Upgrading control pots: choosing the right pots and knobs
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- Опубликовано: 27 янв 2016
- www.stewmac.com/
Lots of low-cost guitars play great, even though the manufacturers cut costs on hardware and electronics. Swapping out your control pots is an easy mod with big results. Erick Coleman shows you how to avoid trouble…
If you have questions, please contact us through our webpage www.stewmac.com/email or visit our Facebook page / stewmac
For more information on tools and parts:
CTS Control Pots
www.stewmac.com/0115.html
Emerson Pro CTS Pots
www.stewmac.com/0203.html
Peghole Reamers
www.stewmac.com/0344.html
Luthier’s Digital Caliper
www.stewmac.com/0447.html
Dome Knob
www.stewmac.com/0169.html
Metal Cap Bell Kob
www.stewmac.com/1195.html 
Хобби
Stone cold guitar tech bro spittin' facts, telling you what you need to hear.
Love this guy.
Thunderkerk after you blunderrberk
Additional: If you are putting grub screw fixed, knurled chrome 'speed knobs' on a slotted shaft, turn the shaft to face the same direction as the allen key then tighten the grub screw. Tightening it into the slot spreads the shaft into the knob and makes it grip all round while also making it stay perfectly upright. Never lost one gigging in 30 years! :o)
01:45 I like how Erick sort of runs out of steam at the end of the sentence, like active electronics make him sad :P
LOL. They make me sad too.
Bc batteries are autistic and they need to stay away from instruments
@@dshack5690 Haha
Active guitars and basses suck. I had one active bass and the guitar asked me if he could play it. Foolishly i said yes. I took me 3 days to get it sounding like a bass again with all the wildly stupid rang of the ridiculous controls. Never again. I sold that piece of crap.
I know Im asking randomly but does anybody know a way to log back into an Instagram account?
I was dumb forgot my account password. I would love any assistance you can offer me.
Thank you! Not only did you give good info, but you came to the point without wasting half an hour... long-winded time wasting is the bane of youtube videos. Well done!
To prevent wood tear-out, place a piece of painter's tape over the area PRIOR to drilling.
@@keithclark486 Keith, I used that on my 100+ year old collapsible wardrobe during its restoration. That wood was EXTREMELY dried out. I needed to drill out areas to plug the wood because screws has stripped the wood. Half way through the repairs, I had broken and splintered all sorts of areas. Then, I remembered hearing about the tape. Yes, I used it, and my tear out was reduced to near zero, it it was not zero.
@@keithclark486 you know this video is intended for those who have limited to know experience, right? Those are exactly the people who can benefit from helpful comments like "use painters' tape to prevent tear-out" that douchier, "more experienced" people might thinks are unnecessary because they learned it a long time ago and forgot what it was like to learn something.
I just take out the middleman and solder my pickups directly into my amp. I can't move very far but DAMN THAT'S SOME BADASS TONE!
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Shit, I ate my p90 (with the wires attached at a 5' length) solder them just like you did but "I' moved in to the back of my amp.. I now have no rent!
I live, breath, and sleep tone.
That's the proper way, oh and a orange cap for dessert. So....
Take that Schematic and crazy hippy theory of yours and shove it!
I'm the tone starter!
Love you!
M.Porter
Redeye Raccoon
Detroit MI.
OH kay
@@RedeyeRaccoon no strings attached
Imagine just how funny a real joke is.
I always loved instruction from a real expert versus all the hacks out there. Thank you sir.
i have trouble putting into words how much that i apprecieate your videos . thank you so much ,i never stop learning.
You did fine.
Thank you, Erick. I appreciate the schooling. Your advice is sound and common sense and I appreciate it.
Good lord I wish I had found your channel about 12 years ago. Thank you Stewart! Subscribed and tapping that 🔔!
Love these lessons. StewMac is the best. Quality tools for a quality job.
Glad you like them!
Better to use blue "painters tape" on that reamer to mark the stopping point, tough to see magic marker lines and your reamer ends up with marks all over the place and you need to take off with paint thinner. The painters tape also works great on drill bits.
OMG, I was watching you ream that Pot Hole so intently... I caught myself blowing on my phone to remove the saw dust! Hahaha great video... It answered all my control Pot questions except the need/use of filter caps for tone. I'll look as I imagine it is covered in another video.
Pot value: This not only affects the charge / discharge time of the inductor (pickup coil) but is also the electrical 'distance' between your live and ground connection.
I was shocked when given a Fender Billy Corgan model with a broken but working volume pot. After no reply from Fender (typical in the UK!) I contacted DiMarzio and they recommended 500k audio taper pots, the difference was night and day, this 'nice' guitar turned into a rock animal!
Just goes to show, even after 3rd century building guitars and valve amps you can learn something new!
Awesome video. Very informative and your presentation style is smooth and concise.
This video feels like a friend explaining replacement pots to me. Really easy to watch. Great job.
Great demo & tips StewMac. I'll be doing this soon, and I'll go to StewMac for the tools, pots, & knobs, and advice if I need. Thanks.
I'd like to also mention that I have come across import basses and guitars where the control cavity on the body is too narrow to take the larger CTS pot. I have used a dremel tool with a sanding barrel to remove material from the cavity in just the places where it's needed for the CTS pots to drop right in.
Hey, great video. Love tweaking my guitars. You have a lot of patience and experience for this and it shows. I could learn a lot from you. Thank you for this channel. Always a pleasure. Kind (polite) regards from the west coast of Canada! (You know us Canadians ;) - c
Gibson during mid Norlin era used mostly 300k pots, as they bought in large volume. They had a lot of P90's left from Epiphone and brought out the deluxe to use them up, and this used 300k pots. It's one reason why a lot of people said they didn't sound good in that era, unfortunately they never do research and check the pots. My favorite era. You see a lot of 300k pots post '73
Outstanding. Great info and presentation. Well done.
As always with stewmac, a very nice video. But I have to add that one of the most important thing for installing jacks, pots and switches, is to use a shakeproof washer. Also, why don't CTS make a pot with an 18-spline shaft? And finally, a 6mm grubscrew knob can be drilled to 1/4" very easily, and conversely, a 1/4" knob can be used with a 6mm shaft with a brass adapter sleeve.
StewMac videos are the best.
Was just wondering about this!! Very Informative and in the nick of time!
Hooray, you're back!
Beginner word of advice- there are Volume pots and Tone pots. In most cases they will end up being the same (maybe with different values or maybe with the same value), but the new wave "treble-bleed" pots are specifically for Tone Only.
Treble Bleed pots actually break their own circuit when rolled all the way to 10. This is great for the tone, because it means that the guitar signal completely bypasses that pot and goes straight to the amp, but if you use it as a volume it will simply go dead silent, or at most you'll hear only the buzz of ground interference.
Not "treble bleed Pots" what you are referring to are "no Load tone Pots"
I think this is a great introductory video for more people out there (not geeks like us) who wouldn't have a notion about this stuff.
Great video's Stew Mac very helpful and smart Tips.
Excellent Video, Thank you👍👍👍
Melbourne, Australia.
I've often wondered about this. Great video. Thanks.
I enjoy watching these kinds of videos
great presentation
Thank you for this video full of tricks that only experienced people know.
If you don't have a drill press and are far more cheap minded...a steak knife works just as well. Put the Tip end into the hole of the pick guard and keep the knife straight. Turn the knife one or two rotations and then see if the pot fits. If not do one or two increments at a time. I did this exactly when switching the original 5/16 pots for 3/8 Emerson pro CTS pots. Worked extremely well!
Excellent help, thanks 😊
Really good tutorial!
Pro tip for people without drill press or reamer: reaming holes slightly with a scissors blade :) They are usually tapered, so one can fine tune the final hole size nicely.
+apinakapinastorba I have a pair with one handle broken off, just for this job, just sharpened with a stone, and trim to fit! ;-)
I use a broken pair of long nose pliers. The mostly round shape means I never see any chipping.
I use a step bit with my drill rpm very low. I do like that reamer I may get one.
Thank you for this very helpful video.
You guys are the best. Thank you!
Excellent video
These are great tips!
I think some people might want to know what is the differences of the POT type - A, B, and C, and the application of these types on guitar. Adding these info would be great.
I think for volume it's typically an A type, but for tone I see mixed between A and B. C is probably for Lefty's volume.
Awesome video
Fender uses a 375K pot in the Eric Johnson Strat. I wish StuMac would stock them. I think it is actually an Alpha pot. Love the fact that you guys supply two nuts with the pots you sell.
Excellent video, BTW!
Excellent information thank you!
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
You guys need to do more videos. Even stuff as easy as knob and string replacement. It's cool to see the tricks the professionals do on simple repairs. Dan has not done a video in awhile too. C'mon, someone send him a project. I'd send him my 1963 Gibson ES 125T for nut replacement but it's all original and afraid it'll break in shipping (then it wouldn't be original).
Excelente video
Very informative thanks!
I have a 60s strat, bought used years ago and it had a bridge pickup tone that was unusable. One day it just cut out(volume pot died) so I opened it up and saw it had Imported pots, good ones but needed changing. I ordered the basic CTS 250k pots to replace the Alphas and after a bit of soldering put it all back together and I was amaz3d at the difference in the bridge pickup tone, it sounded fantastic and usable(just like a Strat should) never had a tone control on that position before or after the pot change. The specs were the same so on paper there should'nt be a difference but there is , like the Guitar has come back to life. My theory is that maybe the old onez had been damaged somehow when the original owner changed out the old pickups perhaps cooking the pots? In any case I shall replace the other 2 pots soon as I believe they must be what my ears are used to hearing. Still stunned at the difference just 1 new vol pot makes!
Really helpful and clear, thank you 😊
I have recently used a couple of SM premium wiring kits to upgrade early 80s MIJ Strat & build a couple of new guitars(SD Pikups) & I have a couple of new kits to go in guitars under construction. Problem: no volume until about one & a half on the scale of 0 - 10. Then the sound comes in with some volume (does not fade in) I put many pots on an ohmmeter & found no change in resistance in this range in any pot. Anyone else find this?
Installing a premium kit( with treble bleed cap on vol) in MIJ Strat made a huge difference in tone - just brought the sound alive. A month later I installed MIM pickups which only improved the new sound slightly if at all. Old pups were Fender Lace Sensor - bridge & mid, Unbranded pup- neck. To my surprise replacing the wiring made a much bigger improvement than changing pups.
Also measure the pots to get exact value, that way you can effectively match the pots to the instrument, for example, I worked on a particularly bright strat, dug through my supply, and installed 250K pots that measured 210K, took just enough edge off, PRS custom that was a bit dark, I installed 500K pots that measured 572K...etc.
Great video guys! :D
My bass has knurled posts and knobs with set screws. I used my old ibanez knobs. the body for my ibanez broke beyond repair so I salvaged it for parts!
I've used my SOG fielder pocket knife to widen the holes on pickguards without any issues.
Very well explained! Thanks. :)
Thank you !
Very clear, well produced, and useful.
My only question? What value potentiometers go into a P-Bass, like the one you actually did? Thanks + Cheers!
Love that blue guitar
Jazzblasterrr I wish I knew what it was.maybe a modded duo sonic?
gibson kalamazoo kg1
Awesome!!! Thank you!!!
i needed this thank you
Great video, thank your !!!
I'm thinking of removing my tone pot on my telecaster and replacing it with a tandem set of potentiometers. Soldering in some caps and creating a simple band pass filter. But I'm not sure what value of caps I should be aiming for that will allow me to have a complete sweep both ways from 14khz all the way down to 60hz.
Any suggestions on what will work or where I can find the solution ?
Thank you!😎👍
super informative!
Lots of good info. One question I have is, are there pots with a higher turning friction? I just got a Fender Player Plus Top and am used to the pots in my LTD Deluxe. I find it difficult to not turn the knobs to far because I am so used to the LTD set up.
What a fantastic vid. Thank you!
it was piss poor, as he didn't mention the different size capacitors that go with the different sized pots.
+Capitán Obvious Different caps aren't relevant to this video, which is about upgrading pots and knobs. The basis of the video is that you are swapping pots and the considerations you will need to keep in mind when changing them, not tweaking your tone by experimenting with capacitors (he's already done that video). I'm sure Erick sees a lot of broken shafts from people trying to DIY but not knowing the pitfalls and tricks, so he's here offering a few tips, not a comprehensive video about shaping your tone through experimentation with pots, caps, and pickups.
Great video, I have a question, I'm planning to permanently remove the Volume and Tone Pots for my SX PBass, will that affect the Pickups and Amp Input?
Great vid. Fortunately my import PRS guitar already came with good quality potentiometers and electronics….So not all import guitars will come with cheap electronics
I would ream the pot mounting holes with a sharp tapered reamer rather than using the drill press. Too easy to crack the pickguard with the drill. Capacitor type-- it would be interesting to see an A-B test with different types of cap. Can anyone really hear the difference between oil-filled paper, and mylar of the same capacitance and voltage rating? Old oil-filled will drift in value and ESR, so for testing these should be matched in the competing cap also.
Did you mention the "taper" of the pots you use? Linear, audio, logarithmic... I've even seen some custom tapers that would really add "uniqueness" to a guitar's tonal response to control settings.
Thank you.
I want advice on how to replace the ancient electronics, wiring, and pots in my vintage Lotus Les Paul type guitar but have no idea what to get. It has a 3 way toggle switch, one volume and one tone knob and two humbucker pickups. What would be an affordable replacement option?
I have a guitar with a push/pull coil split tone knob, and it had a plastic cap on the shaft and only half a metal shaft underneath it, which I've never seen before. My volume pots are standard split shafts.
I've got those chrome knurled knobs that you showed with set screws, and I've been using them for years no problem but I think I tightened it too much on the tone pot and the plastic cap cracked - do I need a new pot? I can't seem to find anything about plastic shaft covers let alone replacements
OK. Some volume pot tone control fun:
Get something called a "Concentric Control Potentiometer," which is essentially a 250k volume pot and a 500k tone pot in one package.
Then instead of soldering your volume's ground lug to the chassis, jump it to one of the ends of the secondary pots, and then wire the wiper of the secondary to the other lug of the secondary, and *those* to ground.
(Essentially, you just added a 0-500k variable resistor in between your volume pot and ground.)
This'll let you really dial in how much of the brights get shunted out of your signal.
Caveat: If you set your volume knob to 0, and then put in any resistance to the secondary pot, you'll start to actually get output out of your jack. (By adding resistance between ground and the wiper of the volume knob it'll split off some of the signal down the output line.) And at max resistance of the second pot you'll be, essentially, at 66% volume.
It won't make a difference if you play on full volume anyway, though, except for the tonal control.
(To remedy this, you can add a kill switch to your output line, though, to prevent any sound.)
I'd like to upgrade the pots on my ESP LTD EC - 1000 with active EMGs in bridge and neck. I see it comes with small, cheap pots and I'd like to upgrade these. Can you suggest what I should use and more importantly, do you think the shaft size will still facilitate a direct replacement?
I'm likin that X-Y on that old Rockwell.
One can use an electric drill and or even a twist drill and a ⅜" drill bit without danger of surface chip-outs. Just reverse the drill bit spin and go more slowly than if you're trying to just fasten something to something else with a screw. This is done on finished and/or unfinished wood - a little cabinetmakers trick. Well, the cabinetmaker isn't little, exactly.... I've also used a pair of scissors with success, as apinakapinastorba suggests. The video is not intended to be for luthiers but for people willing to open their guitars (for the first time?) and try something in which they have little experience. Some might see themselves ruining a working guitar just by taking off the pickguard or cavity cover but are willing to take a leap of faith that they'll learn something and lose their fear of minor guitar adjustments.
awesome !
A higher value pot will only sound brighter when maxed out. At lower settings the sound will be the same as lower value pots. For example if you turn down a 1 Meg pot it's the same as a 500k pot
I have that problem where my knob is too big for the holes glad to know someone else has this problem😂😂
the tone knob broke on my BC Rich, and I'm dreading the prospect of replacing the pots.. (I think I might as well upgrade the volume before it breaks too)
I want to see a video about what and how, the best pots, caps and pickups for a Fender Strat or Strat kit, to get the hugest greatest tones ever with really good single coils.
OK how about it waiting..
Pots are pretty much gonna be CTS, 250k if using single coils. As for pickups, that is a matter of preference. There are hundreds of very good Strat pickups on the market, so “best” is impossible to gauge. As for the caps there is a lot of debate as for preference for oil and paper vs ceramic. Some think it makes enormous difference, others think it is minimal or none. Some like a .o22uf, others a .047uf. Then again there are a ton of players that never even use the tone control, so it would barely matter for them.
I love a 1 Meg on my Tele... with treble bleed... and I dial in my sound with the 250k tone pot.... twangerific...
Thanks for the nerd info !!!
stewart, just in case you can read this question, if I try to get a bluesy tone like SRV and David Gilmour which value of pots would be closer to a bluesy tone ? 250K or 500K ? I am using regular mexican fender pickups... and I have to ask, I am Engineer, in theory any brand with the same values it supposed to give the same tone results ? right ? I understand that quality involves a lot of mechanical aspects, but one pot of 500K of $4 supposed to give the same very aproximated tone results that another of $15 right ? thannks for the great videos
hello thanks for video whar the difrent is when pbass use 500k pot?
Thanks dude
i have a strat with 1volume pot and 1 tone pot and im planning on upgrading my pots to a better one since i have HSS pickup what is the best pots that i can put on my strat?
Nice vid
Hey, I have a set of knobs I really like and they are unique, can’t get them in 24 spline. I’ve been thinking I could sand/file the slots inside the knobs to make them almost flush and then push them onto my cts pots then use tape to make them fit snugly if needed.
What do you think, could it work or have you tried this?
To make it clear, if I were to spoil the knobs trying it wouldn’t be the end of the world, if I were to break the pots after doing a full Jimmy Page wiring job though I’d be miffed!
"Area where the manufacturers cut corners, is hardware and electroncs" Cut to inside of plywood guitar. :D
I always thought that was just a joke. Holy Cow! It IS plywood. Had a Danelectro back in 70's that I picked out of someones garbage. It was fiberboard, but it had lipstick pickups so I had to have it.
I would like to replace the pots and switch on the bass i inherited from my dad but i dont know which ones best for it. The bass is an epiphone semi hollow with a single pickup at the neck, 1 switch and 1 volume and 1 tone pot. Anyone know where i can start my search
What pots should I use for emg active humbuckers? I’m building a custom electric guitar
I've got a 93 Les Paul that is sounding muddy. What would I check?
Tell me, do you use linear or audio taper pots. You didn't say. Perhaps you can make another video explaining whenand where each type should be used.
What is the difference between the gold pot (like in this video) vs the cheaper silver pot? Thanks
? I understand the reason for using an audio taper pot for the volume, but wouldn’t you think a linear taper pot would be best for the tone control?
nice work. I would trust you to help me fix my guitar.
What if you pop the back off the pot, and put it back together, is it generally screwed up inside, like the mechanism? I did the with a pot, and it seems fine, but I'm still putting things together and unsure if it will function correctly? Can stuff get out of whack, where 9 on your dial is really 5 or something? Not sure how things line up in these?