Guitars that get dark when turned down.

[Chuck H]

If the bushing length and shaft type are a problem, you could probably do wafer transplant surgery with a Bourns pot. I do this sort of thing regularly for otherwise unobtanium pots.

I do wafer transfers on the back of dual gang 16mm's all the time. If you're doing wafer transfers on single gangs of this varaiety I'd be interested in your technique for loosing/removing the wiper from the swedged and crimped post to access the resistive element wafer and then reattaching the wiper after the wafer transfer.

[Greg Robinson]

I do wafer transfers on the back of dual gang 16mm's all the time. If you're doing wafer transfers on single gangs of this varaiety I'd be interested in your technique for loosing/removing the wiper from the swedged and crimped post to access the resistive element wafer and then reattaching the wiper after the wafer transfer.

I'll try and remember to get some photos to share next time I do it. In the meantime I'll snap some photos of the tools I use. Out of the workshop right now, I'll try and post tomorrow.

[Greg Robinson]

Rather than hijack this thread, I've made a dedicated one. Anyone interested in wafer swaps, look here.

[rockman627]

Originally posted by rockman627 View Post
How are the Les Paul and PRS avoiding this? Is it scatterwinding the pickups as some claim?



They don't.
But as they produce less treble, the amp might be adjusted differently or the difference is less noticeable.
Using a 1M vol. pot definitely requires a treble bleed cap.
What's the recommended pot value with your TV Jones Filtertrons?

Also the treble loss reduces with a lower capacitance guitar cable.

I did some experimenting last night and here's my findings and opinions: The LP and PRS have a really sharp pick attack when full up. As you turn down, you retain a good pick attack (but not as much); but the other frequencies do get darker. Since there is still a good pick attack, I interpreted this as no effect. My guitars with treble bleeds maintained the same pick attack and frequencies, as long as you picked a good resistor/cap combo. The guitars I felt got darker had their pick attack soften.

[rockman627]

I ended up using 500k linear for volume and 1meg audio for tone. I put some humbuckers on two other guitars and found that linear pots work well for volume and treble bleeds aren't even necessary.

[Chuck H]

I ended up using 500k linear for volume and 1meg audio for tone. I put some humbuckers on two other guitars and found that linear pots work well for volume and treble bleeds aren't even necessary.

I have to be honest. This makes no sense. A potentiometer wired as a voltage divider can only demonstrate a resistance ratio. It will be the same for a linear or an audio taper except that the ratio divisions will be at different settings. There is absolutely nothing about the pot taper that can improve treble retention at an equal ratio. In other words...

A linear taper pot set for 250k series / 250k load will sound EXACTLY the same as an audio taper pot set for 250k series / 250k load. That's just the facts. The number on the knob will be different but that will ABSOLUTELY be the only difference.

[rockman627]

I understand what you're getting at, nonetheless, this is what happened. Previously on my Tele with Filtertrons, with the audio taper pot the treble rolled off almost completely at around 8 and the volume went down a lot also. Now the treble retains all the way down and the volume tapers very evenly. But I did do something different: as per Fralin's Les Paul wiring diagram I connected lug 2 of the volume pot to lug 2 of the tone pot and put the cap from lug 1 to ground.

[Chuck H]

Ah. That would be "50's wiring". It does buy you a couple to a few dB of HF at the pickups own resonant peak. Sometimes this works better than others depending on the pickup. Glad it worked for you. But trust me that the pot taper isn't responsible for the retention of HF when rolled off. But it is certainly a user preference so if you like the linear taper it's all good.