changing pots

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:37 pm

One particular area of my guitar I've never really explored....

can anyone give me a run down on what effects changing pots can have...

I here it mentioned a fair bit in regards to shortscales and wonder what the main advantages are etc.

More of gradual change...? more twang/beef... ?

when it comes to electrical components I have no interest... I just play !!

cheers
O

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:48 pm

i say just playing is the way to go!!!

from my lacking knowledge, there's linear and taper pots, one has most of the change in the last bit [correct me if i'm wrong, anyone]
and different amounts, 250k, 500k, 1M are most common to guitars.
250's are standard for singles, 500 for humbuckers, and 1m is for people who like to rock, a lot of mustang and jazzmaster and tele deluxes get upgraded to these

i don't know shit either, but there is my insight

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:33 am

Linear taper is useless for guitars - IDK why so many come stock with linear for the tone.
Pots are usually my most tweaked component. Higher values in either position will give a brighter, louder sound overall. This can be good or bad - so don't just assume you want MAX POWER and stick 1Meg in everything. I like 100k-250k for single coil work. If you like to roll yr tone control back a bit, it makes sense to make it a lower value to spread out the sweet range a bit. They're cheap, so experiment!

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:13 pm

Thanks for the response chaps...

roofiez · Post by **roofiez** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:23 pm

guitarfetish sells some alpha pots, are they good?

James · Post by **James** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:29 pm

roofiez wrote:guitarfetish sells some alpha pots, are they good?

Damn straight. Guiar shops geneally over charge for pots and other electronics. Shipping changes things a bit, but roughly you should be paying in the region of...

Pot $1.50
Ceramic cap $0.10
Resistor $0.10
Mylar type cap $0.20

You can buy Alpha pots for $0.55 at futurlec, and resistor at 10 for $0.10 with the same (sometimes lower) shipping than you'll get from a guitar shop.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 11:18 pm

DuoSonicBoy wrote:Linear taper is useless for guitars - IDK why so many come stock with linear for the tone.

In my experience log taper pots are shit for tone control. they just dump on the whole capacitor right at the end of the turn there's no fine adjustment.

roofiez · Post by **roofiez** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:30 am

What about dimarzio pots and switches, they are the best they sell in shops around here.. IMAGINE

James · Post by **James** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:03 am

I have a Dimarzio pot. It's not better than Alpha. I'd go with Alpha everytime.

sp3k · Post by **sp3k** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:11 pm

i always wanted to trade the pot of my tele deluxe, is suppose to soud closer to the 70's tele deluxe. Can you guys give me links or something of how to do this? i don't know how to solder, and i don't really know much about guitar wiring... i also want to make the volume pot in the middle position a master volume, but that i found out how to do.

roofiez · Post by **roofiez** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 3:11 am

You sure those pots from futurlec are Alpha? They seem pretty generic to me, chinese ones.

roofiez · Post by **roofiez** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:16 am

no one?

Will · Post by **Will** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:34 am

roofiez wrote:You sure those pots from futurlec are Alpha? They seem pretty generic to me, chinese ones.

They might be - alpha makes a lot of different sizes; those might just be panel-mount versions.

Post by **Mike** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:22 am

They are alphas. James and I bought them.

As DuoSonicBoy says, Alpha do lots of size pots. Those are PCB mountable 16mm Split Shafts

I'm amazed you can (wrongly) tell they're "Generic Chinese" from that picture, sounds to me like you're speaking from a position of No Knowledge about something you have No Knowledge about.

markleton · Post by **markleton** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:09 am

Gots a few questions on buying pots. Where be the cheapest place to pick them up? Gonna dip my toes into pedal building and will be needing a selection of pots. Banzai has them for around â‚¬1.50, anywhere cheaper than that?

Post by **Mike** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:17 am

markleton wrote:Gots a few questions on buying pots. Where be the cheapest place to pick them up? Gonna dip my toes into pedal building and will be needing a selection of pots. Banzai has them for around â‚¬1.50, anywhere cheaper than that?

Banzai
Musikding

Futurelec - long shipping time
Small Bear - ditto

The only UK based places would be Axesrus and you'll only get guitar value pots, nothing for making pedals.

roofiez · Post by **roofiez** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:39 pm

OK Mike, ill just give them a try.