Hey Dylan!!! The only thing i want to ask - is what kind of jams do you like? Merle Haggard type jazzy country music makes me giggle. Sometimes i like that on a day when i dont have anything else to worry about=)
I did some research and found 500k work best with humbuckers. My L. P. Studio came with changed pups. 496/500 and 250k pots and garbage wire. I replaced the pots with 550k CTS pots, .11 caps for more treble control to make more use of tone knobs and 22 gauge wire.
Probably should explain that the reason for an audio taper pot is because our hearing is not linear. We hear on a logarithmic scale. Therefor the audio taper actually sounds more linear to our ears.
Yeah you're correct saying that our hearing is not linear but a nonlinear pot does not necessarily match human hearing. That was never the sole intention for the design of a nonlinear pot. I wanted to point that out because I worked in the field of electronics for 45 years until I retired so I've read just about every spec sheet on the most common components out on the market that you could ever imagine. Here's a good example and it is a real world example: A while back I had a mic gain potentiometer that had a bad place on it on a mixing board that I own. It was a linear pot which meant whenever you adjusted it the audio gain or reduction depending which way you were turning it was gradual. I looked everywhere for this particular part and couldn't find nothing but a audio taper pot to put in its place. What I noticed was and what I absolutely expected to happen was adjusting that channel was a little tricky because the mic gain would suddenly go up or go down too fast when adjusting it which made it difficult to set. The saving grace for me was I was using this board as a sub mixer with a digital audio station so for all of the channels I was able to leave them set for a minimum gain due to the fact that the DAW had a decent amount of output gain on it. If I would have had to constantly use that control such as under a live situation or as my main adjustment it would have been annoying to say the least. Before I forget I wanted to mention that they also use nonlinear pots or audio taper pots in other applications that have absolutely nothing to do with audio it all just due to the fact of the way they react when they are adjusted.
@@flash001USA I'm sure there are all sorts of potentiometers for specialized purposes but in the context of this video, which is an audio application, the reason for an "audio" taper is to better match the way we hear and not sound like the volume is only increasing all at the end of the pot's range. This is specifically for volume controls and not necessarily what you would want for tone.
@@chrisyoung8062 You won't get an argument out of me with your reply or even your original reply to this video. An audio taper has a faster attack or "feel" and most guitar players prefer an audio taper over a linear taper so yeah I would have to agree with you that it would be perceived to deliver more of a natural volume curve the way our ears perceive sound but the original pot designs didn't start out with an audio pot in mind. My only point was that in early electronic designs and even today there was an actual need for fast reacting nonlinear pots even for non-audio applications but that the earlier stereo and musical equipment manufactures probably quickly realized that the nonlinear pots were the ticket and much better suited for audio applications and it's probably safe to say that someone pretty sharp sat down and refined nonlinear pots along the way to deliver a better "feel" just for audio applications like musical equipment and stereos.
@@flash001USA Agree I actual prefer close to linear as I like to have usable range from say 2 up some of the boutique "correct taper" actually I cant hear a signal below 5 so not that useful if I want clean dirty and lead in one sweep.
@@chrisyoung8062 Tone needs to be audio for a different reason. It is in 2-terminal mode and electrically the influence becomes more linear with a audio pot. Practically, the upper half of the sweep (e.g. 50-500K) affects resistive loading whereas the lower sweep (0-50K) varies the tone capacitor and the damping of the resonant circuit it forms with the pickup. However, controls can be linear when because settings above the 10% resistance of audio taper are mostly used. This is somewhat true of guitar volume except distortion and compression then swing the choice back towards an expanded sweep to compensate.
small pot "gear ratio" analogy is not geometrically accurate if the knob is the same size. A knob turned 180 degrees will turn a pot 180 degrees regardless of it's size, dime or nickel sized. So glad i just discovered this channel....so much fun and educational! Thanks.
Hmm now this has me thinking. The size of the components inside have a shorter throw, like a smaller gear on a bicycle, so there is definitely a different feel, and I presume that's what he's referring to? Would that change how smooth a knob is or its apparent accuracy?
Thanks for sharing this. I like to build bass guitar kits and with every build I post I have people telling me to change the pots because their cheap, and I don’t because I have not been disappointed with the tones they produce.
I have a Squier strat that I did all this stuff too. It sounds great, but really I did it just to do it. It was Covid time and I got to learn a lot. So, sometimes just do it because you can and soldering is fun.
I recently bought a '98 Epiphone Korina Flying V. The seller said it had upgraded pickups, new pots, totally rewired by his "guitar tech" and "professionally" set up. I tried it briefly at his place of business, so I didn't feel I could give it a proper workout. Got it home, plugged it in, and realized that I had NO volume until 5 on the dial, and from 5 - 10 had a marginal increase in volume. The tone didn't work at all. He had a phase/out of phase switch installed, which I think is what is causing the problems. I'm no tech guy by any stretch but I watch a shit ton of videos because I enjoy learning about guitars, amps, etc. Anyway....the guitar is now at a reputable guitar shop, hopefully being restored back to stock. The guy I use worked on my JCM900, so I trust him. Thankfully, the pickups are worth more than what I paid for the guitar, so I think I am still ahead, even after the repair bill comes in. I enjoy your videos a lot. Cheers
Hey Dylan, just wanted to say thanks for doing what you’re doing. I only discovered your channel recently and I’ve learned so much from your vids. Great stuff - much appreciated!
Thank you, Dylan. I was getting carried away reading all those forums. You really snapped me out it. I think you just saved me a bunch of money. Subscribed.
I changed the taper of the tone pot on my Squier bass and it made a big difference. It drove me mad that it was really bright and then very quickly really dark with not much in between. Now it goes smoothly from bright to dark with changes in tone happening all the way along the turn of the pot.
this channel, is fucking golden, ive watched this video months again when i didnt understand about electronics, and now im back and feel like ive gained so much more than what i understood before
Thanks for the informative videos. I especially like that you try to discourage unnecessary mods. Also, you explain things clearly and thoroughly. I always learn something new. Keep it up!
I agree on using audio taper for all, I do also. I just LMAO when I see people claim how the pots in this 59 LP sound so much better than this new pot. I hate seeing people being taken advantage of because of lack of understanding how something works. I've been arguing with someone over the mis-used terms "handwired" amp and "handmade" guitar. They all are, just different methods of fabricating certain parts. And I've found I really like the way the CTS Emerson Pro pots work. They don't sound any different, obviously, but work really well. You info is very accurate.
@@donrutter6765, I was not referring to the wiring, I was referring to the pot's effect. That comes from it putting resistance in series with the pickup and reducing the resistance to ground, which affects tone no matter where the tone control is connected. Also both wiring's were used in the 50's and thru the years on other guitars. And "better"? That's your opinion,I don't like the other wiring. In the 50's, 60's, 70's & on & on every year had good and not so good guitars. I personally think my PRS Sunburst 22 sounds better than ANY Les Paul I've ever heard, again my opinion. Also with the "50's" wiring the tone controls are less isolated from each other, especially on the center switch setting as they are connected to the output jack and not isolated from each other by the resistance of the volume pot. I agree the two methods sound different. Way to much voodoo & hype on old guitars. Being a musician I tend to get wrapped up in all that nonsense, but being logical and scientifically minded I tend to stay more objective to all of it.
People have probably started this already but the reason logrythimic pots are preferred is because our hearing is logrythimic. Therefore it tracks with our hearing and sounds better.
Something like this has probably already been said... sound levels (decibels) follow an exponential curve, so we generally find audio taper pots so pleasing because that taper follows what our ears perceive to be a measured, gradual increase in volume through the full rotation. Using a linear taper pot for most volume control applications basically limits that full sweep of control you'd have with an audio taper pot to the first 1/3 of its rotation. The rest of the rotation doesn't seem to do anything because it doesn't allow the circuit to produce the exponentially louder signal--more dB's--that our ears perceive as volume.
"If you like the sound of your guitar, don't change it..." I.e., if it ain't broke, don't fix it.... I like that attitude. Common sense. Informative vid.
I gotta tip my hat to the Bourns pot. I worked for Bourns (my division made ICs and we were sold decades ago). They had/have high standards in quality. I trust 'em.
I think I saw one of your videos two years ago… and then you disappeared from my feed. Glad I could get back, now I wonì’t miss any other vid man, you’re one of the best here on YT
About not changing anything if one likes their guitar, I have recently faced that issue myself. I have begun collecting First Act guitars, since they were cheap and becoming somewhat collectible. One in particular that I have is a black w/ white pickguard Strat copy three single coils, with a neck that is similar to a Gibson, in that the headstock slanted back. I paid $100 for it, brought it home and put it away. Then one day I was doing some fret polishing and re-stringing on my guitars. When I tuned this one up and started to play it, I was totally shocked by the playability, the beautiful clean sound, and how quiet it was when just sitting on the stand. I have a Strat, two Teles, and a 1975 Les Paul, and I swear I haven't picked any of them up since I started playing this First Act strat copy. So of course, I first thought that there must be something I could change on it, but after two months of playing it, I have decided that it is perfect, just like it is. Do you have a Patreon account? I would certainly like to send some cash your way to help you out.
First up. You have taught me much. Thanks for that. Your thinking is in my builds What I do is take guitars that are beginners and use them as a kit. So I already have a finish in the guitar. What I do is basically blueprint the guitar. At the end it is virtually a hand built guitar. Most recently I paired a P90 at the bridge and jazzmaster at the neck. Thinking a position switch would never balance the 2 a blend pot was used as the pickup selector. I used a 500k audio taper blend pot. Bourns. First blend pot went bad on day one of testing. I ordered another with the same results. I have a CTS coming today. You probably have a relationship with Bourns....please give this constructive feedback to Bourns. All the best to you. Thanks for the lessons.
From Leo: Good sense advice "if you have a guitar, and like how it sounds, don't change anything" Truth of the week. I have guitars I bought 10 years ago that had small pots, and I'll change them when they have trouble.....they are still fine. At the same time if someone wants to change parts just because they want to, I'll provide that service. I only stock Audio Taper pots these days, and you are right, different brands have different Taper rates. Some of the cheap pots have almost no taper, even though they are marked as audio taper. I charge just as much to install a chinese pot the guy got from amazon as I do a quality CTS or Bourns, so the better part is the better value.
youre quite sure man! if you like how the guitar sounds, just keep it as is, changing things in your guitar can leave the sound pretty bad you should change only if something is broken or out of order! pots , caps wont change a lot if you change for a custom pickups they will speak very wild.
my guitar sounded so cool with my vintage 70s pot and guitar tech replaced it with a new one which i didn't ask for. i kinda miss what it used to sound like. it had such a unique tone now it just sounds like a normal guitar. when i turned it to 10 before, it would make crazy crunchy sound it was awesome
That said, I swapped out my pots only on a $200(Approximate guess, I'm British) epiphone for a set of Bourne's 500k and it did make quite difference to tone, not in it's overall base tone(same pick ups after all) but better response. My best leighman's explanation, was having the tone I already had in HD.
This is great information. I started with single coil guitars though when I got into humbuckers it was on Ibanez Artcore type import guitars. Being used to single coils I came in the habit of keeping the volume of the guitar around 3 and, initially, same with tone. Years later when I had work done I couldn't get over how "muddy" the same pickups sounded. To your point most folks use audio taper pots and that's what's more common at local stores... but for people who use the volume and want consistency the 50s wiring and the linear volume audio tone is more or less what I'm used to. At this point when I have an instrument where we're changing volume I like to make sure the volume is a linear - I can instantly tell when I have the volume half way up if I hear "the sludge" and I hate that more than life. I wish instruments companies were more transparent about a lot of this because I really had to learn this the hard way. Thanks again for your video.
I'm not sure what you said about the small pots being more difficult to operate with accuracy unless you put a big knob on them is correct. No matter the size of the pot, one revolution is one revolution. You could have a giant pot or a minuscule pot with the same knob on both and the knob rotation will be the same on both, hence the same level of accuracy (provided the construction is of equal quality). A big pot with a tiny knob will be difficult to be accurate with, just the same as a small pot with a tiny knob. That's not a drawback of mini pots but rather mini knobs. The drawback of mini pots is that the resistance is packed into a smaller track around the inside and so has a lower resolution making it more difficult to be super accurate with but the resolution is plenty high enough for guitar use.
Great explanation on pots. Couple decades ago I sought out how to test the range pots give you as you turn up or down on the knob. It was then that I concluded what you said in the just because it's small doesn't make it a bad pot as long as you get the performance results the pot has advertised. Still to this day I read over and over again just as you said, got ride of those small crappy pots and I'll ask, so what did they test at that made them crappy. Great video.
Cheap pots wear down the carbon strip and become scratchy, or the wiper falls off, etc. Smaller pots tend to be cheaper pots, but not in all cases. If you bought a 200$ guitar you can be sure it's got cheap ass pots, but if they work, they work - until they don't.
Dylan is a wealth of knowledge and information and this man makes sense to me so much other bullshit on the internet and if I want answers I listen to Dylan he's a Legend !
This is a great channel. You eliminate the BS. I bought an old 1996 Korean Epiphone G400. This was a surprisingly great guitar for the cost. Pickups were not great so I changed those. I also changed the pots and selector switch. The new larger pots were not as good as the original small ones which fitted the knobs better anyway. I put the old ones back in. There was crackling but it turned out that this was the caps. The small pots work perfectly fine. There is tons of BS about all this stuff, especially pickups. Yes, obviously some pickups are better than others but you can put the same pickups in one guitar and they are great but then put them in another guitar and they are not so great.
My pots are rubbish I think. I got a 300 bucks VGS Eruption about... Oh god... 15 years ago? It had a lot of cheap instrument issues, I fixed over the years. I brought it to a guitar geek, that set it up perfectly for me, which made it play soooo much better. Last week I put Seymour Duncans in it and the tone got so much better instantly. Now I want to rip out the electronics and make the rest good. The potis are scratching, not feeling nice, not working as they should be. Then I have a nice playing, nice looking, awesome sounding guitar :D It shared so much lifetime with me and it was a gift from my mother, who couldn't affort better back in the day, I just love the little one, but she needs some help and love to compete today. She deserves better than what she shipped with. :) Thanks for clearing this toppic up for me, greetings from germany.
Thanks for this vid, Dylan. I've learned so much from you. I recently bought a PRS SE and changed the pots because one of the Alpha pots had a frustrating flat spot. CTS and Switchcraft are my go-tos, but now I want to try Bourns.
Love the video, extremely insightful. I had no idea there was such thing as "no load pots". I think that could be useful for people who rarely use the tone pot at all, except on occasion for something very particular. I have to admit, I also thought the little pots were just cheap. 😝
Spot on Dylan. They all do they same thing. Unless the pots faulty, it's way out of spec, or as you said has a weird taper no need to change them. The only thing with cheaper pots is they might die quicker, so change it to something better when it dies. But it's amazing how much time you'll actually get out of cheap pots if you clean it with lube/cleaner occasionally when you hear them getting scratchy.
I like a good pot and not just the kind yer talking about! Just bought my first guitar on sale, a white Fender Strat vintera 60's modified and a monoprice 15w tube amp, it's a bunch of fun. Don't plan on modifying it any time soon, lol after all it already is? Your videos have been super helpful about understanding guitars and pickups. I am carefully learning how to setup my guitar the way I like it and love watching your videos on my lunch break.
New subscriber just wanted to say I've been binge watching your content and love the channel love learning about all this stuff very informative and very intelligent can't believe you only have 20k subs
Thanks for your no nonsense approach and content based on fact , not opinion or “tradition”. Could you please do a vid on the pros and cons of passive vs active pickups, and the interchangeability between them - going from active to passive and vice versa. Also why a higher percentage of basses vs guitar are active. Cheers
I used 500 pots and orange drop .47 cap on 59 Seymour Duncan Les Paul re pro pick up alone in a single pu 57 Epi Junior re pro with one bridge pu( p 100 crap). And its great, fantastic tonal range, tganks!!
Hi Dylan. Great video. Loved your explanation. I recently bought a guitar from Hagstrom. It came with tiny CF pots. The guitar sounds phenomenal, but people have been telling me to change these pots and get larger, more well-known ones just because. They seem to work very well, and after your video, I think I'll keep them.
Found your video through a RUclips recommendation. You did a good job of explaining this on layman's terms. I've played with guitar players who swore by linear tapered pots and wouldn't use anything else but a linear tapered pot on their guitars and I've worked with people with the exact polar opposite opinion. It really comes down to the persons personal preference and want they're looking for as far as the "feel" goes especially if you have somebody that likes to do swells using their volume pot.
5:00 I have a squier strat from the 90's that have those tiny pots. They work perfectly fine after 26 years I only cleaned them with electronic spray cleaner
I've had pots of all brands vary a lot in capacitance. I almost never use treble bleed but some need it. My Les Paul has 300k linear volumes and it's so easy to control on stage. My 335 has 500k audio. Different but nice too. The one thing more expensive pots often beat the cheap ones is capacitance.
I had an ancient Fender Champ Amp that had a volume that went to 11. I gave it to my girlfriends son to finish graduating when he was talking about dropping out a few weeks before he granulated. He has been keeping me apprised of his adventures in making it work correctly. Most of the capacitors were shot or leaking or even burst. He has learned a lot from that amp and I didn't have to mess with it!
I never thought about how the diameter of the pot affects the dialing precision. I never had problems with small pots, and always thought about using bigger knobs for more accuracy (if needed), but your point is 100% right and I never thought about it. Thanks!
@@frankscassi4960 this is not true.... both circles have the same infinite number of points.... those infinite points relate perfectly to the paired infinite series of points on the knobs rotation.
@@IamtheWV17 of course, it's just easier to dial the exact point you want. Have you ever drawn an angle with a protractor? 1 degree with a small diameter protractor is not that easy to draw, much easier with a larger one. It's simple geometry: the circular arc of a 1 degree angle of a circle with a 1 inch radius (0.0174 in) is smaller than the circular arc of a 1 degree angle of a circle with a 2 inch radius (0.0349 in)
first time I change the pots of my guitar for a forum I ended up with a volume that shut ups at 5 haha a great experience! hope I had your videos at that time
I agree completely Dylan, if you like what you have, don't change anything, some of the best advice I've heard in a long time. I use dimarzio pots, love the taper but, I do believe bourn's or cts makes them for dimarzio.
good video for one thing i will comment on is the "pot with the hole" when it goes past its 10 and you said its out of circuit and has no resistance, its actually the opposite it has infinite resistance, well the resistance of the air gap measured between the to points the end of the wiper arm and the wiper material.... tolerances yes on the cheaper maybe 10% up market maybe 5% military spec pots 1% as an example..... older pots can when you turn them grate as the carbon has actually worn of the wiper its self, so you get hills and troughs across the wiper arm its self and have of varying resistance, but some wd40 (water discernment formula 40 can fix this up) but if you want to be serious a little drop of cremlin oil will do a better job as its actually a creeping oil and will prolong the life a little longer.... remember too that pots they had from the 40s 50s and 60s were constructed with differing manufacturing particles in side as well. this affect the noise of the pot its self..when you put a noise meter across a pot it surprising how noisy they are..... just for your interest.
You could be perfectly happy with your tone but still missing out because that’s all you know. That’s why sometimes it is good to try new things to see what you may be missing. I recently upgraded to a Gibson SG that has much better electronics than my older Epiphone that I used to be pretty happy with. I was missing out big time. Now I want to replace all of the electronics in my Epi. With that said, I understand what you are trying to say. Thanks for the great videos.
Good explanation and good advice. Size in and of itself is only important when space is a consideration-as you said. If I change a pot its not working properly or - big or: if the feel is loose, wobbly or lacks torque feel.
PS one more thing? I like second hand guitars history, price etc), they sounded "muddy" though, I bought some contact cleaner from the local hardware store and put that into the old pots, it kept the same 'profile of tone' and also removed the mud. Did the same in the amps.pots and soundboard pots too.
Just ordered new pots for my fender. It got wrecked in hurricane Harvey. Stored at a buddy’s house over the garage and well, you know how hurricanes work.
It did not sit in water but s roof leaked occurred directly above it That hurricane tone sounds like a combination of Arrrrgh And doohhh ( Homer Simpson)
Found your channel today with the tele vs strat bridge pickup comparison. Your whole channel is very interisting, and you are a very good, very well informed teacher. Consider me subscribed !
I thought the same until this last time. Swapping CTS pots in to replace fullsize, crackly Alpha pots made a HUGE difference. And it wasn't related to resistance specs. The Alphas were all 505k-536k while the CTS were 477k-505k. Its louder overall, much clearer, and just generally sounds better. No idea why. I used polypropylene caps and 50s wiring and I'm pretty sure it was already 50s wiring.
Hey, Dylan! Yet another terrific video - I always love your work! It's funny you should mention audio taper, because being left-handed, all my guitars seem to have the wrong pots installed, so I have to invest in revers-taper pots, which can get pricey pretty quickly! (Maybe this would be a 6th reason to change 'em out?) Anyway, the odd part is, my cheapest guitar, a Squier Affinity series Strat, actually came with the proper pots straight from the factory! I guess investing in good pots is cheaper for them than better woods, pickups, etc... Anyway, thanks again for another fun, informative video! Keep up the good work!
flurng: I hate the fact that left handed Gibsons are wired the same way as rightys. I feel like Leftys should be a mirror image, including the rotation of the vol. and tone pots. Like you said, some manufacturers just wire them backwards, which screws up the taper, but Gibson doesn’t even try.
Thank you for spreading the good knowledge on linear taper. Recently, if not from Gibson themselves, I've heard a lot of logarithmic tapers being called 'linear audio taper' or something like that. The only reason I know the difference is because of the fades DAWs make. Actual linear tapers suck! Cheers.
i considering changing pots on my squier and on my fender. I guess i have to buy 3 tone/volume 500K pots for the Fender strat and 2 for the Squier Telecaster. I have a Dimarzio chopper for bridge pickup in the Squier tele, and the bridge on my strat is a Seymore Duncan Hot rails!
You need to change pots when they break. Small ones break a lot easier than the big ones. I suggest that you always replace a broken pot with a large one (if possible) because obviously the last one took a knock, no matter what size it was. You want a strong replacement. But if you just whack in something passable from your parts bin and it works, that's fine too, I'm just trying to head off future problems.
I just put new CTS pots into an 1995 Strat Squier series. Log taper 500Ω for volume and linear taper 500Ω for tone to match the original values. The capacitor is a Sprague orange drop. 047f. The problem is that now the taper on all the pots is way off. The volume pot does does almost nothing from 1-5 and suddenly kicks in from 6-10. The tone pots
This is A Great pot for a very affordable Price amzn.to/2qq68ZQ , Here is a good pushpull amzn.to/2KFvVnK , and here is a good no load amzn.to/2KJQ9wt
Are they damped? I bought some for my strat a few years ago and they work ok electrically, but move a little too freely.
Hey Dylan!!! The only thing i want to ask - is what kind of jams do you like? Merle Haggard type jazzy country music makes me giggle. Sometimes i like that on a day when i dont have anything else to worry about=)
5 reasons to smoke pot
That great pot for an affordable price has majority of 1 star reviews on amazon?
I did some research and found 500k work best with humbuckers. My L. P. Studio came with changed pups. 496/500 and 250k pots and garbage wire. I replaced the pots with 550k CTS pots, .11 caps for more treble control to make more use of tone knobs and 22 gauge wire.
My Mom hit me once with a pot. she said this should tone you down.
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Probably should explain that the reason for an audio taper pot is because our hearing is not linear. We hear on a logarithmic scale. Therefor the audio taper actually sounds more linear to our ears.
Yeah you're correct saying that our hearing is not linear but a nonlinear pot does not necessarily match human hearing. That was never the sole intention for the design of a nonlinear pot. I wanted to point that out because I worked in the field of electronics for 45 years until I retired so I've read just about every spec sheet on the most common components out on the market that you could ever imagine. Here's a good example and it is a real world example: A while back I had a mic gain potentiometer that had a bad place on it on a mixing board that I own. It was a linear pot which meant whenever you adjusted it the audio gain or reduction depending which way you were turning it was gradual. I looked everywhere for this particular part and couldn't find nothing but a audio taper pot to put in its place. What I noticed was and what I absolutely expected to happen was adjusting that channel was a little tricky because the mic gain would suddenly go up or go down too fast when adjusting it which made it difficult to set. The saving grace for me was I was using this board as a sub mixer with a digital audio station so for all of the channels I was able to leave them set for a minimum gain due to the fact that the DAW had a decent amount of output gain on it. If I would have had to constantly use that control such as under a live situation or as my main adjustment it would have been annoying to say the least. Before I forget I wanted to mention that they also use nonlinear pots or audio taper pots in other applications that have absolutely nothing to do with audio it all just due to the fact of the way they react when they are adjusted.
@@flash001USA I'm sure there are all sorts of potentiometers for specialized purposes but in the context of this video, which is an audio application, the reason for an "audio" taper is to better match the way we hear and not sound like the volume is only increasing all at the end of the pot's range. This is specifically for volume controls and not necessarily what you would want for tone.
@@chrisyoung8062 You won't get an argument out of me with your reply or even your original reply to this video. An audio taper has a faster attack or "feel" and most guitar players prefer an audio taper over a linear taper so yeah I would have to agree with you that it would be perceived to deliver more of a natural volume curve the way our ears perceive sound but the original pot designs didn't start out with an audio pot in mind. My only point was that in early electronic designs and even today there was an actual need for fast reacting nonlinear pots even for non-audio applications but that the earlier stereo and musical equipment manufactures probably quickly realized that the nonlinear pots were the ticket and much better suited for audio applications and it's probably safe to say that someone pretty sharp sat down and refined nonlinear pots along the way to deliver a better "feel" just for audio applications like musical equipment and stereos.
@@flash001USA Agree I actual prefer close to linear as I like to have usable range from say 2 up some of the boutique "correct taper" actually I cant hear a signal below 5 so not that useful if I want clean dirty and lead in one sweep.
@@chrisyoung8062 Tone needs to be audio for a different reason. It is in 2-terminal mode and electrically the influence becomes more linear with a audio pot. Practically, the upper half of the sweep (e.g. 50-500K) affects resistive loading whereas the lower sweep (0-50K) varies the tone capacitor and the damping of the resonant circuit it forms with the pickup.
However, controls can be linear when because settings above the 10% resistance of audio taper are mostly used. This is somewhat true of guitar volume except distortion and compression then swing the choice back towards an expanded sweep to compensate.
This was the best education I’ve had in years! Watch the capacitor comparison video.
small pot "gear ratio" analogy is not geometrically accurate if the knob is the same size. A knob turned 180 degrees will turn a pot 180 degrees regardless of it's size, dime or nickel sized. So glad i just discovered this channel....so much fun and educational! Thanks.
Hmm now this has me thinking. The size of the components inside have a shorter throw, like a smaller gear on a bicycle, so there is definitely a different feel, and I presume that's what he's referring to? Would that change how smooth a knob is or its apparent accuracy?
@@BRZDR yeah, I believe so.
Thanks for sharing this. I like to build bass guitar kits and with every build I post I have people telling me to change the pots because their cheap, and I don’t because I have not been disappointed with the tones they produce.
So much common sense. I’m glad I stayed up all night watching guitar repair videos. This ones a keeper! Will subscribe!
I have a Squier strat that I did all this stuff too. It sounds great, but really I did it just to do it. It was Covid time and I got to learn a lot. So, sometimes just do it because you can and soldering is fun.
I also began soldering during the pandemic, so much fun, now I am obsessed. I am also gonna study electrical from the fall as a result of this. 😀
Same here, but I got a tele. The guitar was cheaper than a kit.
@@danielhanssen8664 oh nice!
@@paulakapablo1749 wow, where u get it?
pots make zero difference in tone. It is all the setup and fingers
I recently bought a '98 Epiphone Korina Flying V. The seller said it had upgraded pickups, new pots, totally rewired by his "guitar tech" and "professionally" set up. I tried it briefly at his place of business, so I didn't feel I could give it a proper workout. Got it home, plugged it in, and realized that I had NO volume until 5 on the dial, and from 5 - 10 had a marginal increase in volume. The tone didn't work at all. He had a phase/out of phase switch installed, which I think is what is causing the problems. I'm no tech guy by any stretch but I watch a shit ton of videos because I enjoy learning about guitars, amps, etc. Anyway....the guitar is now at a reputable guitar shop, hopefully being restored back to stock. The guy I use worked on my JCM900, so I trust him. Thankfully, the pickups are worth more than what I paid for the guitar, so I think I am still ahead, even after the repair bill comes in. I enjoy your videos a lot. Cheers
But where do I get a volume pot that goes up to eleven?
Do you have a Sharpie? 😁
wouldn’t it make more sense to just upgrade the pot itself? like, make 10 louder?
@@USSLIBERTYREMEMBERER whooosh
Edit: im the idiot who missed the joke
Id talk to the louder is more good folks at jhs
Will Cresson thats almost verbatim how the interviewer responds in spinal tap but alright
Hey Dylan, just wanted to say thanks for doing what you’re doing. I only discovered your channel recently and I’ve learned so much from your vids. Great stuff - much appreciated!
Thank you, Dylan. I was getting carried away reading all those forums. You really snapped me out it. I think you just saved me a bunch of money. Subscribed.
I changed the taper of the tone pot on my Squier bass and it made a big difference. It drove me mad that it was really bright and then very quickly really dark with not much in between. Now it goes smoothly from bright to dark with changes in tone happening all the way along the turn of the pot.
What type of pot did you switch to?
how do you change taper? I have same issue.
you went to the taper version? the audio pot?
Which pot did you change it to? I have this same problem
@@mauricerrr I did two audio (linear) pots. I think the tone settings work fine.
Coincidentally, I've been looking for information about guitar pots this whole week. Good timing, Dylan!
this channel, is fucking golden, ive watched this video months again when i didnt understand about electronics, and now im back and feel like ive gained so much more than what i understood before
Thanks for the informative videos. I especially like that you try to discourage unnecessary mods. Also, you explain things clearly and thoroughly. I always learn something new. Keep it up!
I agree on using audio taper for all, I do also. I just LMAO when I see people claim how the pots in this 59 LP sound so much better than this new pot. I hate seeing people being taken advantage of because of lack of understanding how something works. I've been arguing with someone over the mis-used terms "handwired" amp and "handmade" guitar. They all are, just different methods of fabricating certain parts. And I've found I really like the way the CTS Emerson Pro pots work. They don't sound any different, obviously, but work really well. You info is very accurate.
The 59' wiring schematic is different than reissue 59's thats why they sound better. There is no tone loss when you back the volume off.
@@donrutter6765, I was not referring to the wiring, I was referring to the pot's effect. That comes from it putting resistance in series with the pickup and reducing the resistance to ground, which affects tone no matter where the tone control is connected. Also both wiring's were used in the 50's and thru the years on other guitars. And "better"? That's your opinion,I don't like the other wiring. In the 50's, 60's, 70's & on & on every year had good and not so good guitars. I personally think my PRS Sunburst 22 sounds better than ANY Les Paul I've ever heard, again my opinion. Also with the "50's" wiring the tone controls are less isolated from each other, especially on the center switch setting as they are connected to the output jack and not isolated from each other by the resistance of the volume pot. I agree the two methods sound different. Way to much voodoo & hype on old guitars. Being a musician I tend to get wrapped up in all that nonsense, but being logical and scientifically minded I tend to stay more objective to all of it.
i still believe that materials and electrical connectivity is also having a card in sound.
People have probably started this already but the reason logrythimic pots are preferred is because our hearing is logrythimic. Therefore it tracks with our hearing and sounds better.
I would still go hand-wired for any amplifier. No surface mount components. All-in-all easier serviceability
Something like this has probably already been said... sound levels (decibels) follow an exponential curve, so we generally find audio taper pots so pleasing because that taper follows what our ears perceive to be a measured, gradual increase in volume through the full rotation. Using a linear taper pot for most volume control applications basically limits that full sweep of control you'd have with an audio taper pot to the first 1/3 of its rotation. The rest of the rotation doesn't seem to do anything because it doesn't allow the circuit to produce the exponentially louder signal--more dB's--that our ears perceive as volume.
"If you like the sound of your guitar, don't change it..." I.e., if it ain't broke, don't fix it.... I like that attitude. Common sense. Informative vid.
I gotta tip my hat to the Bourns pot. I worked for Bourns (my division made ICs and we were sold decades ago). They had/have high standards in quality. I trust 'em.
I think I saw one of your videos two years ago… and then you disappeared from my feed. Glad I could get back, now I wonì’t miss any other vid man, you’re one of the best here on YT
About not changing anything if one likes their guitar, I have recently faced that issue myself. I have begun collecting First Act guitars, since they were cheap and becoming somewhat collectible. One in particular that I have is a black w/ white pickguard Strat copy three single coils, with a neck that is similar to a Gibson, in that the headstock slanted back. I paid $100 for it, brought it home and put it away. Then one day I was doing some fret polishing and re-stringing on my guitars. When I tuned this one up and started to play it, I was totally shocked by the playability, the beautiful clean sound, and how quiet it was when just sitting on the stand. I have a Strat, two Teles, and a 1975 Les Paul, and I swear I haven't picked any of them up since I started playing this First Act strat copy. So of course, I first thought that there must be something I could change on it, but after two months of playing it, I have decided that it is perfect, just like it is.
Do you have a Patreon account? I would certainly like to send some cash your way to help you out.
First up. You have taught me much. Thanks for that. Your thinking is in my builds What I do is take guitars that are beginners and use them as a kit. So I already have a finish in the guitar. What I do is basically blueprint the guitar. At the end it is virtually a hand built guitar. Most recently I paired a P90 at the bridge and jazzmaster at the neck. Thinking a position switch would never balance the 2 a blend pot was used as the pickup selector. I used a 500k audio taper blend pot. Bourns. First blend pot went bad on day one of testing. I ordered another with the same results. I have a CTS coming today. You probably have a relationship with Bourns....please give this constructive feedback to Bourns. All the best to you. Thanks for the lessons.
From Leo: Good sense advice "if you have a guitar, and like how it sounds, don't change anything" Truth of the week. I have guitars I bought 10 years ago that had small pots, and I'll change them when they have trouble.....they are still fine. At the same time if someone wants to change parts just because they want to, I'll provide that service. I only stock Audio Taper pots these days, and you are right, different brands have different Taper rates. Some of the cheap pots have almost no taper, even though they are marked as audio taper. I charge just as much to install a chinese pot the guy got from amazon as I do a quality CTS or Bourns, so the better part is the better value.
TRUE
youre quite sure man! if you like how the guitar sounds, just keep it as is, changing things in your guitar can leave the sound pretty bad you should change only if something is broken or out of order! pots , caps wont change a lot if you change for a custom pickups they will speak very wild.
Changing the guitar even if there’s no improvements is fun because nerding out is a pleasure and therapeutic.
THE BETTER INFORMED WE ARE ,THE BETTER INFORMED WE ARE ,FORWARNED ,FORARMED .FIGHT THE FALSE FORCE. THANK YOU DYLAN.HEART OF GOLD TO YOU , STAY PURE.
Thanks for a logical, scientific explanation. Well done, Dylan.
my guitar sounded so cool with my vintage 70s pot and guitar tech replaced it with a new one which i didn't ask for. i kinda miss what it used to sound like. it had such a unique tone now it just sounds like a normal guitar. when i turned it to 10 before, it would make crazy crunchy sound it was awesome
I feel smarter after watching your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and offering your wisdom, Dylan.
That said, I swapped out my pots only on a $200(Approximate guess, I'm British) epiphone for a set of Bourne's 500k and it did make quite difference to tone, not in it's overall base tone(same pick ups after all) but better response. My best leighman's explanation, was having the tone I already had in HD.
Alpha pots are good too
50s wiring mod is the first mod most all epi phones need.
It's easy, try it.
Of course if you don't like it, will take ten minutes to undo.
This is great information. I started with single coil guitars though when I got into humbuckers it was on Ibanez Artcore type import guitars. Being used to single coils I came in the habit of keeping the volume of the guitar around 3 and, initially, same with tone. Years later when I had work done I couldn't get over how "muddy" the same pickups sounded. To your point most folks use audio taper pots and that's what's more common at local stores... but for people who use the volume and want consistency the 50s wiring and the linear volume audio tone is more or less what I'm used to. At this point when I have an instrument where we're changing volume I like to make sure the volume is a linear - I can instantly tell when I have the volume half way up if I hear "the sludge" and I hate that more than life. I wish instruments companies were more transparent about a lot of this because I really had to learn this the hard way. Thanks again for your video.
I'm not sure what you said about the small pots being more difficult to operate with accuracy unless you put a big knob on them is correct. No matter the size of the pot, one revolution is one revolution. You could have a giant pot or a minuscule pot with the same knob on both and the knob rotation will be the same on both, hence the same level of accuracy (provided the construction is of equal quality). A big pot with a tiny knob will be difficult to be accurate with, just the same as a small pot with a tiny knob. That's not a drawback of mini pots but rather mini knobs. The drawback of mini pots is that the resistance is packed into a smaller track around the inside and so has a lower resolution making it more difficult to be super accurate with but the resolution is plenty high enough for guitar use.
Great explanation on pots. Couple decades ago I sought out how to test the range pots give you as you turn up or down on the knob. It was then that I concluded what you said in the just because it's small doesn't make it a bad pot as long as you get the performance results the pot has advertised. Still to this day I read over and over again just as you said, got ride of those small crappy pots and I'll ask, so what did they test at that made them crappy. Great video.
Cheap pots wear down the carbon strip and become scratchy, or the wiper falls off, etc. Smaller pots tend to be cheaper pots, but not in all cases. If you bought a 200$ guitar you can be sure it's got cheap ass pots, but if they work, they work - until they don't.
Dylan is a wealth of knowledge and information and this man makes sense to me so much other bullshit on the internet and if I want answers I listen to Dylan he's a Legend !
This channel is waaaaay to underrated.
You should have 100k plus subs.
Thanks so much man. Feel free to share us around.
@@DylanTalksTone ,I always do. You're very personable and knowledgeable. It's because of your videos I've grown into a better guitar tech.
This is a great channel. You eliminate the BS. I bought an old 1996 Korean Epiphone G400. This was a surprisingly great guitar for the cost. Pickups were not great so I changed those. I also changed the pots and selector switch. The new larger pots were not as good as the original small ones which fitted the knobs better anyway. I put the old ones back in. There was crackling but it turned out that this was the caps. The small pots work perfectly fine.
There is tons of BS about all this stuff, especially pickups. Yes, obviously some pickups are better than others but you can put the same pickups in one guitar and they are great but then put them in another guitar and they are not so great.
Awesome video, Dylan! I didn't know about "no-load" pots, that sounds like a really useful thing to have on a tone pot!
Thank you
My pots are rubbish I think.
I got a 300 bucks VGS Eruption about... Oh god... 15 years ago?
It had a lot of cheap instrument issues, I fixed over the years. I brought it to a guitar geek, that set it up perfectly for me, which made it play soooo much better.
Last week I put Seymour Duncans in it and the tone got so much better instantly.
Now I want to rip out the electronics and make the rest good. The potis are scratching, not feeling nice, not working as they should be.
Then I have a nice playing, nice looking, awesome sounding guitar :D
It shared so much lifetime with me and it was a gift from my mother, who couldn't affort better back in the day, I just love the little one, but she needs some help and love to compete today. She deserves better than what she shipped with. :)
Thanks for clearing this toppic up for me, greetings from germany.
Great vid for a novice like me. I just assumed bigger pots = better tones. Thank for saving me needless work.
🤟😎🎸
Tone Vs Volume pot breakdown would be sweet. Thanks man...
Btw. Your channel is the only channel I’ve set the notifications to on on my RUclips channel.
6:08 best advice ever!
Thank you for such great, content rich videos Dylan!
Thanks for this vid, Dylan. I've learned so much from you. I recently bought a PRS SE and changed the pots because one of the Alpha pots had a frustrating flat spot. CTS and Switchcraft are my go-tos, but now I want to try Bourns.
You were very clear and profressional and to the point. Nice job and thank you.
Love the video, extremely insightful. I had no idea there was such thing as "no load pots". I think that could be useful for people who rarely use the tone pot at all, except on occasion for something very particular. I have to admit, I also thought the little pots were just cheap. 😝
Dylan, I agree with you it sounds good and ain't broken leave it don't touch
I love the way you explain things. This is going in my Dylan Talks Tone folder.
Spot on Dylan. They all do they same thing. Unless the pots faulty, it's way out of spec, or as you said has a weird taper no need to change them. The only thing with cheaper pots is they might die quicker, so change it to something better when it dies. But it's amazing how much time you'll actually get out of cheap pots if you clean it with lube/cleaner occasionally when you hear them getting scratchy.
I like a good pot and not just the kind yer talking about! Just bought my first guitar on sale, a white Fender Strat vintera 60's modified and a monoprice 15w tube amp, it's a bunch of fun. Don't plan on modifying it any time soon, lol after all it already is? Your videos have been super helpful about understanding guitars and pickups. I am carefully learning how to setup my guitar the way I like it and love watching your videos on my lunch break.
I’ve been using Bourne for 10 yrs now.I like em too,very smooth & they don’t cut out on you
New subscriber just wanted to say I've been binge watching your content and love the channel love learning about all this stuff very informative and very intelligent can't believe you only have 20k subs
thanks man. feel free to share.
Yes i agree. Finnally someone on you tube that knows what their talking about.
I love how your channel makes me feel smarter. You’re great at explaining technical things. Insert joke about pot here. 😆
Cheers from Colorado 🙉🙊🙈
Journey of Awesome 👍🏻 from Seattle
Thanks for your no nonsense approach and content based on fact , not opinion or “tradition”. Could you please do a vid on the pros and cons of passive vs active pickups, and the interchangeability between them - going from active to passive and vice versa. Also why a higher percentage of basses vs guitar are active. Cheers
that's a great video, dude.
i had no idea what so ever about pots before i watched it and now i feel that i know so much more.
I used 500 pots and orange drop .47 cap on 59 Seymour Duncan Les Paul re pro pick up alone in a single pu 57 Epi Junior re pro with one bridge pu( p 100 crap). And its great, fantastic tonal range, tganks!!
Hi Dylan. Great video. Loved your explanation. I recently bought a guitar from Hagstrom. It came with tiny CF pots. The guitar sounds phenomenal, but people have been telling me to change these pots and get larger, more well-known ones just because. They seem to work very well, and after your video, I think I'll keep them.
Found your video through a RUclips recommendation. You did a good job of explaining this on layman's terms. I've played with guitar players who swore by linear tapered pots and wouldn't use anything else but a linear tapered pot on their guitars and I've worked with people with the exact polar opposite opinion. It really comes down to the persons personal preference and want they're looking for as far as the "feel" goes especially if you have somebody that likes to do swells using their volume pot.
5:00 I have a squier strat from the 90's that have those tiny pots. They work perfectly fine after 26 years I only cleaned them with electronic spray cleaner
You are so awesome and informative thank you so much!!
Good video. Learned some things. You should get that facia painted before bad weather gets here.
This channel is INCREDIBLE thank you!
I've had pots of all brands vary a lot in capacitance. I almost never use treble bleed but some need it. My Les Paul has 300k linear volumes and it's so easy to control on stage. My 335 has 500k audio. Different but nice too. The one thing more expensive pots often beat the cheap ones is capacitance.
Thanks Dylan. You are the Man.
Still searching for a pot that goes to 11
I had an ancient Fender Champ Amp that had a volume that went to 11. I gave it to my girlfriends son to finish graduating when he was talking about dropping out a few weeks before he granulated. He has been keeping me apprised of his adventures in making it work correctly. Most of the capacitors were shot or leaking or even burst. He has learned a lot from that amp and I didn't have to mess with it!
DiMarzio makes knobs that go to 11.
Old traynor amps
Mad Hatter guitar products
Mike Kelly, you’ll find those at the same place your drummer buys his custom made left-handed drumsticks.
I never thought about how the diameter of the pot affects the dialing precision. I never had problems with small pots, and always thought about using bigger knobs for more accuracy (if needed), but your point is 100% right and I never thought about it. Thanks!
it's 100% wrong. the diameter of the pot affects nothing but the diameter of the knob everything.
@@BigEdWo it's easier to choose the exact position on a longer piece of material with the same resistence
@@frankscassi4960 this is not true.... both circles have the same infinite number of points.... those infinite points relate perfectly to the paired infinite series of points on the knobs rotation.
@@IamtheWV17 of course, it's just easier to dial the exact point you want. Have you ever drawn an angle with a protractor? 1 degree with a small diameter protractor is not that easy to draw, much easier with a larger one. It's simple geometry: the circular arc of a 1 degree angle of a circle with a 1 inch radius (0.0174 in) is smaller than the circular arc of a 1 degree angle of a circle with a 2 inch radius (0.0349 in)
@@frankscassi4960 still wrong, you're drawing with the knob. 1° of sweep on the knob = 1° of sweep on the pot, regardless of pot size.
first time I change the pots of my guitar for a forum I ended up with a volume that shut ups at 5 haha a great experience! hope I had your videos at that time
Dude...Ive been looking for a person to explain it in a way I understood...thanks and I subscribed.👍
The “rant” was exactly what I needed to hear right now 😂
Great video...this cleared up a lot of mystery for me!
Thanks Dylan for all this information, I now ready to get stuck into tackle an upgrade on my guitar.
Yamaha push/push pots were awesome silky smooth! Tap it does coil split tap again full humbucker!
I agree completely Dylan, if you like what you have, don't change anything, some of the best advice I've heard in a long time. I use dimarzio pots, love the taper but, I do believe bourn's or cts makes them for dimarzio.
Funny thing I use Bourns pots in voltage and speed controls on older generator controls for work. They're reliable and good quality for sure.
Did you mean 5 reasons NOT to change your pots..cos that makes more sense..great information vid ty
Brilliantly explained , thank you 👍🏻 🇬🇧
Bravo
Finally described it as it should be done
funny how people love push pulls- and they often have a pot diameter equal to the "cheap dime sized pots"
I don't like them at all. I prefer the Gilmour mini-toggle. It''s more sure & Seamless when in the middle of a Live performance.
@@michael_caz_nyc Right on- for a strat-Not keen on drilling my les paul though!
good video for one thing i will comment on is the "pot with the hole" when it goes past its 10 and you said its out of circuit and has no resistance, its actually the opposite it has infinite resistance, well the resistance of the air gap measured between the to points the end of the wiper arm and the wiper material.... tolerances yes on the cheaper maybe 10% up market maybe 5% military spec pots 1% as an example..... older pots can when you turn them grate as the carbon has actually worn of the wiper its self, so you get hills and troughs across the wiper arm its self and have of varying resistance, but some wd40 (water discernment formula 40 can fix this up) but if you want to be serious a little drop of cremlin oil will do a better job as its actually a creeping oil and will prolong the life a little longer.... remember too that pots they had from the 40s 50s and 60s were constructed with differing manufacturing particles in side as well. this affect the noise of the pot its self..when you put a noise meter across a pot it surprising how noisy they are..... just for your interest.
I like when youtube recommends these older videos from the guitar community.
Time to nerd out :)
Love your channel, very informative, now I'm going to fix all my guitars that aren't broken!
You could be perfectly happy with your tone but still missing out because that’s all you know. That’s why sometimes it is good to try new things to see what you may be missing. I recently upgraded to a Gibson SG that has much better electronics than my older Epiphone that I used to be pretty happy with. I was missing out big time. Now I want to replace all of the electronics in my Epi.
With that said, I understand what you are trying to say.
Thanks for the great videos.
Good explanation and good advice. Size in and of itself is only important when space is a consideration-as you said.
If I change a pot its not working properly or - big or: if the feel is loose, wobbly or lacks torque feel.
Thanks! Glad I watched. Great info that cleared up some cloudy areas for me.
This video was really good. Well presented and articulate in presentation. Thank you for sharing.
PS one more thing? I like second hand guitars history, price etc), they sounded "muddy" though, I bought some contact cleaner from the local hardware store and put that into the old pots, it kept the same 'profile of tone' and also removed the mud. Did the same in the amps.pots and soundboard pots too.
Just ordered new pots for my fender. It got wrecked in hurricane Harvey. Stored at a buddy’s house over the garage and well, you know how hurricanes work.
'Hurricane worn' is the latest trend in certain circles.
It did not sit in water but s roof leaked occurred directly above it
That hurricane tone sounds like a combination of
Arrrrgh
And doohhh ( Homer Simpson)
Found your channel today with the tele vs strat bridge pickup comparison. Your whole channel is very interisting, and you are a very good, very well informed teacher. Consider me subscribed !
I thought the same until this last time. Swapping CTS pots in to replace fullsize, crackly Alpha pots made a HUGE difference. And it wasn't related to resistance specs. The Alphas were all 505k-536k while the CTS were 477k-505k.
Its louder overall, much clearer, and just generally sounds better. No idea why. I used polypropylene caps and 50s wiring and I'm pretty sure it was already 50s wiring.
Amazing. Great advice for starters and good info for people who already have experience.
Hey, Dylan! Yet another terrific video - I always love your work! It's funny you should mention audio taper, because being left-handed, all my guitars seem to have the wrong pots installed, so I have to invest in revers-taper pots, which can get pricey pretty quickly! (Maybe this would be a 6th reason to change 'em out?) Anyway, the odd part is, my cheapest guitar, a Squier Affinity series Strat, actually came with the proper pots straight from the factory! I guess investing in good pots is cheaper for them than better woods, pickups, etc... Anyway, thanks again for another fun, informative video! Keep up the good work!
flurng: I hate the fact that left handed Gibsons are wired the same way as rightys. I feel like Leftys should be a mirror image, including the rotation of the vol. and tone pots. Like you said, some manufacturers just wire them backwards, which screws up the taper, but Gibson doesn’t even try.
Thank you for spreading the good knowledge on linear taper. Recently, if not from Gibson themselves, I've heard a lot of logarithmic tapers being called 'linear audio taper' or something like that. The only reason I know the difference is because of the fades DAWs make. Actual linear tapers suck! Cheers.
Excellent video Dylan!! Thanks for the knowledge!
Very useful information, it's so hard to find this kind of detailed information.
i considering changing pots on my squier and on my fender. I guess i have to buy 3 tone/volume 500K pots for the Fender strat and 2 for the Squier Telecaster.
I have a Dimarzio chopper for bridge pickup in the Squier tele, and the bridge on my strat is a Seymore Duncan Hot rails!
Fantastic video. Good info. Great job.
Great video! I'm glad I found your channel.
Good info. Doing a Frankenbass Vol, Blend,.Tone on a J-bass circuit.
Try series parallel on a P bass pickup push pull and the no load tone. Parallel P bass does Jazz Bass tones really well
You need to change pots when they break. Small ones break a lot easier than the big ones. I suggest that you always replace a broken pot with a large one (if possible) because obviously the last one took a knock, no matter what size it was. You want a strong replacement. But if you just whack in something passable from your parts bin and it works, that's fine too, I'm just trying to head off future problems.
I just put new CTS pots into an 1995 Strat Squier series. Log taper 500Ω for volume and linear taper 500Ω for tone to match the original values. The capacitor is a Sprague orange drop. 047f.
The problem is that now the taper on all the pots is way off. The volume pot does does almost nothing from 1-5 and suddenly kicks in from 6-10.
The tone pots
Excellent analysis on the subject I feel the exact same way