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I'm thinking about installing CTS 1 meg pots in my Tele Deluxe to brighten the tone, and I'm wondering which ones to buy...

Audio or linear taper?

Didn't Mike do this to his Tele Deluxe?

it doesn't really matter. they both do the same thing, just in different ways.
audio taper pots adjust the volume/tone logarithmically, while linear taper pots adjust in a straight line.
but to answer your question, you'd probably be happier with audio taper.

That's what I thought. I know Jazzmasters have one pot that's audio, and one that's linear...I just can't remember which is which.

Thanks.

Make sure you buy matched CTS. It will sound shit otherwise.

Usually linear is used for the tone pot of a darker guitar (les paul and 335 stock). With linear, most of the change occurs in the last 1/3 of the pot's rotation. Or a darker guitar where the control probably won't be used much anyway, the dead space at the beginning of the rotation serves as a safety zone if the knob is accidentally bumped.

If you don't use the control it doesn't matter, but if you like to tweak you'll want audio. You should also keep in mind that with either taper, a 1-meg pot for the tone probably won't have a very useful rotation due to the qualities of the pickup. I'd compromise and use 1-meg for the volume and 250k for the tone.

I did it with the log/audio ones from Small Bear. Makes a big difference.

yo mike, I'm looking on small bear right now and the only split shaft style ones I can find are the smaller 16mm ones. is that what you used?

I'm using this for this strat w/humbuckers project I'm working on. I've had these humbuckers for a while in another guitar and while they sound great, the bridge one is seriously lacking in the treble department. to me this seems like it really needs 1 meg pots.

actually, looking at it again, those are linear too. all the other pots there are smooth shaft.... I'm confused....

You don't need split shaft ones as the Tele Deluxe knobs have grub screws to tighten to the shaft. Those work fine, they're the ones I got.

My Tele Custom has solid shafts.

DuoSonicBoy wrote:.

If you don't use the control it doesn't matter, but if you like to tweak you'll want audio. You should also keep in mind that with either taper, a 1-meg pot for the tone probably won't have a very useful rotation due to the qualities of the pickup. I'd compromise and use 1-meg for the volume and 250k for the tone.

This my "hillbillyburst "guitar showing some pickups that were developed for me. I used 250 k volume & 1 meg tone as it was recommended to me by Larry DiMarzio & Gene baker of Baker guitars

How about these guys if you're going to replace both the tone and volume knobs?

Small Bear

deekpyro wrote:How about these guys if you're going to replace both the tone and volume knobs?

Small Bear

nah, these'll do the job and are way cheaper.

bubbles_horwitz wrote:

deekpyro wrote:How about these guys if you're going to replace both the tone and volume knobs?

Small Bear

nah, these'll do the job and are way cheaper.

yeah, like I said - that's what I used.