250k vs, 500k vs. 1.5m pots

[Spivonious]

So to try a drawing of this...



Where G is ground, I is input, O is output, and the gray area is the resistor. As you turn the knob, the I bar moves left or right. So the total resistance of the pot is always the same, you're just controlling how much is between I and G and I and O.

[Dred]

If wired straight to the output jack is too bright, then you'd know that a pot value higher than what your guitar currently has might be a good solution.

Would it not be the other way, "too bright-lesser value e.g from 1meg to 500k"? Unless I'm after mixing what higher/lower values are.

[Scooter]

Yeah, it should be brighter. Pots are cheap if you want to experiment.

Or you could temporarily wire straight to the output jack and see what that sounds like. If that is still too muddy, then those pickups probably aren't for you. If wired straight to the output jack is too bright, then you'd know that a pot value higher than what your guitar currently has might be a good solution. You could also experiment with your tone pot values.

Yeah, I had thought about that, with a kill switch. Thank you.
Does the tone pot make that much difference also? Should it be the same resistance? I know a few guys bypass it completely.
(Why don't I just buy a book- This seems to be easier!)

[Chad]

Would it not be the other way, "too bright-lesser value e.g from 1meg to 500k"? Unless I'm after mixing what higher/lower values are.

Yes, out of context, what you are saying is correct.

But he is trying to determine if increasing pot value would make them bright enough to get rid of the muddiness. My point was that you can't get any brighter than wiring straight to the output jack. If that is still too muddy, then those pickups are possibly a lost cause for him. If they are too bright wired straight to the output jack, then that would tell him that there is very possibly a pot value that would allow him to enjoy the pickups....and that value would be somewhere between his current pots and what he would hear wired straight to the output jack.

I think I have a headache. ha!

[Chad]

Yeah, I had thought about that, with a kill switch. Thank you.
Does the tone pot make that much difference also? Should it be the same resistance? I know a few guys bypass it completely.
(Why don't I just buy a book- This seems to be easier!)

Tone pots are simpler because only two legs of the pots are used.

Tone pots load the signal even when full on. If you never use your tone pots, it's simple to de-solder and find out what no tone pot sounds like. If you like it, then you're all done.

If you want something in between you could make or buy no load tone pots where the end of the resistance trace is scraped or covered. This way the pot works like a normal pot until you turn it all the way up, then it's out of the circuit.

If you find that you like the sound better with the tone pot hooked up, but you never use the tone pot, then you could wire a cap & fixed resistor (RC network) together to simulate the sound you get when the tone pot is turned up all the way.

I've got a couple books, but I'm not aware of any that really get deep enough into this subject, but I wouldn't mind finding one. Most of what I've learned has just been experimenting, ripping pots apart, asking questions on the net, etc.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

and once you wire in a tone pot in parallel (standard duncan wiring scheme) you have just cut the impedance in half.

i.e. 1 500k vol + 1 500k tone = 250k ohm load.

so your standard soloist / RR1 wiring scheme is a 250k ohm load.

[Chad]

and once you wire in a tone pot in parallel (standard duncan wiring scheme) you have just cut the impedance in half.

i.e. 1 500k vol + 1 500k tone = 250k ohm load.

so your standard soloist / RR1 wiring scheme is a 250k ohm load.

Good info. I just recently got an ESP GL-56 (George Lynch relic Strat), which has a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Pearly Gates humbucker in the bridge and traditional single coils in the neck and middle positions. I pulled the pickguard and found that it has three 250K CTS pots. One master volume and two tones. One tone for the neck SC and the other for the middle SC. The bridge humbucker is not connected to a tone control.

Normally I like 500K pots with a bridge humbucker, but the 250K works fine on that guitar. This is probably because it sounds very similar to a guitar with 500K volume and 500K tone. I seldom use the tone control with the bridge pickup, so that wiring setup is ideal and I'll leave it alone. I do wish the Pearly Gates was f-spaced and I wish the middle SC was RWRP, but that's another topic.

[Scooter]

Hey guys, thanks for the info, and to the OP, sorry if I derailed your thread.

[sandmannn69]

No. Because the signal is following the full length of the resistance trace of the pot. At wide open a 500K pot has 500K resistance to ground. At wide open a 1meg pot has 1meg resistance to ground.

Years back, I took an old pot apart and looked at how they work internally and it really helped things "click" understanding-wise.

Another thing to remember is most amps have a 1meg resistor to ground on the input. This is a perfect impedance match to that 1meg resistance to ground on the guitar volume pot on full, which makes for optimum signal transfer from guitar to amp.