This channel is by far the best channel I have found for explaining the science behind electric guitars. I've recently gained a passion for understanding the more "techy" side of guitars, but could never seem to find a good reliable source that broke it down into lamens terms & explains the logic behind some of the processes commonly practiced among players. Please keep making more videos & I'll keep watching!
yes, he's an electrical engineer and knows what he is actually talking about and explains it in simple terms for the rest of us. How about you responding with some form of intelligent response instead of "Bahahaha. Really." Are you 5 years old or just talk like one?
This is by far the best explanation of how a guitar circuit works than any I have ever seen, AWESOME !! If you understand electricity values, then this should be no surprise to you. If not, that was a heck of a lesson in the simplest terms ever.
Actually with a vol pot it's usually the output that's connected to the wiper. This is to create a constant impedance at the pickup. If you connect the pickup hot to the wiper the volume pot will also act as a tone pot when you turn it down. You can hear this with a standard fender jazz. The pots are deliberately wired backwards so the signals can be blended.
Hats of to guys who explain how coils, pots and caps interact, it is hard graft. For those who have taught passive (or active filter theory), some three equations explain filter stuff quick quick and rather easy. All you need to have is a basic understanding of maths and that’s just about it. Best regards and much respect for doing the hard yards on the topic.
Ive been racking my brain over how tone pots work with nothing attached to input and the other side grounded via capacitor. Now it makes sense! They are just a way to alter the resistance to ground meaning more or less is grounded from that signal. The rest continues to volume. Excellent! So excited that makes sense now. Thank you.
Dylan, you put this up quite a while ago, but I have to say- that is far and away the BEST, easiest-to-understand description of how pots work that I have ever encountered. I've taken electronics courses, and never heard it so clearly physically explained. Thanks much! Dang, now I may have to look into your products! :)
I like your channel! However, with respect, I need to tell you some of this incorrect or stated in way that is unclear. You are incorrect about the resistor across the circuit rolling off highs. In fact, what a resistor(across the circuit) will do is simply flatten the response(lower the Q or peaked response of the pickup). If the flattened peak response is in the treble range, then yes the pickup may not sound as bright. The resistor will also convert some of the output into heat reducing output. Now if the resistor is in series or in line with the output(not across it) it creates a low pass filter with the parasitic capacitance along the cable/circuit path and this will roll off highs. Also parasitic capacitance of the POT itself can add to this. A capacitance across the circuit will roll off highs also . The way you describe the wiring of the POT is unclear also. One should take the input from the pickup and connect it to where you are showing the output being extracted. The output should be extracted from the wiper(center connection) such that a pot's rated value (250k for example) is across the circuit all the time but the output jack see a output impedance that varies depending on the POT setting. This varying impedance can bee seen as a series resistance with the output and is subject to treble roll off from parasitic capacitance. As you lower volume you also increase the series resistance giving more tone roll off . The lower the value of the pot(250k, 500k, etc); the less treble roll off but there will be more loading of the pickup (reducing output). So a 250K pot will produce less treble cut as you turn down the volume than a 1Meg pot but it will also reduce overall output(slightly) more than the 1 Meg at full volume (when there is little or no series resistance). The impedance and frequency response of the pickup and other nuances come into play also but I have gone on long enough.
Thanks so much for your videos on potentiometers and capacitors and how to figure out which ones to use and the differences between them. I've been building guitars for a long time, but never took the time to understand the electronic aspects of them, because I would just look at wiring diagrams and hook them up accordingly. Your videos have given me the information that Is very important for me to know and to help me be a better guitar builder and repair technician. You are a genius in the way that you present the information and make it a lit easier to understand. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You have a fan for life!
Hi @DylanTalksTone first of all thank your the video! I spent around 1,5h to look for a simple explanation ! Great Job! I have a quick question as I believe it would work (split it up in points for easier answer ) 1. I have a passive bass guitar, Jaguar Bass (with PJ Pickups) 2. Currently: Double Pot ( upper part control the Volume and lower part the Tone) per pickup. 3. Plan to change: 2 normal Pots and a 3 way switch. 4. 3 Way toggle switch neck, both, bridge pickup selection. 5. Volume pot (250k) controls both pickups (250k get in less high as i understand form u video). 5. Tone pot (500k) control both pickups with an cap (Cap Orange Drop 22nF 600V) (would have more control on the tone ?) The main goal i to have less worries about what tone is on which pickup and which is lower volume etc. and easy selection of pickups Thank you in advance ! Mike
This has been a F#%$^ absolute mind blowing learning experience!! It explains a lot of ?'s that I've had for years but only now have decided it's time to learn the basics of Electric/Bass guitar workings of how pickups and pots work hand in hand!! Amazing!! Subscribing from here on out!! Your basic explanation along with drawings relates to every ? I've had!! (Slapping myself in the face) I'am an I.T. guy but this is every unanswered "Hows and Whys" for me! Guitar rebuilds here I come!! Now I wont look like a deer in the headlights when a sales person gives me the specs for a Guitar/Bass! Thank you very Much!!!
Great video. I always try to explain a lot of this to my customers and always try to find what tone they are after when I’m building them a harness. Thanks for doing these.
I build customs and enjoy the Science, Thanks and great info. My latest 59 LP build has 550K pots, Bournes caps, SD 59 Neck, SD JB bridge, 59 wiring specs. It's amazing.
FINALLY Somebody explained to the common mortals why The Planet is Round!!!! Hey Man, Thanks a LOT for taking the time to explain this.... Keep it Rockin' !
I've always treated it as more of a guideline than a rule myself. I suppose it's the "common wisdom" because, in general, it's often true. But at some point, each guitar should be judged on its own needs. Like you said, hot singles might need the 500k to sound good while that bright humbucker responds better to 250. I actually do have 10k single coils in a strat and, while it's not too dark with the stock 250k pots, I may give 500k a try and see how much more they open up. If I like what I hear, 500 it is.
Resistance itself does not affect frequency response- it is the addition of capacitance that brings in frequency response- this is why the “tone pot” has a capacitor to ground
I discovered your channel this morning, and you've got a subscriber! I've been telling friends about this pot thing for a couple years, and I often compare the value of the pot to the height of a wall that the high frequency has to climb over to get to ground. This is the first video I've seen where someone details the issue! Thank you. For what it's worth, I have an SSS guitar in which I wired each pickup to its own 500K volume pot, and I just blend the pickups for different phase combinations for different tones. It's fun! I can't wait to check out more of your videos.
Don't bother telling anyone. All they are gonna do is thing you are dumb. "I'm talking about guitars and he's talking about walls and shit". If a person doesn't already know how something works then they don't need to know. Teaching usually has the reverse effect. Just stay quiet and avoid booboo lip.
I'm getting a great Guitar Electronics 101 class from your videos! Excellent presentation and very easy to follow. Much appreciate you sharing all this!
It’s interesting that I came across this video. Great information, first and foremost!! I recently renovated the electronics in my 2013 Gibson SG. I kept the stock ‘57 classic pickups, which you were dead on with the output of them, at 7.8. It had both 250k and 500k pots. I didn’t notice where they came from, weather tone or volume. But watching this video reminded me of it and generated some interest in figuring out why and where the different pots were used.
From Leo: Good explanation. Your labeling is switched on the lower right. The center leg of the pot is the output to the jack, and the outside two go to the ground and the pickup. It works as you have it labeled, but you cannot get any high signals at all except in full on. Thanks for posting your knowledge about pickups and guitars.
Great explanation here. I used a 500K Audio master volume along with a 250K Audio master tone with a .0068 orange drop cap. Typical three way CRL switch for Telecaster, Fender Custom Shop Texas Special neck and '51No Caster bridge pup. The results are amazing as the hotter pups 'like' the 500K volume. That particular Tele sounds thunderous through a Mesa Triple Rectifier driving an EVH 4X12 cabinet, with the '51 bridge pup with a hint of reverb in the loop. Cheers !
WOW! Good job explaining for us non-electrical players. As soon as you mentioned putting a 500 on a single coil to keep more of the highs I thought of Linsey Buckingham who doesn’t use picks with his electrics. That 500 pot could be a way to compensate for the more muted sound of finger picking the strings. I imaging he did lots of stuff like that. I know in the early days he played a Les Paul but through boutique Messa-Boogie amps with massive headroom and very bright tone. He sure has great tone and a very unique style that suits his pursuit of the perfect lead or rhythm to match the song/melodic grove. Thanks for the great video! SUBSCRIBED!!!
Great explanation! I recently replaced the pickups in a Fender Squier Strat, which had ceramic pickups from the factory. The guitar had 500k pots, which I think were used because the pickups were ceramic. I replaced them with pickups that had alnico V magnets, but I left the pots in out of curiosity. The result was a sound that was way too bright. 250k pots tamed this condition. So, just letting folks know that not all single coils get 250k pots from the factory. Magnet material matters.
Thanks for the well-explained primer regarding treble loss through lower- vs higher-resistance paths to ground, in the form of 250k and 500k volume potentiometers. The one detail I'd add is the difference between a shunt and a direct short: a signal is shorted when the pot is rotated fully CCW, i.e., at 0, where the wiper is touching the grounded terminal; when turned even slightly CW, where the signal is passing through a portion of the pot's resistive element, it is said to be shunted. That is generally true in electronics, where any signal path to ground that is not a direct short, but is passing through a component, is a shunt to ground.
This is a good explanation of how the volume pot shorts signals to ground thus lowering the remaining signals to amps input.What I want to understand is, why a path to ground that is not a capacitor effects high frequencies more than others. I know the answer is rather complex and it involves impedance or the actual resistance of the pickup at a given frequency and a concept thats even more complex , the Q of the circuit. I am looking for a combination of pot values capacitor value so my p-90 (neck position) is not so muddy.
Hey dude. Just found your video and channel searching for the best pickups for my strat. The cool thing is I've always been interested in how this stuff works. I'm 2.54 into your video right now and it's already the most informative thing I've seen in a while. I appreciate you making this and I love that I can actually understand it. Thank you much and keep up the good work. Subscribed.
Wow! Thank you so much for this video and your video about tone caps. The way you drew the internals of the volume pot and showed how they correspond to each leg made everything instantly crystal clear! At 7:14 you mentioned that you would use 500K even with single coils and that you'd compensate by using a bigger cap... based on your tone cap video, are you saying that your way of compensating for the brightness of the 500K pot with a single coil is that you'd use a .047 capacitor so that it has more effectiveness, AND that you'd be rolling the tone back just a touch? A tone pot at 10 passes everything regardless of cap value, is that right? I've got an HSS strat (with a Duncan Custom Custom TB-11 bucker and Fender Original '57/'62 single coils) that I am redoing the wiring on as I transfer everything to the new replacement body and pickguard and I'm trying to decide what to do with the wiring... It's always had a 500K volume pot and I do like the brightness of the single coils, so I'm gonna stick with that. I've got a pull-up pot for switching the bucker into coil tap [EDIT: SPLIT not tap!] mode, but I just saw a comment on another video that said that making it automatically coil tap when you select position 4 is better and I realized I'd rather do that too... and then someone else said that paralleling is better than coil tap so you don't get hum (I'm watching that video of yours next). Because of these two videos of yours it all makes sense and is no longer overwhelming to try and figure it all out. I will finally get off my lazy butt and solder this pickguard up and get my strat back! After I watch your video about coil-tapping vs. parallel, I will probably be able to figure out how to wire it to automatically coil tap on position 4. Thank you! This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for you taking the time to make these videos. Have a good one, man!
I just watched this video yesterday. Today I opened up my Squire strat and it has 500k pots with a 33 film cap! This guitar was given to me as a gift recently and has been my favorite since. 2001 Rolling Rock. I am currently selling of stuff so that I can get a modding Tele 😂. I was surprised though to find the 500k on singles and I have been loving this guitar. It is slightly thin sounding but it rocks anything from clean to OD to Blackstar distortion. I got approval to build my own Tele next summer and I want to be ready 😁
Tone controls work to reduce treble from 10 down makes it darker sounding volume pots work from hi to low however what makes a bigger difference is it's wattage value because a less wattage control will pass more current than a higher wattage just as if you put the wrong wattage fixed resister in a circuit it can burn out or not pass enough current to drive a circuit properly
Great job explaining this. Most understandable video on this subject ive seen since ive been searching utube years ago. I was searching for some specific info because i am putting a strat together and eanted to play with some resistors and caps. Regardless your explanation of pots is very clear and spot on. Thanks.
Dylan...man,, I usually dont make comments on any videos unless is really bad explained or really good, and this one deserve a 3 thumbs up, once again congratulations, it was perfectly explained with all basic details, and mainly what I appreciate on videos is the use of common sense (a lot of common sense here), and no out of topic comments (you did it perfectly) I enjoyed it very much, I saw other of your videos and you have the perfect vision to make a great electronics basics Bible for audio and instruments, let us know if you do it, thanks in the name of other viewers, great job
You talk about some really awesome stuff that is helpful for guys like me that are looking to build a unique sound and has too many kids to pay someone else to do it. Thanks for what you do brother
Your drawing shows one way to wire a potentiometer as a volume control. It is common (no pun) to reverse the input and output connections from the way you depict them. I have always wired the input (pickups) to the top and the output (jack) to the wiper as this is preferred convention in general purpose low noise circuit design.
This is kind of a "checking in" comment since I watched your video, (among others), prior to making the big decision. I just finished building my new custom superstrat with Seymour Duncan Cool Rails on the neck, JB Jr. in the middle and Hot Rails on the bridge -- all on 500k pots. High frequencies are near-perfectly controlled with Vise Grip compressor, (others likely get the same results), without having to dive on the tone knobs. Best of both worlds bright and warm. I will say this; would have been better in the end to run a 59 in the middle position for a fatter PAF sound, but not griping. JB's have an airy lead tone on clean with 500k pots over 250k's and that was the result I was especially looking for. Anyways, thanks for your video. T'were a big help.
Wow, killer video, that explains a lot , I put some Seymour Duncan quarter pounder’s in a tele I have and it darkened up a bunch, almost no highs at all, so this video was super informative
Dude, you can explain these things really well. Even I can understand now how these pots work. It used to be really a headache for me. Instant sub!!! Thanks!
Hi Dylan, thank you for a straight forward and informative explanation, sterling job. Just one small constructive criticism if I may, the K should not appear after the 1M value, since the K denotes Kilo (ohms), 1M on its own is sufficient, or 1MΩ (The Greek Omega symbol). I'm quite sure you will have realised this by now, thanks again for a brilliant explanation! P.S: I'm an old electronics tech, couldn't have explained it better myself :)
Something that looks so simple, as in the wiring of a guitar, is actually very complicated. Im fairly smart but im still trying to figure this out. Nice lecture on pots !
Experimenting with pots is fun. I'm torn on my Deluxe. On the one hand I love the creamy 500k blues/jazz tones but with drive 1meg just sounds so much better with 50's wiring.
My old Squier with humbuckers used 500k and .033uf mylar caps. My new Squier Bullet Mustang uses 250k, and I forget the caps, but they were nowhere near as much. My two Ibanez guitars had 500k (both with humbuckers) so I was told the Mustang should have 500k in it to open it up.
Thank you Dylan...today I welded a 250k pot (tone pot 500k & soviet capacitor .047uf) to a gibson IM57B-NH Burstbucker (bridge) and it sound really good. Then I assembled a Gibson Gear IM90R-NH 490R to neck position with a 500k pot (cornell dublier .022uf) and it does not sound so good as bridge one but I guess it depends by many causes. So...let's break the rules! regards Al
Awesome video!! :) Everything was explained prefectly, you didn't missed anything. It's hard to find as such good content on youtube. Good job! Keep doing like that.
Correct on both points - great explanation and I'm sure you have noticed (since this comment was four years ago) that nowadays everybody thinks they are an expert on YT. It always turns out that the most knowledgeable can boil ideas down to their simplest components.
Now I need to go check my guitar. The vintage Filtertrons are 3.96 and 4.62 or something like that. I'll have to see what the previous owner used. Learning things already. ;) Thanks for the video!
Really enjoyed this, i thought id know everything already but i really learned some. And the stuff i already knew you explained in a way that gave me a better understanding and reinforced what i knew. Thanks brother!
Very informative, thank you for this! Now I understand why the jangly tone of a Rickenbacker 325 (John Lennon guitar / early Beatles sound), which had single coil "toaster" style pickups used 330k tone and volume pots, in combination with .047 capacitors.
Thank you for sharing this information. For years I have tried to explain how getting a brighter or darker tone is often as easy as changing the capacitor value. Now I have a video to show people the how and why. Glad I subscribed.
Thank you for another great video sir. I am now thinking about building a guitar with on/off switches for the pickups. No volume or tone controls, just on or off.
I share this pro tip with very few people. Mainly because they really do not know what they do not know and just play what is stock. So here it goes: Use 500k pots on all your guitars with HSS. Make the tone knob 500k as well. Wire the volume and tone knob like a 50’s Les Paul junior. (Vintage wiring vs Modern) use the value .010- .015 for the tone cap. Use the bottom knob as a blender to give you two more options on your 5 way switch. If you want to roll back the volume or tone when using single coils to get more of those stratty tones then you will be inclined to use your ears more and also more feel of the strings and magnets resisting your pick attack. Tone really is in your hands, some guitars do this better out of the box, most have to be modified to this recipe to really have it all in HSS. Now, you have the 500k which the humbucker loves, you are twice the value for single coils, you can roll off the volume and tone and solve that, plus.... using the value of tone cap I prescribed, you will actually use your tone knob more than ever before as the value (.010-.015mfd) shifts the mid and treble points like a partially cocked Wah wah pedal, instead of that .05 horrible muted muffled muddy sound Fender chose to use when guitar players would mimic bass guitar on a 6 string while recording in the 50’s, and no modern players really use the tone knob because of that fact. Now also with my setup, you get the humbucker and neck pickup together with the blender knob and if you add a micro switch, you can shut off a coil on the humbucker and get a close tele sound and in switch position 2 and 4, you can turn the blender off and get all three pickups on together. Playing your amp is now your new concern. You can dial up higher than you would normally use for volume and tones, and use the volume and tone knob straight away on the guitar for boosting volume and tone without a pedal... ala Hendrix ... you will love this setup more than anything and will play more and use the volume and tone knobs with that micro switch for coil tap on the humbucker and never want anything else forever thereafter...... do a video with this idea.... and thank me later. Cheers!!!!
Thanks Dylan, you only addressed frequency response what about power transfer as in how much of the signal you want to retain. Would a higher value volume pot result in a louder pickup, eg higher amplitude?
Very interesting question! Unless you are working with microwave or RF electronics, most people don't care about energy transfer. We are more interested in signal amplitude. The pickup internal resistance is about 10k ohms, and the amplifier input is about 1M, so current levels will be very low with these 300mVp-p circuits. I think you are onto an interesting idea, though: what if it were economically viable to wind a pickup with several loops of parallel coils, bringing the resistance down within the circuit and then have an amplifier that had a lower input impedance (maybe using a transformer). That would significantly lower noise floor and 60 Hz hum. Good question!
Have to agree with Devon Scott. Dylan makes it all so simple and understandable. Although there are some inaccuracies. Julian Wells is correct when he says "A resistor has no frequency filtering attributes". You need to look at the value of the capacitor for that. Dylan made me think though; why not do away with pots and caps altogether and simply wire the pickups to the selector switch then the output jack? Output to a good volume pedal for volume control, then an EQ pedal if you want tone control, or just use EQ on your amp.
I thought the same thing. I think though, it's all about versatility and which method of "skinning a cat" has been accepted as the "norm" He did mention no load pots too, and I think those would have a similar effect plus the versatility of having on board tone and volume control at your fingertips.
Great video Dylan. I learned a lot of theory right here. Thanks. I acquired a nice Gibson Epiphone strat. I got it a long time ago. I found it in the back of a closet. I have no idea for how long. Anyway I plugged it in and there was nothing. I pulled the strings off and the pickguard. Some Gorilla did a wiring job. It has 500K pots. I think that was the mod. The guitar has a 5 position toggle, three single coil pickups They have three connections. White, red and a shielded ground. I'm thinking I will purchase every thing but the pickups and jack. I'm guessing from this video I do not need 500K pots. I am looking for a warm tone, a Jazz tone so I guess I would be better off with the 250s. If from what info I have here maybe you could let me know what you think I would appreciate it. Thanks
I have watched so many videos trying to understand the relationship between capacitors and pots. This is so easy for my slow brain to understand thank you. Now where is the video on Capasitor choise for a bass?
¡Hey man, your YT Chanel is amazing and really, really great helping me (and 90% of the guitar players All over the world) about guitar electronics. I’ve been playing about 30 years, always focused on harmony, ritmic stuff, improv, and other theorical subjects... Now it is time for me to get involved in electronics... Thank You and greetengs from México.
The reason for higher values pots for the humbucker compared to the single coil is more about impedance matching than preserving high end- the duel coils have double the resistance and the higher values match that impedance for a better signal overall-
Yeah. I nearly fell out of my chair when he said that. Had to go back and listen to it again. Something about faster resistors. When I stopped laughing I listened to it again and yeah he meant what he said. I must have slept through the resistor AC characteristics class.
yes true, but togethter with the pickup, which is obviously a coil,... it is a frequency dependent circuit... inductance of the coil + resistance of the pot ... --> the higher the pot value, the more high frequencies you lose. so.. it kinda makes sence what he says..
@ Julian Wells "...will pass every frequency from DC to light." Just wanted to point out that DC stands for Direct Current. This, by nature, has no frequency. As far as light, well... depends on the voltage being applied to the load. But I'm aware that you were merely trying to make a point... just a bad analogy. Oh, and btw... a resistor merely restricts the flow of current. Nothing more, nothing less. So yeah, you ARE right. =D Sorry for the late post, I'm just getting into electric guitars.
When changing potentiometer values from those designed, the entire circuit is affected, including volume and tone quality. Thankfully, the voltage involved in guitar circuits is very small, so there are no major potential hazards involved in experimenting with various pot values. The current produced by the pickup increases when the value of the volume pot is increased. Therefore the high frequencies are more pronounced.
i threw a S/D sh6 distortion..reads out at 17k in the bridge of my strat and it sounded bad with 250k pots..i only had one 500k pot so i swapped out the volume pot and the pickup came to life! the whole guitar brightened up a lil bit. in the future im going to wire up a master volume a master tone and a volume pot on the bridge pickup if i can figure it out..lol
Kudos to your style and thoroughness. Best I've ever seen in all my 55-plus years of playing! Having said all that, I have a question: I'm re-doing a Tele to include a humbucker in the neck position and a single-coil in the bridge position. Which pot would be the best? 250? 300? 500? Better yet, what would the differences in each one be? Would it all. be fine-tuned with caps?
This channel is by far the best channel I have found for explaining the science behind electric guitars. I've recently gained a passion for understanding the more "techy" side of guitars, but could never seem to find a good reliable source that broke it down into lamens terms & explains the logic behind some of the processes commonly practiced among players. Please keep making more videos & I'll keep watching!
Bahahaha.
Really?
yes, he's an electrical engineer and knows what he is actually talking about and explains it in simple terms for the rest of us. How about you responding with some form of intelligent response instead of "Bahahaha. Really." Are you 5 years old or just talk like one?
TOTALLY AGREE!
Best video about guitar pots ever. Before trying a new pot everyone should see this and understand how their work. Thanks a lot!
Finally, after so many years we get someone who really knows there stuff about guitar electronics. Amazing!
This is by far the best explanation of how a guitar circuit works than any I have ever seen, AWESOME !! If you understand electricity values, then this should be no surprise to you. If not, that was a heck of a lesson in the simplest terms ever.
Actually with a vol pot it's usually the output that's connected to the wiper. This is to create a constant impedance at the pickup. If you connect the pickup hot to the wiper the volume pot will also act as a tone pot when you turn it down. You can hear this with a standard fender jazz. The pots are deliberately wired backwards so the signals can be blended.
Most helpful comment.
Hats of to guys who explain how coils, pots and caps interact, it is hard graft. For those who have taught passive (or active filter theory), some three equations explain filter stuff quick quick and rather easy. All you need to have is a basic understanding of maths and that’s just about it. Best regards and much respect for doing the hard yards on the topic.
1/RC to you, Gerrie!
Ive been racking my brain over how tone pots work with nothing attached to input and the other side grounded via capacitor. Now it makes sense! They are just a way to alter the resistance to ground meaning more or less is grounded from that signal. The rest continues to volume. Excellent! So excited that makes sense now. Thank you.
Dylan, you put this up quite a while ago, but I have to say- that is far and away the BEST, easiest-to-understand description of how pots work that I have ever encountered. I've taken electronics courses, and never heard it so clearly physically explained. Thanks much! Dang, now I may have to look into your products! :)
I UNDERSTOOD! Thanks, I've been looking for someone like you for years.
What I like about watching your videos is I’m learning things about the guitar that I am honestly clueless about.
Very insightful video, thanks! I like how clearly and to-the-point you explained this.
I like your channel! However, with respect, I need to tell you some of this incorrect or stated in way that is unclear. You are incorrect about the resistor across the circuit rolling off highs. In fact, what a resistor(across the circuit) will do is simply flatten the response(lower the Q or peaked response of the pickup). If the flattened peak response is in the treble range, then yes the pickup may not sound as bright. The resistor will also convert some of the output into heat reducing output. Now if the resistor is in series or in line with the output(not across it) it creates a low pass filter with the parasitic capacitance along the cable/circuit path and this will roll off highs. Also parasitic capacitance of the POT itself can add to this. A capacitance across the circuit will roll off highs also . The way you describe the wiring of the POT is unclear also. One should take the input from the pickup and connect it to where you are showing the output being extracted. The output should be extracted from the wiper(center connection) such that a pot's rated value (250k for example) is across the circuit all the time but the output jack see a output impedance that varies depending on the POT setting. This varying impedance can bee seen as a series resistance with the output and is subject to treble roll off from parasitic capacitance. As you lower volume you also increase the series resistance giving more tone roll off . The lower the value of the pot(250k, 500k, etc); the less treble roll off but there will be more loading of the pickup (reducing output). So a 250K pot will produce less treble cut as you turn down the volume than a 1Meg pot but it will also reduce overall output(slightly) more than the 1 Meg at full volume (when there is little or no series resistance). The impedance and frequency response of the pickup and other nuances come into play also but I have gone on long enough.
I remember watching this video 7 years ago. Still a good video. I'm glad you're still posting.
Thanks Dylan for you instructional videos. As the saying goes - "it is never too late to learn something new. "
OMG That guy beats all RUclips videos I watch of trying to explain the same exact thing. He explain it so well!!!
Thanks so much for your videos on potentiometers and capacitors and how to figure out which ones to use and the differences between them. I've been building guitars for a long time, but never took the time to understand the electronic aspects of them, because I would just look at wiring diagrams and hook them up accordingly. Your videos have given me the information that Is very important for me to know and to help me be a better guitar builder and repair technician. You are a genius in the way that you present the information and make it a lit easier to understand. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You have a fan for life!
Hi @DylanTalksTone first of all thank your the video! I spent around 1,5h to look for a simple explanation !
Great Job!
I have a quick question as I believe it would work (split it up in points for easier answer )
1. I have a passive bass guitar, Jaguar Bass (with PJ Pickups)
2. Currently: Double Pot ( upper part control the Volume and lower part the Tone) per pickup.
3. Plan to change: 2 normal Pots and a 3 way switch.
4. 3 Way toggle switch neck, both, bridge pickup selection.
5. Volume pot (250k) controls both pickups (250k get in less high as i understand form u video).
5. Tone pot (500k) control both pickups with an cap (Cap Orange Drop 22nF 600V) (would have more control on the tone ?)
The main goal i to have less worries about what tone is on which pickup and which is lower volume etc. and easy selection of pickups
Thank you in advance !
Mike
This has been a F#%$^ absolute mind blowing learning experience!! It explains a lot of ?'s that I've had for years but only now have decided it's time to learn the basics of Electric/Bass guitar workings of how pickups and pots work hand in hand!! Amazing!! Subscribing from here on out!! Your basic explanation along with drawings relates to every ? I've had!! (Slapping myself in the face)
I'am an I.T. guy but this is every unanswered "Hows and Whys" for me! Guitar rebuilds here I come!!
Now I wont look like a deer in the headlights when a sales person gives me the specs for a Guitar/Bass!
Thank you very Much!!!
Learning a looooooooooot from your channel!!!! Got the answer I've been asking myself for months!... Thank you!
dude you truly rock......thanks for shattering all the myths on tone and pot values....
Great video. I always try to explain a lot of this to my customers and always try to find what tone they are after when I’m building them a harness. Thanks for doing these.
John Gorentz showed me your stuff while I was there. Pretty killer.
I build customs and enjoy the Science, Thanks and great info. My latest 59 LP build has 550K pots, Bournes caps, SD 59 Neck, SD JB bridge, 59 wiring specs. It's amazing.
I realize this is an old post but it is still the best explanation of vol/tone pots there is.
FINALLY Somebody explained to the common mortals why The Planet is Round!!!! Hey Man, Thanks a LOT for taking the time to explain this.... Keep it Rockin' !
Great video. I just changed pickups on my telecaster and saw the stock wide range humbuckers had 250k and not 500k. Thanks for the informative video!
I've always treated it as more of a guideline than a rule myself. I suppose it's the "common wisdom" because, in general, it's often true. But at some point, each guitar should be judged on its own needs. Like you said, hot singles might need the 500k to sound good while that bright humbucker responds better to 250. I actually do have 10k single coils in a strat and, while it's not too dark with the stock 250k pots, I may give 500k a try and see how much more they open up. If I like what I hear, 500 it is.
Resistance itself does not affect frequency response- it is the addition of capacitance that brings in frequency response- this is why the “tone pot” has a capacitor to ground
I discovered your channel this morning, and you've got a subscriber! I've been telling friends about this pot thing for a couple years, and I often compare the value of the pot to the height of a wall that the high frequency has to climb over to get to ground. This is the first video I've seen where someone details the issue! Thank you. For what it's worth, I have an SSS guitar in which I wired each pickup to its own 500K volume pot, and I just blend the pickups for different phase combinations for different tones. It's fun! I can't wait to check out more of your videos.
Don't bother telling anyone. All they are gonna do is thing you are dumb. "I'm talking about guitars and he's talking about walls and shit". If a person doesn't already know how something works then they don't need to know. Teaching usually has the reverse effect. Just stay quiet and avoid booboo lip.
I'm getting a great Guitar Electronics 101 class from your videos! Excellent presentation and very easy to follow. Much appreciate you sharing all this!
thanks so much for subscribing
Finishing the way overdue(4 yrs) upgrade for my sqier super strat. Caps and pots wise , id be lost without your content. Thank you
It’s interesting that I came across this video. Great information, first and foremost!! I recently renovated the electronics in my 2013 Gibson SG. I kept the stock ‘57 classic pickups, which you were dead on with the output of them, at 7.8. It had both 250k and 500k pots. I didn’t notice where they came from, weather tone or volume. But watching this video reminded me of it and generated some interest in figuring out why and where the different pots were used.
From Leo: Good explanation. Your labeling is switched on the lower right. The center leg of the pot is the output to the jack, and the outside two go to the ground and the pickup. It works as you have it labeled, but you cannot get any high signals at all except in full on. Thanks for posting your knowledge about pickups and guitars.
Great explanation here. I used a 500K Audio master volume along with a 250K Audio master tone with a .0068 orange drop cap. Typical three way CRL switch for Telecaster, Fender Custom Shop Texas Special neck and '51No Caster bridge pup. The results are amazing as the hotter pups 'like' the 500K volume. That particular Tele sounds thunderous through a Mesa Triple Rectifier driving an EVH 4X12 cabinet, with the '51 bridge pup with a hint of reverb in the loop. Cheers !
WOW! Good job explaining for us non-electrical players.
As soon as you mentioned putting a 500 on a single coil to keep more of the highs I thought of Linsey Buckingham who doesn’t use picks with his electrics. That 500 pot could be a way to compensate for the more muted sound of finger picking the strings. I imaging he did lots of stuff like that. I know in the early days he played a Les Paul but through boutique Messa-Boogie amps with massive headroom and very bright tone. He sure has great tone and a very unique style that suits his pursuit of the perfect lead or rhythm to match the song/melodic grove.
Thanks for the great video! SUBSCRIBED!!!
Great explanation! I recently replaced the pickups in a Fender Squier Strat, which had ceramic pickups from the factory. The guitar had 500k pots, which I think were used because the pickups were ceramic. I replaced them with pickups that had alnico V magnets, but I left the pots in out of curiosity. The result was a sound that was way too bright. 250k pots tamed this condition. So, just letting folks know that not all single coils get 250k pots from the factory. Magnet material matters.
Thanks for the well-explained primer regarding treble loss through lower- vs higher-resistance paths to ground, in the form of 250k and 500k volume potentiometers. The one detail I'd add is the difference between a shunt and a direct short: a signal is shorted when the pot is rotated fully CCW, i.e., at 0, where the wiper is touching the grounded terminal; when turned even slightly CW, where the signal is passing through a portion of the pot's resistive element, it is said to be shunted. That is generally true in electronics, where any signal path to ground that is not a direct short, but is passing through a component, is a shunt to ground.
This is a good explanation of how the volume pot shorts signals to ground thus lowering the remaining signals to amps input.What I want to understand is, why a path to ground that is not a capacitor effects high frequencies more than others. I know the answer is rather complex and it involves impedance or the actual resistance of the pickup at a given frequency and a concept thats even more complex , the Q of the circuit. I am looking for a combination of pot values capacitor value so my p-90 (neck position) is not so muddy.
Hey dude. Just found your video and channel searching for the best pickups for my strat. The cool thing is I've always been interested in how this stuff works. I'm 2.54 into your video right now and it's already the most informative thing I've seen in a while. I appreciate you making this and I love that I can actually understand it. Thank you much and keep up the good work. Subscribed.
Jaysus Rockso thank you so much
You're welcome dude
You are the best person to explain the most important points of pots.. thankyou so muuuuuuchhhh
Wow! Thank you so much for this video and your video about tone caps. The way you drew the internals of the volume pot and showed how they correspond to each leg made everything instantly crystal clear!
At 7:14 you mentioned that you would use 500K even with single coils and that you'd compensate by using a bigger cap...
based on your tone cap video, are you saying that your way of compensating for the brightness of the 500K pot with a single coil is that you'd use a .047 capacitor so that it has more effectiveness, AND that you'd be rolling the tone back just a touch?
A tone pot at 10 passes everything regardless of cap value, is that right?
I've got an HSS strat (with a Duncan Custom Custom TB-11 bucker and Fender Original '57/'62 single coils) that I am redoing the wiring on as I transfer everything to the new replacement body and pickguard and I'm trying to decide what to do with the wiring...
It's always had a 500K volume pot and I do like the brightness of the single coils, so I'm gonna stick with that.
I've got a pull-up pot for switching the bucker into coil tap [EDIT: SPLIT not tap!] mode, but I just saw a comment on another video that said that making it automatically coil tap when you select position 4 is better and I realized I'd rather do that too... and then someone else said that paralleling is better than coil tap so you don't get hum (I'm watching that video of yours next).
Because of these two videos of yours it all makes sense and is no longer overwhelming to try and figure it all out. I will finally get off my lazy butt and solder this pickguard up and get my strat back!
After I watch your video about coil-tapping vs. parallel, I will probably be able to figure out how to wire it to automatically coil tap on position 4.
Thank you! This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for you taking the time to make these videos. Have a good one, man!
I just watched this video yesterday. Today I opened up my Squire strat and it has 500k pots with a 33 film cap! This guitar was given to me as a gift recently and has been my favorite since. 2001 Rolling Rock. I am currently selling of stuff so that I can get a modding Tele 😂. I was surprised though to find the 500k on singles and I have been loving this guitar. It is slightly thin sounding but it rocks anything from clean to OD to Blackstar distortion. I got approval to build my own Tele next summer and I want to be ready 😁
You hve a protone series made in Korea then, dont sell it they are the hidden gems
Tone controls work to reduce treble from 10 down makes it darker sounding volume pots work from hi to low however what makes a bigger difference is it's wattage value because a less wattage control will pass more current than a higher wattage just as if you put the wrong wattage fixed resister in a circuit it can burn out or not pass enough current to drive a circuit properly
Great job explaining this. Most understandable video on this subject ive seen since ive been searching utube years ago. I was searching for some specific info because i am putting a strat together and eanted to play with some resistors and caps. Regardless your explanation of pots is very clear and spot on. Thanks.
Dylan...man,, I usually dont make comments on any videos unless is really bad explained or really good, and this one deserve a 3 thumbs up, once again congratulations, it was perfectly explained with all basic details, and mainly what I appreciate on videos is the use of common sense (a lot of common sense here), and no out of topic comments (you did it perfectly) I enjoyed it very much, I saw other of your videos and you have the perfect vision to make a great electronics basics Bible for audio and instruments, let us know if you do it, thanks in the name of other viewers, great job
You talk about some really awesome stuff that is helpful for guys like me that are looking to build a unique sound and has too many kids to pay someone else to do it. Thanks for what you do brother
Your drawing shows one way to wire a potentiometer as a volume control. It is common (no pun) to reverse the input and output connections from the way you depict them. I have always wired the input (pickups) to the top and the output (jack) to the wiper as this is preferred convention in general purpose low noise circuit design.
Really Good! That's the best explanation I've got about the influence of the pot's resistance on the frequency response! Thanks and congrats, man!
The best explanation about pots I’ve ever seen.
I used 300k pots with a 490R / 498T set and I love it!
This is kind of a "checking in" comment since I watched your video, (among others), prior to making the big decision. I just finished building my new custom superstrat with Seymour Duncan Cool Rails on the neck, JB Jr. in the middle and Hot Rails on the bridge -- all on 500k pots. High frequencies are near-perfectly controlled with Vise Grip compressor, (others likely get the same results), without having to dive on the tone knobs. Best of both worlds bright and warm. I will say this; would have been better in the end to run a 59 in the middle position for a fatter PAF sound, but not griping. JB's have an airy lead tone on clean with 500k pots over 250k's and that was the result I was especially looking for. Anyways, thanks for your video. T'were a big help.
Wow, killer video, that explains a lot , I put some Seymour Duncan quarter pounder’s in a tele I have and it darkened up a bunch, almost no highs at all, so this video was super informative
Dude, you can explain these things really well. Even I can understand now how these pots work. It used to be really a headache for me. Instant sub!!! Thanks!
Hi Dylan, thank you for a straight forward and informative explanation, sterling job. Just one small constructive criticism if I may, the K should not appear after the 1M value, since the K denotes Kilo (ohms), 1M on its own is sufficient, or 1MΩ (The Greek Omega symbol). I'm quite sure you will have realised this by now, thanks again for a brilliant explanation! P.S: I'm an old electronics tech, couldn't have explained it better myself :)
Something that looks so simple, as in the wiring of a guitar, is actually very complicated. Im fairly smart but im still trying to figure this out. Nice lecture on pots !
Experimenting with pots is fun. I'm torn on my Deluxe. On the one hand I love the creamy 500k blues/jazz tones but with drive 1meg just sounds so much better with 50's wiring.
Thanks,tof dat je de moeite neemt om dit te delen!✌️
My old Squier with humbuckers used 500k and .033uf mylar caps. My new Squier Bullet Mustang uses 250k, and I forget the caps, but they were nowhere near as much. My two Ibanez guitars had 500k (both with humbuckers) so I was told the Mustang should have 500k in it to open it up.
Thank you Dylan...today I welded a 250k pot (tone pot 500k & soviet capacitor .047uf) to a gibson IM57B-NH Burstbucker (bridge) and it sound really good. Then I assembled a Gibson Gear IM90R-NH 490R to neck position with a 500k pot (cornell dublier .022uf) and it does not sound so good as bridge one but I guess it depends by many causes. So...let's break the rules! regards Al
Awesome video!! :)
Everything was explained prefectly, you didn't missed anything. It's hard to find as such good content on youtube.
Good job! Keep doing like that.
Correct on both points - great explanation and I'm sure you have noticed (since this comment was four years ago) that nowadays everybody thinks they are an expert on YT. It always turns out that the most knowledgeable can boil ideas down to their simplest components.
Energy is produced when the strings vivrate above the coils.
Ground is always in equilibrium.
Following current flow explains the process.
The best and most informative video on RUclips 👍🏻
Dylan, This has been the clearest most-concise explanation of potentiometer values I have yet seen. Thank you for posting it! -T. Horan (subscribed!)
Where you from sir
Finally I understand what pot I have to choose for my guitar, even my "first" language isn't English. Thanks a lot man!
Hey man. Great video. I've been getting into building guitars and this has been the best explanation for me of circuits
Now I need to go check my guitar. The vintage Filtertrons are 3.96 and 4.62 or something like that. I'll have to see what the previous owner used. Learning things already. ;) Thanks for the video!
Really enjoyed this, i thought id know everything already but i really learned some. And the stuff i already knew you explained in a way that gave me a better understanding and reinforced what i knew. Thanks brother!
Dude! thanks a lot, I was about to buy 500k pot for my Fender squier single coils with less knowledge. Thanks for saving my bucks :)
Very informative, thank you for this! Now I understand why the jangly tone of a Rickenbacker 325 (John Lennon guitar / early Beatles sound), which had single coil "toaster" style pickups used 330k tone and volume pots, in combination with .047 capacitors.
Lots of crap on RUclips, this is not part of that crap. Good channel, I subbed. 👍🏻
Thank you for sharing this information.
For years I have tried to explain how getting a brighter or darker tone is often as easy as changing the capacitor value.
Now I have a video to show people the how and why.
Glad I subscribed.
Very well explained and spot on too, good stuff, cheers.
Thank you for another great video sir. I am now thinking about building a guitar with on/off switches for the pickups. No volume or tone controls, just on or off.
I share this pro tip with very few people. Mainly because they really do not know what they do not know and just play what is stock. So here it goes: Use 500k pots on all your guitars with HSS. Make the tone knob 500k as well. Wire the volume and tone knob like a 50’s Les Paul junior. (Vintage wiring vs Modern) use the value .010- .015 for the tone cap. Use the bottom knob as a blender to give you two more options on your 5 way switch. If you want to roll back the volume or tone when using single coils to get more of those stratty tones then you will be inclined to use your ears more and also more feel of the strings and magnets resisting your pick attack. Tone really is in your hands, some guitars do this better out of the box, most have to be modified to this recipe to really have it all in HSS. Now, you have the 500k which the humbucker loves, you are twice the value for single coils, you can roll off the volume and tone and solve that, plus.... using the value of tone cap I prescribed, you will actually use your tone knob more than ever before as the value (.010-.015mfd) shifts the mid and treble points like a partially cocked Wah wah pedal, instead of that .05 horrible muted muffled muddy sound Fender chose to use when guitar players would mimic bass guitar on a 6 string while recording in the 50’s, and no modern players really use the tone knob because of that fact. Now also with my setup, you get the humbucker and neck pickup together with the blender knob and if you add a micro switch, you can shut off a coil on the humbucker and get a close tele sound and in switch position 2 and 4, you can turn the blender off and get all three pickups on together. Playing your amp is now your new concern. You can dial up higher than you would normally use for volume and tones, and use the volume and tone knob straight away on the guitar for boosting volume and tone without a pedal... ala Hendrix ... you will love this setup more than anything and will play more and use the volume and tone knobs with that micro switch for coil tap on the humbucker and never want anything else forever thereafter...... do a video with this idea.... and thank me later. Cheers!!!!
HSS?
Bridge humbucker and 2 single coils. This is exactly what I have been mulling over. All my prayers answered! 🙏 😂
Good explanation. Takes the mystery out of it.
Thanks Dylan, you only addressed frequency response what about power transfer as in how much of the signal you want to retain. Would a higher value volume pot result in a louder pickup, eg higher amplitude?
Very interesting question! Unless you are working with microwave or RF electronics, most people don't care about energy transfer. We are more interested in signal amplitude. The pickup internal resistance is about 10k ohms, and the amplifier input is about 1M, so current levels will be very low with these 300mVp-p circuits.
I think you are onto an interesting idea, though: what if it were economically viable to wind a pickup with several loops of parallel coils, bringing the resistance down within the circuit and then have an amplifier that had a lower input impedance (maybe using a transformer). That would significantly lower noise floor and 60 Hz hum.
Good question!
500k pot for my single coil pups. It improves sustain and fullness of sound.
Are you using stock pickups, or hotter ones?
@@randyschock5651 I've had both with the same results, but don't go past 500k with single coils.
Did you use a different Capasitor?
@@steevenare7160 Nope I left the tone pot with original cap alone. I just swapped the volume pot.
All this could be mind-boggling to the untrained eye last such as myself. But the way you explained it made sense.
i love this guy, i love this channel
Awesome info great presentation every episode I watch the smarter I get !
Awesome!!!!!we should know all about this stuff, and you are the best explaining it. Thanks very much.
Have to agree with Devon Scott. Dylan makes it all so simple and understandable. Although there are some inaccuracies. Julian Wells is correct when he says "A resistor has no frequency filtering attributes". You need to look at the value of the capacitor for that. Dylan made me think though; why not do away with pots and caps altogether and simply wire the pickups to the selector switch then the output jack? Output to a good volume pedal for volume control, then an EQ pedal if you want tone control, or just use EQ on your amp.
I thought the same thing. I think though, it's all about versatility and which method of "skinning a cat" has been accepted as the "norm"
He did mention no load pots too, and I think those would have a similar effect plus the versatility of having on board tone and volume control at your fingertips.
Awesome video! The best I have seen on pots. Thank goodness. Rock on dude!
Great video Dylan. I learned a lot of theory right here. Thanks.
I acquired a nice Gibson Epiphone strat. I got it a long time ago. I found it in the back of a closet. I have no idea for how long. Anyway I plugged it in and there was nothing. I pulled the strings off and the pickguard. Some Gorilla did a wiring job. It has 500K pots. I think that was the mod. The guitar has a 5 position toggle, three single coil pickups They have three connections. White, red and a shielded ground.
I'm thinking I will purchase every thing but the pickups and jack. I'm guessing from this video I do not need 500K pots. I am looking for a warm tone, a Jazz tone so I guess I would be better off with the 250s. If from what info I have here maybe you could let me know what you think I would appreciate it. Thanks
for me this topic is always a little complicated, thanks for starting to explain it, I'll follow the series.
I have watched so many videos trying to understand the relationship between capacitors and pots. This is so easy for my slow brain to understand thank you. Now where is the video on Capasitor choise for a bass?
I understood anything you said, very simple to understand all the information you provided on the video, thank you !
¡Hey man, your YT Chanel is amazing and really, really great helping me (and 90% of the guitar players All over the world) about guitar electronics. I’ve been playing about 30 years, always focused on harmony, ritmic stuff, improv, and other theorical subjects... Now it is time for me to get involved in electronics...
Thank You and greetengs from México.
Awesome ! thank you for taking the time to make your video's I've learnt so much in such a short (Electronics pun there) period of time. Thank you !
Great video . I am learning a lot from your videos . thanks
The reason for higher values pots for the humbucker compared to the single coil is more about impedance matching than preserving high end- the duel coils have double the resistance and the higher values match that impedance for a better signal overall-
That is interesting.
My new PAF's installed with 50's wiring are definitely on the bright side. I'm thinking about the fat cap fix.
A resistor has no frequency filtering attributes. It will effect the amplitude but it will pass every frequency from DC to light.
Yeah. I nearly fell out of my chair when he said that. Had to go back and listen to it again. Something about faster resistors. When I stopped laughing I listened to it again and yeah he meant what he said. I must have slept through the resistor AC characteristics class.
Yeah, unfortunately you have to take the total circuit into consideration for what's actually happening.
yes true, but togethter with the pickup, which is obviously a coil,... it is a frequency dependent circuit... inductance of the coil + resistance of the pot ... --> the higher the pot value, the more high frequencies you lose. so.. it kinda makes sence what he says..
@ Julian Wells "...will pass every frequency from DC to light."
Just wanted to point out that DC stands for Direct Current. This, by nature, has no frequency. As far as light, well... depends on the voltage being applied to the load. But I'm aware that you were merely trying to make a point... just a bad analogy.
Oh, and btw... a resistor merely restricts the flow of current. Nothing more, nothing less. So yeah, you ARE right. =D
Sorry for the late post, I'm just getting into electric guitars.
“Brightness” is a word that could be used throughout this video to drive home your point, to represent those high tones
*Awesome content Dylan I love technical guitar information.*
Great Pot info. I watched this one 3 times!
Subscribed! Very good instructional videos. Really helping me understand my guitar build.
When changing potentiometer values from those designed, the entire circuit is affected, including volume and tone quality. Thankfully, the voltage involved in guitar circuits is very small, so there are no major potential hazards involved in experimenting with various pot values. The current produced by the pickup increases when the value of the volume pot is increased. Therefore the high frequencies are more pronounced.
i threw a S/D sh6 distortion..reads out at 17k in the bridge of my strat and it sounded bad with 250k pots..i only had one 500k pot so i swapped out the volume pot and the pickup came to life! the whole guitar brightened up a lil bit. in the future im going to wire up a master volume a master tone and a volume pot on the bridge pickup if i can figure it out..lol
Kudos to your style and thoroughness. Best I've ever seen in all my 55-plus years of playing! Having said all that, I have a question: I'm re-doing a Tele to include a humbucker in the neck position and a single-coil in the bridge position. Which pot would be the best? 250? 300? 500? Better yet, what would the differences in each one be? Would it all. be fine-tuned with caps?
Dude you rock! Really easy to understand cuz you explain so well! Thx