Custom pots/Jensen capacitors - anyone tried these?

[Philly Q]

The only thing wrong with RS Guitarworks is that they charge a bloody fortune for international shipping.

[darkbluemurder]

I have bought two of their kits and did not notice a noticeable improvement with the pots - I probably had good pots to start with. The pots they used on the two kits were very stiff and hard to turn. I had much better experience with the pots available in the BKP shop here. Of the four 550k pots I bought two of them turn smoothly and easily - the other two are still waiting to be installed.

Glad to see they offer the Jensens now - the Hovland Musicaps are good but not better (only different) than Xicon MPPs or Mallory M150 (or other metalised polyester caps) in terms of tone IMHO.

Cheers Stephan

[AJM]

The only thing wrong with RS Guitarworks is that they charge a bloody fortune for international shipping.

They cost a bloody fortune state-side too. Also I don't think and I can recommend RS in good conscious at this point. The .015uf cap on the Neck pickup had the lug bust off. It was less than a year old when it happened and so I got a hold of them to get a replacement and they pretty much ignored me. Got a .015uf Vitamin Q cap by Sprague off Ebay and I have to admit that I like it much better than the Jensen. I used to roll my tone pot back to 1 with the Jensen but with the Vitamin Q I could roll my tone back to 3 or so and get the same tone. It also sounds a bit deeper and warmer than the Jensen.

[Philly Q]

Interesting info, guys. 

I was only really interested in the RS pre-wired kits through sheer laziness, I'm perfectly capable of doing my own wiring really.   :oops:

I think next time I do some re-wiring I'll try the BKP pots.  I've read a couple of times now that they're not as stiff-feeling as the usual CTS pots, which sounds like a distinct improvement.  Haven't really tried any up-market caps, apart from one Hovland MusiCap.  I usually just use Orange Drops.

[darkbluemurder]

I usually just use Orange Drops.

Nothing wrong with them at all. The 600V caps may be a bit big as 0.1uf or 0.047uf but they are good quality. One reason why I like the Xicon MPPs is their small size - no fitting problems at all.

Cheers Stephan

[fbloke]

STOP PRESS - just got the 335 back from the repairman with the 550k custom pots and Jensen capacitors fitted.

Excellent investment.

The tonal characteristics of the guitar were thankfully the same, the quality just improved a good 50%.  Basically I have more of everything with incredible clarity and depth.  It's like someone took a guitar that was already outstanding and waved a magic wand over it.  I'm very happy with the mod and warmly recommend it to all.