Not getting enough distortion(esp ltd ax-260)
Hi,
It's not your pickups. It would be nearly impossible to loosen a wire inside of your guitar by having even heavier than your amp head drop on it. It is most likely your volume pot. The post, if hit hard enough, can virtually distroy your pots. Another possibility could be your jack, al though considering where it's located on your guitar, it would be very hard to damage it by having something drop onto it.
There is little else that could be the problem. Hopefully you didn't damage your guitar too badly. If the guitar was in front of me, it would be a relatively easy diagnosis.
Fortunately, volume and tone pots are inexpensive, and if you're handy with a soldering iron (or you have a friend that is) it is an easy install with four to six solder points, depending on your configuration. I don't want to assume it's a stock setup, but when you take off the rear electronics cover, you will immediately see what configuration you have.
If you have possibly damaged the pickup bobbins (assuming you have the stock humbuckers in your guitar), you would be able to see the damage, It would either look damaged,or work correctly. As you know bobbuns are simply wound wire, and that's not easy to damage. Plus your strings provide a minimal amount of protection, unless your amp head slammed it very hard. Start by replacing the volume pot. Cheapest parts first. There is no way to test the pot with anything like a potentiometer, because there is virtually no voltage that passes through the pot. Additionally, unless you have active pickups, your pickups cannot be either. If you do have to replace your electronics, you can find a large variety and even upgrade your parts by searching eBay. The good thing is that you havce a guitar, and guitar parts are abundant, relatively cheap, and most people change out electronics just to achieve a different sound.
If you are so inclined, most good guitar shops will diagnose your problem for cheap and apply the cost of the diagnosis to the cost of the repair. Good luck, and I hope I have given you some information to work with.
Thank you for using FixYa
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