Members Belva Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 I'm considering linear taper pots for my next guitar. I've heard plusses & minuses for both. Some claim linear pots are more "progressive". I've also read that 300K pots are the best choice when you're using single coil & humbucking pups in the same guitar. All I can locate in 300K are linear. Opinions? Yes, I know you can use resistors to trim down 500K pots, but that seems like jury rigging to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bubbalou Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 I prefer Audio Taper Pots for Volume controls. Linear or audio taper can be used for Tone controls.Do you have a Guitar Center near you. They have Audio Taper pots.Also, many places on line to order Guitar parts from. 250K will work fine for single coil pickups Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Foulacy Posted December 12, 2008 Members Share Posted December 12, 2008 just get audio pots. that's what the majority of manufacturers put on their guitars from the factories no matter what the price of the guitar. i got caught up in this debate a while back and realized it's a waste of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted December 13, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2008 What I want to prevent is the big change in volume you get with a single coil & humbucker guitar when you switch back & forth. I know part of it is the pots & 300K is a balance between the two. I also know that some later model Gibsons have 300K pots. I solved the problem on my tele (little '59 bridge, GFS sc neck) by running a dual pot with dual controls. It has 250k & 500K pots in the same unit. But you're lookin at 30 bucks by the time you add the special knobs needed. Don't want to go there again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members el_tonto Posted December 14, 2008 Members Share Posted December 14, 2008 You can use a 500K audio-taper dual-gang pot. Wire up the second gang through a switch. Activate it to put them in parallel and you get 250K. Deactivate the switch and you get 500K. You can probably even use the original pickup switch (or a suitable replacement) rather than adding another switch. Or, use a push-pull pot. Basically the 500k setting will be the 'bright' mode (and slightly louder) and the 250k setting will be less-bright mode. 300K is only a balance between the two in that it is between one or the other. It's unlikely to change the volume difference between them. It's more a compromise between too much highs in the single coil and cutting out too much in the HB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members el_tonto Posted December 14, 2008 Members Share Posted December 14, 2008 You could even wire the dualie to go 250k to 1000k instead of 250k-500k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted December 14, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 14, 2008 With the tele I'll stick with the dual pot with dual controls. I can balance the pups with it & there just aint much room for stuff in a standard tele control rout. Any one used 4 pots with 2 of each standard resistance in a one hum, one sc setup? I don't like the piercing highs of a sc with a 500K. I also don't like a lot of clutter on a guitar. 15 switches, 12 pots, 11 pickups & a large orange drink has no place on a guitar of mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bensbeenjamin Posted December 14, 2008 Members Share Posted December 14, 2008 Yeah the audio pots are definitely the way to go for the tone you're going for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bubbalou Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 Yeah the audio pots are definitely the way to go for the tone you're going for. Audio Pots vs. Linear pots do not have an effect on tone, just how the perceived volume (if used as a volume control) will vary at different rates due to how the human ear works. Linear pots will almost seem like an "on/off" switch while an audio taper will seem to vary more slowly as you turn it. That is because the human ear hears volume levels logrythmically and not linearly. Audio taper pots vary at different rates (logrythmically) as they are turned up or down (to counter the effects of the ear) while Linear pots have a near constant and controlled rate of change.What effects tone is the values of the pots, value of the capacitor used in a tone circuit, and to some degree (depending on the pickup in question) the type of capacitor used.What works for one person may not for another as hearing and tastes in tone differ from one person to another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted December 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 That makes good sense. I'm used to log (audio taper) pots anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UMT Posted December 15, 2008 Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 I have a Tele HH and 2 Strat HH's that I switched all volume pots to linear tapers. I like them much better. I don't care for the sudden drop off of audio pots and I don't do 'swells' and that type of thing where that might come in handy. It's a matter of personal taste, I believe, but I'm happy with my stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted December 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 15, 2008 I assume 500K? This is all good info & as always, I apprediate the input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MojoAndGoop Posted December 16, 2008 Members Share Posted December 16, 2008 Why don't you try this? Get two concentric audio-taper potentiometers (so that you don't have to cut into your pretty electronics cover plate) and use the lower half of each for tone and the upper for volume? They sell them in both 250k and 500k, so you can grab one of each, et viola, you've got your solution to tonal balance. It'll certainly be a tight fit in that control cavity, but it'll make it. Never take "it's too big for that hole" as an answer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Belva Posted December 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 16, 2008 As previously mentioned I do have a concentric pot in my tele that is a 250, 500K combination. I have the lil '59 hooked to the 500K & the GFS sc neck hooked to the 250K part of it. But these, with the special dual knob runs about 30 bucks. For one pot & one knob? Too much! And I don't want to go that way again. The idea is to find a middle ground. 300K linear are available. And yes, on a tele there aint much room under the hood. But I'm considering another build. One that will look like a tele & an SG did something nasty behind the barn without protection! I got lots of good ideas & that's what we're here for. Thanks to all!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tedmich Posted December 30, 2008 Members Share Posted December 30, 2008 I find it much easier to get linear high quality CP or cermet pots for cheap; they are noise free compared to cheap carbon audio pots and once I have the right setting I don't miss the audio taper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.