring.jpg)
1. The hot lead from the pickup is attached to lug 2 of the volume pot, and the output jack is connected to lug 3. This is the reverse of other diagrams I found.
2. The 47nF cap connects lug 2 of the volume pot to lug 2 of the tone pot. Every other diagram I found has a wire connecting lug 3 of the volume pot to lug 1 of the tone pot. And the cap runs from lug 2 of the tone pot to ground.
3. There is a 2nF cap connecting lugs 2 & 3 of the volume pot. No idea what this does.
So now I'm trying to figure out how to install the wiring kit. One option is to follow the P-Bass wiring diagram (obviously I will keep the coil tap & work around that). The other is to just pop in the new pots & cap and follow the existing wiring scheme. I'm concerned that this might not work because of changing to an audio volume pot.
I'd love to hear suggestions from this community. I know many of you have knowledge and experience with this stuff.
First, it's a bit trebly. I think the low mass, aluminum neck & short scale contribute to the thinner tone. Fortunately I have been able to find settings on my pre-amp & amp that allow me to manage this problem.
Second, all the volume gain occurs in the first 10% - 20% of rotation. I figured it had a linear volume pot & I would swap it out. Turns out that it has a 500k linear pot for volume & 500k audio pot for tone. There is evidence that one of them was changed, but I can't tell which one. I understand that many / most basses use 250k pots because 500k pots are brighter. The 250k pot might even help with my first problem. I ordered a P-Bass wiring kit and plan to install it next weekend. This is where I need help.
I sketched the current wiring diagram and it doesn't match others that I have found online - there are several differences.
![](https://i.postimg.cc/tCt4JTwr/Hondo-Alien-Wiring.jpg)
1. The hot lead from the pickup is attached to lug 2 of the volume pot, and the output jack is connected to lug 3. This is the reverse of other diagrams I found.
2. The 47nF cap connects lug 2 of the volume pot to lug 2 of the tone pot. Every other diagram I found has a wire connecting lug 3 of the volume pot to lug 1 of the tone pot. And the cap runs from lug 2 of the tone pot to ground.
3. There is a 2nF cap connecting lugs 2 & 3 of the volume pot. No idea what this does.
So now I'm trying to figure out how to install the wiring kit. One option is to follow the P-Bass wiring diagram (obviously I will keep the coil tap & work around that). The other is to just pop in the new pots & cap and follow the existing wiring scheme. I'm concerned that this might not work because of changing to an audio volume pot.
I'd love to hear suggestions from this community. I know many of you have knowledge and experience with this stuff.