lifebreath
New member
- Joined
- May 18, 2017
- Messages
- 10
Yes, at least in my case. I found the perfect balance with 300k volume and 500k tone pots rather than 500k all around.
My recently acquired '83 black Custom had the original Shaws with the 300K (actually measured 350k) volume and 100k ton pots of the era. I really liked the sound of the pickups, but they sounded a little muted and dark. I thought I'd make them shine by wiring up some nice CTS 525k pots (measured at 550k), Emerson caps and 50's wiring. The result was not what I expected and was just too shrill at the resonant peak. The charm of the pickups was lost. After the fact, I read some other accounts where people came to the same conclusion.
I suspected that returning to 300k volume pots and leaving the 525k tone pots and 50's wiring might get me what I was looking for. Rather than redo everything, I simply soldered a 1 meg resistor across terminals 1-3 of the 525k pot to effectively create a 345k pot. I left the rest of the circuit alone. BAM! The charm and unique character of the Shaws returned, but with more sparkle and clarity because of the reduced treble bleed through the 500k tone pots. The volume taper is a little accelerated, but I don't mind, since I like a quick cleanup with small movement of the dial. If it becomes bothersome, I'll put the original 300k pots back in.
Anyway, if anyone has Shaw humbuckers and wants to really release their mojo, I suggest to keep the 300k volume pots and replace only the 100k tone pots with 500k pots. Also, I used a 0.022 mfd cap for the bridge and a 0.015 mfd for the neck, which seems to be an improvement for the neck.
My recently acquired '83 black Custom had the original Shaws with the 300K (actually measured 350k) volume and 100k ton pots of the era. I really liked the sound of the pickups, but they sounded a little muted and dark. I thought I'd make them shine by wiring up some nice CTS 525k pots (measured at 550k), Emerson caps and 50's wiring. The result was not what I expected and was just too shrill at the resonant peak. The charm of the pickups was lost. After the fact, I read some other accounts where people came to the same conclusion.
I suspected that returning to 300k volume pots and leaving the 525k tone pots and 50's wiring might get me what I was looking for. Rather than redo everything, I simply soldered a 1 meg resistor across terminals 1-3 of the 525k pot to effectively create a 345k pot. I left the rest of the circuit alone. BAM! The charm and unique character of the Shaws returned, but with more sparkle and clarity because of the reduced treble bleed through the 500k tone pots. The volume taper is a little accelerated, but I don't mind, since I like a quick cleanup with small movement of the dial. If it becomes bothersome, I'll put the original 300k pots back in.
Anyway, if anyone has Shaw humbuckers and wants to really release their mojo, I suggest to keep the 300k volume pots and replace only the 100k tone pots with 500k pots. Also, I used a 0.022 mfd cap for the bridge and a 0.015 mfd for the neck, which seems to be an improvement for the neck.