Gibson SG- odd vol pots.

[Sea Chief]

Had a faded SG which was daaaark. So I took out the stock B300k vol pots (back never opened & all pots gibson embossed: no evidence all 4 not the orig pots) & popped in B500k's & a better cap accordingly/ 50's wiring etc. Slight improvement in the highs. The tone not the issue here/ still v. dark so SG sold on.

But when I measure those pots I have here.. they read 219k and 223k!? (no bloody wonder it was dark).

Is this huge discrepency to be expected for a B300k? or likely they are in fact B250k, and gibson QC is in question-?

Thanks SC.

[elipsey]

Had a faded SG which was daaaark. So I took out the stock B300k vol pots (back never opened & all pots gibson embossed: no evidence all 4 not the orig pots) & popped in B500k's & a better cap accordingly/ 50's wiring etc. Slight improvement in the highs. The tone not the issue here/ still v. dark so SG sold on.

But when I measure those pots I have here.. they read 219k and 223k!? (no bloody wonder it was dark).

Is this huge discrepency to be expected for a B300k? or likely they are in fact B250k, and gibson QC is in question-?

Thanks SC.

Please correct me if I'm wrong folks, but I think most guitar pots are +- %20. So 219K is only a little out of tolerance. I had a strat with a 200K "250K" volume pot a while ago, and I replaced the pot, but I couldn't hear the difference, whereas substituing a 500K for a 250K or 300K pot makes a difference I find quite noticable.

It seems a little late for this if 500K pots didn't satisfy, and you already sold the guitar, no?

[John_H]

Don't you already have 2 threads about this same issue?

[big_teee]

Yes he had at least 2 threads, on the SGs.
In the first one I recommended pots, caps and pickups.
He wouldn't follow anyones suggestions.
On a passive setup that is all that is envolved.
First you try the caps and pots?
If that doesn't fix it you go to underwound pickups.
I hate anyone gets rid of a perfectly good guitar without trying pots, caps and pickups!
You live and learn.
T

[rjb]

Unsolicited advice

Yes, math tells us the 300K pots are out of spec.
300K +/- 20% = 240K-360K.

But they would be in spec as 250K pots.
250K +/- 20% = 200K-300K.

So, what to do?
Label them with actual values, and toss them in your junk box.
Done.
Haven't you got more important things to worry about?

Take care,
-rb

ps- Note that a pot 250K nominal value pot with 300K measured value would be within spec- as would a 300K nominal pot with 240K measured. In other words, a "250K" pot can have a higher actual value than a "300K" pot. Funny how that goes with wide-tolerance components.

[Justin Thomas]

One of the first things I do on almost every guitar is replace the friggin pots & switches, cause they all come with garbage anymore. I have no qualms about drilling a bigger hole, either... I get a nice CTS and toss the junk. Though, I don't seem to have the tolerance issues many seem to have; mine rarely seem to vary by over 10%, usually less in the 250/500k ranges.

No, I don't hack vintage instruments like this...

Justin

[Sea Chief]

Don't you already have 2 threads about this same issue?

no- this is not to do with the gtr itself as I dont have that SG i said above for goodness sake. I want to know about a part I took from that gtr / pots / to poss go in s'thing else.

So, another rude post from you (go read the other threads if you must).

[Why the heck this guy is deemed a moderator is a joke. He's post juvenile &/ or rude replies on every one of the few threads Ive posted, then sends aggressive PM's].

Mods please make note of this (proper mods, with experience.. not fewer posts than me being a relative newcomer myself- a moderator with 780 posts???? what????).

Thanks. SC

[big_teee]

I agree with Justin.
I put CTS Quarter sized pots in everything.
I have a country player that plays Teles, with Single coils.
He always wants 250s in the volume with a 1 meg in the tone with a .047uf cap.
He likes having a larger roll off of the tone, but still has the volume tone of a 250k.
On regular Humbuckers, nearly everyone puts in 500k posts with .022-.050uf caps.
Also with gibson guitars with mahogany necks they can be quite dark, so the 500k pots really help with that.
T

[Sea Chief]

Big tee- dont bother reply on my threads pls. Ive said before: I dont take or read yr advice as you are also invariably rude as you prove once again here.

Nice folks on this forum..

[Sea Chief]

Haven't you got more important things to worry about?

charming.

[Sea Chief]

Please correct me if I'm wrong folks, but I think most guitar pots are +- %20. So 219K is only a little out of tolerance. I had a strat with a 200K "250K" volume pot a while ago, and I replaced the pot, but I couldn't hear the difference, whereas substituing a 500K for a 250K or 300K pot makes a difference I find quite noticable.

It seems a little late for this if 500K pots didn't satisfy, and you already sold the guitar, no?

Yes, as I said the gtr is gone. I have no Qs re the gtr (understand this John_H?).

The thread's to do with a part from this gtr. specifically the two gibson-labelled CTS vol pots which I see on the gibson specs are meant to be 300K...... which I want to use somewhere else (saving me £6) but just wanted to know if they were ok. Basically that's all (plus why such a big discrepency if used by gibson).

[big_teee]

You're playing the victim again.
You ask silly questions, and then get upset that guys call you on it.
This question and thread was unnecessary.
Learn to use google.
T

[J M Fahey]

Yes, as I said the gtr is gone. I have no Qs re the gtr (understand this John_H?).

The thread's to do with a part from this gtr. specifically the two gibson-labelled CTS vol pots which I see on the gibson specs are meant to be 300K...... which I want to use somewhere else (saving me £6) but just wanted to know if they were ok. Basically that's all (plus why such a big discrepency if used by gibson).

You call yourself a liar because fully half (or more) of your OP is talking about said guitar and its sound ("dark" as you claim):

Gibson SG- odd vol pots.

Had a faded SG which was daaaark. So I took out the stock B300k vol pots (back never opened & all pots gibson embossed: no evidence all 4 not the orig pots) & popped in B500k's & a better cap accordingly/ 50's wiring etc. Slight improvement in the highs. The tone not the issue here/ still v. dark so SG sold on.

But when I measure those pots I have here.. they read 219k and 223k!? (no bloody wonder it was dark).

Is this huge discrepency to be expected for a B300k? or likely they are in fact B250k, and gibson QC is in question-?

Thanks SC.

All highlighted text refers to the guitar, not the pots.

If you don't want to talk about something then you start by not talking about it.
Is it that difficult?

[pdf64]

I very much doubt that Gibson make the pots (or any of the guitar bits and bobs) and so it may be unrealistic to expect them to verify the key spec of every individual part they buy in.
Good practice may be to check the easily measurable parameters of 1% or 0.1% of the batch at goods in; if ok they go into the parts bins then the guitar.
If the controls work at final test then it's good to go.
My guess is that CTS (or whoever made the pots) may have had a bad run of 300k tracks and fell short of the number Gibson had ordered, so made up the shortfall with regular 220k/250k tracks and hoped no-one would catch them out.

[Sea Chief]

Wow what decent folks you all are! so charming, friendly and polite. Thanks so much for the replies and help.

Apparantly I've "received an infraction" via PM from John-H !! Right so, obviously there's difinite picking on/ against me from you three. How sad & pathetic you feel the need to do this. I simply asked a question, and such mean & vitriolic replies? just the nature of the www I put it down to, tho I have a strong feeling (from experience I smell it a mile off) the reason for these mean-spirited posts twds me are anti-semitic. I get this feeling before xmas and I get it again now- strongly.

Big-tee, John-H and JMFahey (I "call myself a liar" do I? erm.. what on earth are you talking about? this is quite hilarious).. how about just leaving me alone, leaving my posts alone/ just refrain from replying on any thread I write? you don't really paint yourselves in a very good light tbh.

SC.