Members photon9 Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 So I spent the weekend gutting my Squier Strat and replacing all of the electronics and pickups. And the knobs, pickguard and nut for good measure. When I opened up the guitar I noticed that the stock pots were all 500K! I got curious as to why Squier would have used 500K pickups instead of the standard 250K and 2 thoughts came to mind. Either: 1. They were the cheapest at the time or were overstocked, or 2. They deliberately put in 500K to produce inferior tone so as to not be competitive with fender. What's your take? BTW replacement pickups were GFS Premium Alnicos, and of course 250K pots. Sounds great . Pics soon. Have to get a flame suit first due to choosing a black-pearloid pickguard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alex W Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 All the chinese stuff that I have taken apart has 500k mini pots in it. I have no idea why they use them but I'll assume that it has something to do with cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 My guess would be that it has to do with a "lowest common denominator" issue from a manufacturing standpoint. I would bet that the factory is using that same pickup / pot combination in a number of types / brands of guitars, and somebody concluded that the 500K was the best all round compromise for that particular pickup. They don't have to keep other parts on the line, and don't have to teach workers to match a particular pot / pickup combination. Whether it's the best arrangement for your particular guitar is probably anybody's guess. It could also be that the buyer just got a deal on 500K pots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inkblot Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 Doesn't make a big difference IMO. My strat has all 500Ks (and single coils) and it's just fine. No problems with excessive brightness. HBs might be too dark with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members budkingston Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 I was wiring a strat for use with GFS 64 staggers. I found I was short 1 250 pot, so I used the 250s for tone and the 500 for volume. My calibrated ear hasn't been able to tell the difference, in direct comparison with a strat with Squier alnico (standard) pickups. Maybe someone with better ears can tell the difference, but I can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 Doesn't make a big difference IMO. My strat has all 500Ks (and single coils) and it's just fine. No problems with excessive brightness. HBs might be too dark with You can always dial back the treble if it's too bright, but you surely can't add it once it's gone. I've had singles with 500k and sometimes it's sounds great. Other guitars, not so much. Sometimes I like to have the extra treble when I need it, even if I leave the tone rolled off most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lukeswall Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 yeah, just roll it off and consider it a "mix-cutting bonus". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verence Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 I'm using mostly 1 meg pots, even for some single coils (P90s). I like 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members photon9 Posted April 28, 2009 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 The original pickup/pot combo was excessively bright to my ears. Rolling off the tone just turned everything to mud. Unfortunately I didn't bother to use the old pickups with the 250K pots. Would have been interesting to see if I heard a difference. I definitely hear a difference with the new pickup/pot combo. Very happy with the results. Now I just have to wait for my stewmac nut files to come in to dial in the action. I was using hack saw blades and it came out terrible duh lol. Luckily they seem to be too high so hopefully I can still work with the current nut. If not oh well, just have to replace it and try again. Thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrockbridge Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 I was actually surprised how big of a role pot value plays in the wiring for overall tone. With poor quality pups, pot value may not be critical. However, 250K sound darker, 500k brighter, and 1 meg brighter still. I had trouble getting a good mix of sound between single coils and a P90 on a particular guitar. The guitar had only 1 volume and 1 tone. I kept trying different pot values. Each change sounded different, but I couldn't balance the P90 with the SC's. Finally, I stumbled across the solution....a 250K tone pot for the SC's, for the P90 I bypassed the tone pot, and I used a 500K pot for the vol. Perfect balanced sound! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jacobarber Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 2. They deliberately put in 500K to produce inferior tone so as to not be competitive with fender.What's your take? there's nothing inferior about brighter tone. a 500k just gives more possible tonal range than a 250k pot; an additional tonal range that most people wouldn't utilize. just roll off the tone pot some and you'll be right where you want to be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 there's nothing inferior about brighter tone. a 500k just gives more possible tonal range than a 250k pot; an additional tonal range that most people wouldn't utilize. just roll off the tone pot some and you'll be right where you want to be Yup, the key to not getting mud is dialing in the amp with the tone already rolled off some. It takes some experimenting to get this right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jerry_picker Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 yeah, just roll it off and consider it a "mix-cutting bonus". Ex-ACT-ly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted April 28, 2009 Members Share Posted April 28, 2009 I recently bought a '69 Tele Thinline reissue (MIM) and noticed that it came stock with 1 meg pots. I guess they were going for that super bright twang back then. But way too much for me. When I swapped out the pickups, I changed to 250k pots - much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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