Need pot value suggestions for S/S/H strat.

[Carlsoti]

I've got a MIM strat that I just put a SD hotrail pickup in at the bridge. I've wired the "second" tone control for the bridge pick-up. (The middle single coil now runs wide open, tone wise) With the stock 250k pots, the tone works almost more like a on/off bright switch for the humbucker. I'd like to put in some better pots, but I don't know if I should just put in a 500k tone pot for that one pick-up, or if I should put in a new pot for the volume, as well. Any suggestions? Should I replace the tone cap as well? What value?

[Carlsoti]

Anyone?

[Chuck H]

Use a 500k audio taper volume pot. Works just fine with singles. Since you have two tone pots you don't need the volume to act like a tone pot when you turn it down. So try a 220p cap parallel with a 220k resistor across the two ungrounded lugs of the volume pot. This will help keep the control from rolling off top end as you turn down the guitar. For the tone pot you can use a 250k audio for better taper. But that would be a constant bleed over the volume pots load. So what you do is lift off the back off the pot to access the carbon track and use an exacto knife to scratch through it where the track meets the "10" terminal. Now your tone control will be out of the circuit when it's on 10 like it's not even there. So you have no loading effect until you turn the knob to 9 or less. Do this to both tone controls. .01 is a typical tone cap on any pickup but you can experiment to see what you like. I'm a rocker and I like a smaller tone cap. Blues players tend to like larger values like .022. Try values between .0022 and .033.

Chuck

[antiunderscores]

(The middle single coil now runs wide open, tone wise)

im not sure if that is that is just a figure of speech, but for the sake of correctness, it actually has a different tone to having the tone full up because you have totally wired the cap and 250k out of the middle pickup circuit havent tested the difference between tone full up and no tone dial what so ever but many people hear it.

With the stock 250k pots, the tone works almost more like a on/off bright switch for the humbucker. I'd like to put in some better pots, but I don't know if I should just put in a 500k tone pot for that one pick-up, or if I should put in a new pot for the volume, as well. Any suggestions?

A 500k in the tone would make it brighter when its fully up because high frequencies are going through 500k to get to ground, when it comes to improving the "on/off" like action you can try an audio pot (500k a) or a linear pot (500k b) im guessing the audio pot would give you a smoother transition but im not certain in this application.

not sure about changing the volume pot to 500k, this is all a thought experiment for me, but im thinking it would give you a bit more volume fully up and im too tired to guess anything other than that. May as well give it a go and see if you prefer it. Remember an audio pot will bring the volume down smooth, and a linear will seem to take a fair bit of high out from 10-5 and from 5-0 it takes down the volume. Personally, i like the linear because i never wire in tone pots in so that gives me wider tonal options.

Should I replace the tone cap as well? What value?

If you put in a larger tone cap the tone dials (when turned down) will remove more high mids a smaller cap will remove more highs and highers. And i remember reading a thread on here where the general consensus was that a smaller tone cap will make it brighter when the tone dial is maxxed.

really its up to your taste when it comes to the cap, smaller value if you want a brighter tone, larger if you want to mellow it out. cant advise on material though... If I were to do it i would get 3 or 4 polyesters for 30c each, one equal to the original value (so you can hear what(if?) a difference the material makes) effectively a control for the value changing implications.

And remember when you are trying these mods do them one at a time so you can hear the implication of each one.


Hoping some of that was correct,
Wilko

[David Schwab]

I always use linear taper for tone. Audio taper give you a big jump at the last 10 percent of the rotation. For a tone control you want to know that turning the pot down half way is rolling off the highs by the same amount.

250K pots should be fine for the tone on a hotrail pickup, and even if you use 500K for volume, 250K is often used for tone. Duncan suggest 250K pots for both volume and tone with the rail pickups. He also uses 250K pots for full size humbuckers.

I think the problem might be the way the tone control was wired. You can follow the Duncan schematic here:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...l_hum_1v_2t_5w

Also you can wire the neck tone control to also work with the middle pickup.

I agree about the suggestion of using a smaller value cap, like a .02 or .01.

[jack briggs]

I'd suggest 500K for volume and 250K tone, both audio taper. A high-pass network of .001uf cap and 220K resistor in parallel across the input on output of the volume pot will retain clarity as the volume is rolled down. My usual tone cap is .022uf, but with neck humbuckers I like .015uf. YMMV.


Cheers,