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Post subject: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:08 am
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I need to get some more guitar potentiometers. Just wanted to see what are good or junk Thanks


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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:00 am
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Depends on what you want to put them in. For Squiers , I usually install Fender 250's which IMO, are the best.


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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:59 am
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CTS makes a quality product


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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:22 am
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I am very happy with the CTS 250's pot :D

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:07 pm
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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:12 pm
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Toronado wrote:
CTS makes a quality product


+1,000,000,000

And these are the best that CTS makes right here

http://www.wdmusic.com/cts_pots.html

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:44 pm
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linnin wrote:
Toronado wrote:
CTS makes a quality product


+1,000,000,000

And these are the best that CTS makes right here

http://www.wdmusic.com/cts_pots.html


+10,000,000,000

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 2:42 pm
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Toronado wrote:
CTS makes a quality product



+1 8)

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:02 pm
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I've had good luck with CTS, along with Alpha, Bourns but
Alessandro's military spec, carbon potentiometers have a smoothness that sets them apart from low end potentiometers, with a custom developed taper that is uniform from 0 to 10.

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:11 pm
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CTS is basically the king of all things "knobby" :)

I'd just go with a set of those.

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:46 pm
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I give CTS a thumbs up too. Expert and very particular boutique pedal maker Geoff Teese uses CTS pots in all of his products-so the fact that someone with his exacting standards of quality uses them, is endorsement enough for me.

If CTS aren't available in your area for some reason Bourne pots would be a good alternative.

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:52 am
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guitslinger wrote:
I give CTS a thumbs up too... If CTS aren't available in your area for some reason, Bourne pots would be a good alternative.


+1.

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:39 am
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CTS is the OEM for Fender USA and Mexico. Also for Gibson USA. Fender buys CTS pots, puts them in rack packs and charges 50% more to get the same part through the Fender distribution system. This is a reasonable rate. But if you go outside the Fender parts system you can buy the same part for 50% less. Gibson, Gretsch USA, etc does the same thing.

For reasonable prices on loose CTS pots try Guitar Parts Resource which charge less than the previously referenced link for the same exact part. The advantages to the CTS are that they are of good quality, the Fender knobs fit them perfectly, the shafts fit Fender pickguards/mounting plates and control cavities perfectly and they are very reasonably priced. They are the exact Fender USA/MIM replacement part.

There are a few proprietary technology pots available like the previously referenced Alessandro pots. The Alessandro costs about 1000% more than the more widely available CTS. In my opinion they are not 1000% better. ($5 CTS, $50 Alessandro.) These high end military specification pots have a tighter tolerance and claim a smoother taper.

A Fender/CTS pot generally runs on a 10% tolerance where about all military or aerospace spec pots will run a much tighter tolerance. A 250k CTS/Fender pot could actually read anywhere from 225k to 275k. The military spec type pots will run much closer to the stated value, sometimes just a 1% tolerance meaning a 250k one will read 247.5k to 252.5k. Also the taper is said to be smoother with no evident "razor edge" or "jumpiness" in the audio output when adjusting the pot. Yes they are technically better but paying 10 times more for them doesn't make your instrument sound 10 times better. Tonal variation will be very subtle between 225k and 275k anyway. Still these tight tolerance pots will appeal to some people when money is no object. The advantage is they are so close to stated value that any of them make a good matched set and you don't even have to put them on a meter to check them.

I always use CTS and put them on a meter to make sure they are within about 3% of stated value and of each other. That's close enough for most purposes. In control setups with multiple volume controls I want the volume controls to be really close, like within 1 to 2% of each other. I doubt any major mass production plant checks actual values of each pot or goes to the trouble to make matched sets and basically just pulls one after another out of the box and wires them up. A higher grade shop, such as a custom shop type operation would be more likely to take the time to build using matched sets reasonably close to stated values because part of what you are paying for in a custom shop instrument is tighter spec parts which minimizes variations from copy to copy.

Because of the 10% tolerance factor on CTS pots you will want to check each unit's actual value and make sets out of the ones that are pretty close to each other and stated value. Or you can just do what the mass production lines do and take what comes. So here is another reason why two otherwise identical mass production instruments sound different. Add in the tolerance factor of the tone capacitor along with the fact that no two pickups are precisely alike and you begin to see why each mass produced copy is unique and no two ever sound exactly alike.

I would NOT replace pots on any CBS era and back Fender. You want to keep the pots and even the solder joints "original." If spray cleaning/lubing a pot doesn't clear up problems with it, a highly skilled vintage instrument restoration tech can usually repair them by inserting new parts from a new pot inside the old case and do it in such a manner that the value of your instrument is preserved. This is very time consuming and far more costly than just swapping pots, but in many cases it is the prudent thing when preserving "originality" is important. Also for vintage gear it is important to know that from the beginning of Fender instruments all through the 1950's and up until about 1963 Fender used Stackpole (#304) pots. Then in 1963, Fender changed to CTS (#137) pots.

((Edited for grammar.))


Last edited by brotherdave on Tue Jun 04, 2013 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:38 am
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Thank you for the straight goods, brotherdave! Sincerely learned a lot


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Post subject: Re: What are the best guitar potentiometers ?
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 11:53 am
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brotherdave wrote:
CTS is the OEM for Fender USA and Mexico. Also for Gibson USA. Fender buys CTS pots, puts them in rack packs and charges 50% more to get the same part through the Fender distribution system. This is a reasonable rate. But if you go outside the Fender parts system you can buy the same part for 50% less. Gibson, Gretsch USA, etc does the same thing.

For reasonable prices on loose CTS pots try Guitar Parts Resource which charge less than the previously referenced link for the same exact part. The advantages to the CTS are that they are of good quality, the Fender knobs fit them perfectly, the shafts fit Fender pickguards/mounting plates and control cavities perfectly and they are very reasonably priced. They are the exact Fender USA/MIM replacement part.

There are a few proprietary technology pots available like the previously referenced Alessandro pots. The Alessandro costs about 1000% more than the more widely available CTS. In my opinion they are not 1000% better. ($5 CTS, $50 Alessandro.) These high end military specification pots have a tighter tolerance and claim a smoother taper.

A Fender/CTS pot generally runs on a 10% tolerance where about all military or aerospace spec pots will run a much tighter tolerance. A 250k CTS/Fender pot could actually read anywhere from 225k to 275k. The military spec type pots will run much closer to the stated value, sometimes just a 1% tolerance meaning a 250k one will read 247.5k to 252.5k. Also the taper is said to be smoother with no evident "razor edge" or "jumpiness" in the audio output when adjusting the pot. Yes they are technically better but paying 10 times more for them doesn't make your instrument sound 10 times better. Tonal variation will be very subtle between 225k and 275k anyway. Still these tight tolerance pots will appeal to some people when money is no object. The advantage is they are so close to stated value that any of them make a good matched set and you don't even have to put them on a meter to check them.

I always use CTS and put them on a meter to make sure they are within about 3% of stated value and of each other. That's close enough for most purposes. In control setups with multiple volume controls I want the volume controls should be really close, like within 1 to 2% of each other. I doubt any major mass production plant checks actual values of each pot or goes to the trouble to make matched sets and basically just pulls one after another out of the box and wires them up. A higher grade shop, such as a custom shop type operation would be more likely to take the time to build using matched sets reasonably close to stated values because part of what you are paying for in a custom shop instrument is tighter spec parts which minimizes variations from copy to copy.

Because of the 10% tolerance factor on CTS pots you will want to check each unit's actual value and make sets out of the ones that are pretty close to each other and stated value. Or you can just do what the mass production lines do and take what comes. So here is another reason why two otherwise identical mass production instruments sound different. Add in the tolerance factor of the tone capacitor along with the fact that no two pickups are precisely alike and you begin to see why each mass produced copy is unique and no two ever sound exactly alike.

I would NOT replace pots on any CBS era and back Fender. You want to keep the pots and even the solder joints "original." If spray cleaning/lubing a pot doesn't clear up problems with it, a highly skilled vintage instrument restoration tech can usually repair them by inserting new parts from a new pot inside the old case and do it in such a manner that the value of your instrument is preserved. This is very time consuming and far more costly than just swapping pots, but in many cases it is the prudent thing when preserving "originality" is important. Also for vintage gear it is important to know that from the beginning of Fender instruments all through the 1950's and up until about 1963 Fender used Stackpole (#304) pots. Then in 1963, Fender changed to CTS (#137) pots.


+1000

...as always, a well of news and tips

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