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Post subject: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:46 am
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Why or why not?


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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:42 am
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My 1998 American Deluxe Stratocaster (HSS) has 1 meg pots.

Why or why not?

Well, typically a higher numerical value pot has a brighter overall sound.
If other components in the system are cutting or masking highs a designer might choose a higher numerical value pot to compensate somewhat.
That's the simplistic answer.

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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 11:14 am
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Yep.
On an HSS it's a tricky balance to keep the humbucker from being too dark, and the singles from being too bright.
G&L used 1m pots on my HSS Climax and the single coils are ice-pick bright. The humbucker sounds good.

Just swapping a 1m in for the stock 250k on a regular SSS Strat would probably not result in something you would like. You could change to the 1m pot and increase the value of the tone cap... you'd still be very bright on "10", but as you roll the tone control off, you would have decent control over the brightness.
For HSS, I'd definitely recommend wiring Tone-1 to the bridge and neck with a larger capacitor and the 'bucker on Tone-2 with the normal .022 cap.

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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 5:05 pm
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Going to venture into the strat waters - possibly an old cheap JV model, and then upgrades to fender pickups and pots. So 1 meg are for humbuckers unless you want more brightness out of singles


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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 10:39 pm
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Stock is typically 500k for humbuckers and 250k for single coil.
250k gets too dark for humbuckers.

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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 2:57 am
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Funny thing is, the "rules" have been broken by Fender more than once, and both ways.
Just two examples and even from the same year: the 2000 SSS AmDlx is wired with 1Meg pots, and the 2000 Lonestar HSS with 250K pots.

And there are Fender wiring instructions for pickups saying one thing, but FMIC's production models coming out with different pot values...


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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 3:43 am
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The simple answer is that higher value pots make things brighter.
If you want to get a more in depth answer it's worth watching the video, and then watch it again.
There's a lot more than simple brightness going on ....


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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 9:18 pm
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jmattis wrote:
And there are Fender wiring instructions for pickups saying one thing, but FMIC's production models coming out with different pot values...

Yep... and even with the Noiseless pickups.
The Blackmore Strat uses Hot Noiseless and 250k pots, instructions for Vintage call for 1m, but have some other "voodoo" with added caps in the circuit. Adding to the confusion are product reviews with people insisting that they work best with conventional values and are too bright wired per instructions.

My Tele sounds great with Vintage Noiseless and 250k pots.

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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 6:15 am
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Interesting but on total info overload now. Brain too small. Recently bought an old Tele which has 1 meg pots and Strats typically(?) have 250k so it got me a ponderin' and will give me some background info for when I buy one in the next few weeks


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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:00 am
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Excellent video reference Stratmangler…..I haven't seen a better explanation of the importance of having the right relationship of impedance, reactance, impedance between a guitar and amplifier.

As far as changing potentiometer values in your Strat/Tele, the thing is when you do that as the video points out your changing the resonant peak frequency. No issues w/ that but you may find you have to find a good working balance w/ the rest of the "low pass circuit" by changing the capacitor values as well.
Whereas if you start w/ a clear goal raising/lowering output frequencies and adjust the capacitor value w/ a good working potentiometer it will be easier, cheaper and less work. Seems like a better place to start to me, unless you have poor performing pickups then that's the place to start, IMO.


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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:24 am
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68Silverface wrote:
Interesting but on total info overload now. Brain too small. Recently bought an old Tele which has 1 meg pots and Strats typically(?) have 250k so it got me a ponderin' and will give me some background info for when I buy one in the next few weeks


The old Tele with 1 meg pots was a brief departure. CBS in the '70s decided that Tele's weren't already bright enough, so switched from the traditional 250K to 1 meg. People complained about ice picks, so eventually they changed back.
--------------------
As said, things interact. The pot value that works great with one guitar through one rig may not be the right one for a different guitar through a different rig.

Some of those 1 meg Teles sounded great. Others improved with 250K.

The traditional, "normal" value for Tele and Strat single-coils is 250K audio taper for both volume and tone. If you're using traditional single-coils, start there.

If you find they aren't quite perfect for what you hope to hear, then start pondering other values.
---------------------
Or, just go all in. Get 125K, 250K, 330K, 500K, and 1 meg pots and try them all to actually experience the differences.

(There are a couple of ways to do that without having to replace the strings each time. But I won't write those paragraphs unless you're interested in trying that.)


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Post subject: Re: 1 Meg Pots for a Stratocaster?
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 1:02 pm
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The simple approach would be to copy the wiring from a Strat model you think sounds as a Strat should.
When you choose those Fender pickups, they surely are in a production model already.

And BTW, a JV isn't cheap these days (not even the Squier JV's), but it just might sound perfect in stock condition.


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