Bunch o' re-hashed tech questions

I've got some tech questions that have been discussed on here ad nauseum, but here I go anyway.

I'm going to put different p/u's in my Classic- probably SD '59 & Custom. Anwho, figured while I'm at it, I may as well re-pot it & the Custom at the same time.

- I understand 500k pots are the way to fly for both tone & volume. Which taper- audio or linear?

- Some of y'all have yakked about different capacitors. Recommendations? Tonal differences between em?

- Anyone tried the 1 meg volume pots that Torres has? What do y'all think of them? Sound interesting, but don't know enough about them.

Thanks.

(re) hash and pot...

Back on the hash and pot...

As to the pot taper issue, most prefer audio (or "log") taper volume and tone pots, although one or two around here have mentioned a preference for linear tones and one even liked using a linear volume.

Regarding capacitors, maybe check the thread in the Sunburst area titled "Gudemans gone.........what now?"

As to issue of using a larger value pot, for a while I have been trying in my R9 the AllParts CTS built 1 Meg audio pot. It will definitely help get the maximum zing out of any stronger pickup. I would expect the one offered by Torres would perform similarly.

While we are on the subject, if you really want to go for the absolute maximum pickup response, I came across a source for some good pots suitable for a LesPaul that are not 1 but 2 Meg audio taper, yep count 'em 2 Meg. They have a split knurled shaft and threaded bushing similar to the CTS stuff, an unusual stash that must have been left hiding somewhere for some time, adds a bit of meaning to the term "new-old-stock". From the seven digit code they are pots made by StackPole way back in .... 1964 !

pots & stuff

Brian, what do you mean by 'maximum zing'? Will a larger value pot make the tone brighter? Looks like I'm going w/relatively mellow p/u's (Alnico 2 Pros) & my understanding is that the p/u's output is somehow a variable in all this.

The larger value pot puts less of a load on the pickup, so basically it allows whatever tone and subtleties that are already there to emerge better.

If using a higher output pickup with a ceramic magnet (Duncan Distortion, 500T), there will probably be just simply more of everything, upper frequency response, more life and clarity.

However if using a more moderate to lower output pup, the results may be more subtle. Some have reported that going to a large enough value pot may introduce a kind of brittle edge to the tone that they may not care for. The best overall compromise is probably 500K pots.
Unfortunately the Alnico II Pro is one SD model I haven't had a chance to get familiar with so I really can't say much. From it's specs I wouldn't expect it to make much of a noticeable difference to try larger value pots.

It occurred to me that if you wanted to give it a try without actually getting a 1Meg pot, it should be possible to temporarily rewire two 500K pots in series (ie. use two volumes or a volume and tone combined, with one pickup) to approximate having a 1Meg volume pot...

Now THERE'S a great idea! Specially with the tone pot on my neck pup clipped, the more clarity the better. Nice one BG!

Hey ya like that one Sean? Should I do-a-Dimarzio and get a trademark? :doh

Well then what you could do is... Start by undoing the connection between the third terminal of your volume pot and the pot body, that is disconnect the third terminal from signal ground. Make sure the body of the pots are still connected to signal ground.
Then have the second pot with it's third terminal going to signal ground and then run a wire between the third terminal of your original volume pot and the MIDDLE terminal of the second pot.

Start by rotating the second pot down to 0. This would connect the second pot's middle and third terminals effectively taking it out of the circuit leaving just your original volume control. If you then bring your original volume up to 10, you would have the full 500K load (or whatever it actually measures) on the pickup. Then, reach for the second pot and start turning it up. If you go part way you may get say a total of 750K, if you go full up the total would be around 1Meg. You might be able to dial in some subtle inbetween differences instead of just going directly from 500K to 1M.
Actually this might be even better to try with one of the 2 Meg NOS Stackpole pots I recently discovered for the second pot.

...The fun almost never ends... spin