Beginners questions

[Mr. Air]

I'm making preparations for my Yamaha Pacifica make over which will include a Stormy Monday/Apache pickup set.

I also want to change the volume and tone pots plus the selecter switch. What pots should I buy? I'm all new to the guitar modding business so I realy haven't got much to go on. I'm looking for a vintage sound so I think 250k or 300k. Would that be right? What about a capacitor and would it be a good idea to get a mounting ring for the humbucker?

I hope some of you "old salts" out there can give some advice.

[Jonny]

There's a pickguard so you don't need a mounting ring. That's as 'old salt' I can be for you I'm afraid. Someone will chime in soon with more info.

[gingataff]

I think you'd be fine with 500k pots, I know some people prefer to use 500k on the volume and 250k on the tone in an HSS guitar but I always go for 500k on both.
If you feel the urge you can modify the taper using a resistor across the outer two lugs, for example to 400k which might be a nicer balance, check out this tutorial http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/potm.htm

As for the cap on the tone I use 0.022uF and that seems fine to me. It's more common to use 0.047uF for single coils so you could split the difference and see if you can find a 0.033uF but I haven't tried that yet.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Go for 500k pots - a good brand like CTS
USe a 0.022uF cap - and maybe a Sprague Orange drop one
An OAK or CRL 5 way switch (made in same factory) and a switchcraft jack will do just nicely
Should set you back about £20

The Apaches are nice warm sounding single coils , so the 500k pots wont make them overly bright IMO

Sounds like a great upgrade