Tone Pot Question

[russell]

My Irish tour in the bridge of my strat is wired to a tone pot, which I want to increase to 500k. Can anyone recommend anywhere that does these in the UK?

[Twinfan]

Greetings  :)

I usually use:

www.axesrus.co.uk
www.wd-music.co.uk

The Bare Knuckle Pickups webshop also sells them:  BKP Shop

:)

[Philly Q]

WD or Allparts are great - you can get audio or linear taper, even the Fender style pots with a "hollow" back:

http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/CTS_Premium_500k_Split_Shaft_Pot_CTS500

http://www.allparts.uk.com/500k-audio-split-knurled-shaft-p-1728.html?p=product

http://www.allparts.uk.com/500k-linear-split-knurled-shaft-p-1733.html?p=product

http://www.allparts.uk.com/500k-audio-split-knurled-shaft-vintage-style-back-p-1731.html?p=product

[russell]

The Bare Knuckle Pickups webshop also sells them:  BKP Shop

:)

How stupid of me. I never realised. Would the ones they sell all fit into a Strat?

[Twinfan]

Yep, they will  :)

[russell]

Wow, thanks for your help so far. Just one more stupid question. I'm looking at the CTS pots they sell here at the BK Shop. What's gonna be the major difference/benefits/issues with a ¾" shaft and the differences between a regular, push-pull and push-push type?

Again, thanks for your help so far.   

[Philly Q]

The long ¾" shaft is strictly for things like Les Pauls with thick arched tops - you only need the shaft to be long enough to go through a thin scratchplate.

Push-pull and push-push pots are regular pots with switches added on to them.  By pulling up (or pushing down) a volume or tone knob you can do most of the things you could do with a separate mini-switch - coil-splitting, series/parallel switching, phase switching etc - but without changing the appearance of the guitar. 

If you just want standard Strat wiring you'll need regular, short-shaft pots - nothing fancy! 

[russell]

The long ¾" shaft is strictly for things like Les Pauls with thick arched tops - you only need the shaft to be long enough to go through a thin scratchplate.

Push-pull and push-push pots are regular pots with switches added on to them.  By pulling up (or pushing down) a volume or tone knob you can do most of the things you could do with a separate mini-switch - coil-splitting, series/parallel switching, phase switching etc - but without changing the appearance of the guitar. 

If you just want standard Strat wiring you'll need regular, short-shaft pots - nothing fancy! 

Thanks so much for your help. So the one I'm really looking for is the '500K CTS with hardware'?

[Philly Q]

So the one I'm really looking for is the '500K CTS with hardware'?

That's the chap!  :)

[russell]

Sincerest Thanks! :D

[Bob Johnson]

If you are just switching the pot to get more top you can do this without changing the tone pot. Fit a "treble bleed" or Hi pass filter (same thing) i.e. something like a 0.001uf cap and possibly a 100k resistor in series with the cap (Tim Will know the values to use better than I do) across the hi and wiper legs of your volume pot. Using a high value tone pot can result in everything happening in the first 10% - 20% of travel, especially if you don't change the value of the tone cap, but it's all a matter of trying different things to get what you want. It makes being a guitar player a lot more interesting! :) Gimme a bell if you need to talk it through.

[russell]

If you are just switching the pot to get more top you can do this without changing the tone pot. Fit a "treble bleed" or Hi pass filter (same thing) i.e. something like a 0.001uf cap and possibly a 100k resistor in series with the cap (Tim Will know the values to use better than I do) across the hi and low legs of your volume pot. Using a high value tone pot can result in everything happening in the first 10% - 20% of travel, especially if you don't change the value of the tone cap, but it's all a matter of trying different things to get what you want. It makes being a guitar player a lot more interesting! :) Gimme a bell if you need to talk it through.

Thanks for that. I'm actually forced to change one of my tone pots anyway because it's broken, so I was thinking of getting something that would enable me to get a little more treble from the Irish Tour. Like you say, it's just experimenting, and certainly sticking the BK in the bridge (my first mod.) has given me the customising bug. The stuff about fitting a 'treble bleed' does sound a bit daunting for me, on a purely practical level.

[Bob Johnson]

I don't know what you've got fitted right now but the volume pot is just as much to blame for treble loss as the tone pot. Basically lower impedance pots tend to "leak" top / high mid frequencies to ground more that higher impedance pots do. The pay back for using high value pots is the loss of control you can experience.The compromise is to use a pot that gives you some degree of linearity i.e. control knob position relative to audible output without losing tone. This isn't always possible to do to a satisfactory level so this is where little tweaks like a hi-pass filter come into their own. If you are remotely handy with a soldering iron I can send you some bits and a diagram courtesy of Legra guitars.

Cheers,

[russell]

What I have is the stock bottom 250k tone knob wired to my bridge pup (an Irish Tour). Unfortunately the tone pot got damaged while I was trying to fit a Graph Tech knob onto it that clearly didn't want to go (my stupidity for forcing the issue, but why Graph Tech sell Strat style knobs that don't fit Strats is a bit of a mystery!) Anyway, seeing as how I'd need to buy a new pot anyway i just thought I'd try a different grade. This isn't really because I need one, rather that I'm just curious. Reading what you're saying, I think I'll just stick with a 250k one and leap into the realms of hi-pass filters and the like, once I'm a bit more confident attempting mods such as that. I'll definitely take you up on your kind offer once that time comes though. Seriously, thanks!!! :D