Well i finally made a decision on new pickups. I went with the texas specials. I have a 2006 MIM stanard. Should I upgrade the 5 way and pots?
And if so what should I look to get?

I don't think anything can be gained by upgrading the switch. They all work smoothly. The pots on the Mexicans may not turn as smoothly as the Americans but again I think little is to be gained by changing them.

I really like the pots PRS uses. The resistance is 500 instead of 250 so they likely wouldn't work well on a Strat unless you were willing to have your guitar sound brighter. Nevertheless if one could determine where they get their pots it's concievable there might 250 versions available. The PRS pots operate smoothly but what I like best about them is the taper. When you roll the volume or tone up and down your ears perceive the rate of change to be much more linear and smooth and therefore you feel like you have more control over your tone or volume. I installed PRS pots on my Les Paul and they were a significant upgrade over the stock Gibson pots. I once made a weak hearted attempt to determine PRS' pot supplier but came up empty handed. Now that I think about it I should take another stab at it.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

CTS Audio Taper Pots and a Switchcraft Switch.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I agree that there is probably nothing to be gained from changing the five way switch. Unless there is something actually wrong with it there is no point in changing it.

As for the pots, as long as they are smooth and quiet, there would seem to be no point in changing them. You can measure their resistance with a multimeter and see how close they are to the expected value. If they are all single coil pickups that would be 250kohm.

Generations of guitarists agree that the 250kohm pots are best for single coil pickups as they are found most often on Stratocasters. The frequency bandpass for single coils has a pronounced peak around 6-8kh. This is what gives them that spiky sound. The 250kohm pots allow a little of that high frequency stuff to bleed to ground, softening the sound somewhat. So, as has been said, a 500kohm pot will indeed brighten the sound, perhaps unpleasantly so

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James Burton Upgrade Telecaster
Hot Rodded Am Fat Strat Texas Special (now featuring Kinman Traditional II pickups)
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