PRS 57/08 questions

[ronh]

Can someone here please tell me why PRS puts a 3.3 M resistor across the volume pot
on guitars that come with their 57/08 model pickups? I know it will change the pot value. What would happen if it was removed? Thanks.

[David Schwab]

Probably to change the taper of the pot. It doesn't really change the value of the pot much. If we assume the pot is 500K, putting a 3.3M in parallel gives you 434,210K. But maybe he wanted a 400K pot? Removing it might make the guitar brighter, or change the taper when you turn it.

[Mike Sulzer]

Probably to change the taper of the pot. It doesn't really change the value of the pot much. If we assume the pot is 500K, putting a 3.3M in parallel gives you 434,210K. But maybe he wanted a 400K pot? Removing it might make the guitar brighter, or change the taper when you turn it.

I do not think it will change the taper much; for that the resistor needs to be connected to the slider (middle terminal). But it does make the guitar somewhat less bright by lowering the height of the resonant peak. This is a small effect, but tuning the sound with passive components is a well known technique and shows attention to detail.

[David Schwab]

I do not think it will change the taper much; for that the resistor needs to be connected to the slider (middle terminal).

That's right. I wasn't thinking about that the right way.