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Post subject: Can someone explain Pots to me?
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:37 am
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Hi,

I've been searching the last couple of days for information on potentiometers, but haven't really found anything to answer my question, which is:

What effect a 250k, a 500k and a 1 meg potentiometer have on the sound of the guitar.

the reason I ask is that I'm upgrading my '93 MIM Strat to CS 69 pickups, and I'm wondering if the stock pots that are in it are suitable, or if they should be changed and if so, to what.

I'm not sure what the stock pots are, they have 20W and D500 stamped on the bottom.

Thanks,
Hammer


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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:55 am
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This guy seems to know what he talks about, I've read his writing for awhile, and I've listened to his music - he's not a bad guitarist either.

See anlysis of the effects of guitar parts and cables - complete with nice pretty graphs - http://terrydownsmusic.com/technotes/guitarcables/guitarcables.htm

Here are the conclusions:

High resistance volume pots create more treble, but allow various cables to cause a more drastic change in tone.
Lower resistance pots results in less overall tone change with cable variation, but result in less treble overall.
The volume control pot is like a damping resistor to the resonant circuit. Lower values reduce the peak amplitude.

Gil 8)

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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:05 pm
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Good info. So you're saying the pots value affects the high frequencies or treble only but not the low frequency or bass side?


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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:12 pm
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Here is some more info-http://www.byoguitar.com/Guitars/Electric-Guitar-Potentiometers__BYO-P.aspx


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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:17 pm
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Ok, makes sense, for short then:

250k Warmer (Single Coils)
500k More Highs (hums)


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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:58 pm
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Many thanks Giljanus, im quite a lot closer to understanding it now, you're conclusion was the most helpfull bit too :D


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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:05 pm
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Hammer2009 wrote:
Many thanks Giljanus, im quite a lot closer to understanding it now, you're conclusion was the most helpfull bit too :D

Well it's really Terry Brook's conclusion - he did the analysis :P

I just did the reporting. Glad I could be some help.

Gil 8)

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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:06 pm
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Man, you could have taken all the credit :)


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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:07 pm
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atolleter wrote:
Man, you could have taken all the credit :)

Not my style. :D

Gil 8)

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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:39 pm
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Then you add what a Caps do when added to the tone pots or even a resistor as in the case of the HWY Ones.

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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:56 pm
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Hey Dude...

My advice is to stay away from Pot(s) It wont help you with your music and it only leads to a slippery $@!&# of doom and regret...Plus you smell bad and eat too much junk food.

I'm here to help -

The Freeze

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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:59 pm
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The Freeze wrote:
Hey Dude...

My advice is to stay away from Pot(s) It wont help you with your music and it only leads to a slippery $@!&# of doom and regret...Plus you smell bad and eat too much junk food.

I'm here to help -

The Freeze

Thats being BLUNT :lol: :wink: :mrgreen:

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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:05 pm
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good link giljano.

thanx for sharing.

cheers :D


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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:20 am
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giljanus wrote:
This guy seems to know what he talks about, I've read his writing for awhile, and I've listened to his music - he's not a bad guitarist either. See anlysis of the effects of guitar parts and cables - complete with nice pretty graphs - http://terrydownsmusic.com/technotes/guitarcables/guitarcables.htm
Gil 8)


That was great Gil. Thanks a lot for posting that. Very Interesting.

I just have one thing to add. Remember that the fundamental frequency of the highest note on a Strat is about 1200 Hz (C# on 21 fret necks, D on 22 fret necks). So those resonances are mostly about high harmonics, which are very important to the tone.

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Post subject: Re: Can someone explain Pots to me?
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:30 am
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Hammer2009 wrote:
I'm not sure what the stock pots are, they have 20W and D500 stamped on the bottom.

Doesn't that infer 500k pots? Wouldn't a MIM std have 250k pots?

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