Nobel pots: what does the LPF think? (photos inside)

[ArthurS]

I know CTS has been the preferred pot manufacturer on the LPF for a long time, but to be quite honest I have been fairly disappointed in their quality and tolerances recently. Two of the four CTS pots I got from Black Rose for my LP have had the shaft breaking loose when trying to remove a knob, and the same thing happened on my G&L Legacy again yesterday. What's worse, the two new CTS pots I got for the same guitar all read more than 10% below their rated 250k - very annoying, but not suprising as CTS quotes a TWENTY percent tolerance for their pots :wha. From what I read on the Gear Page, many others have also been having issues with CTS pots.


Anyway, a while ago I read someone somewhere who praised the "Nobel" pots that are made in Japan. He and his luthier friend felt these were the best pots around because of their taper, high quality build and strict tolerances. Inspired by the CTS-issues, I got one from a drawer that was originally in my 2003 Japanese Tokai. I was surprised by how nice the taper felt so I decided to disassemble it and have a look:

Pot still assembled. I learned to solder on these pots, so that's why there are these hugs blobs of solder

Can removed:

Side, looks to be a fairly solid resistive element:

Three feet. Seem solid and provide a very nice feel:

Other side:

I'm not an expert, but these look to be very nicely made to me. Also, I measured the resistance of the only two audio taper Nobels I have, and they read 496 and 499kOhm! Might be lucky, but quite impressive. And to top it off, they only cost EUR3.50 over here, compared to about EUR6 for CTS, so I think I might go and pick some up for the Legacy.

Anyone have any thoughts about these pots and their quality?

 

[pepejara]

If they are what I think, two of them died on me when soldering... perhaps they are not the same pots, but look so...

 

[ArthurS]

If they are what I think, two of them died on me when soldering... perhaps they are not the same pots, but look so...

Really? These specific pots have seen a LOT of very amateuristic soldering (mine, while experimenting with many different pickups, wires and caps) and every single one still works flawlessly.

 

[pepejara]

The lettering is similar... do they weight much less than cts?...and the movement of the taper is loser?

regards

 

[ArthurS]

The lettering is similar... do they weight much less than cts?...and the movement of the taper is loser?

regards

They don't seem to be much lighter than CTS, but I don't have any CTS pots here at the moment to do a direct comparison (they're all in my guitars). The movement of the taper isn't so much looser as it is smoother. On newer CTS pots it feels as if I'm grinding over rough rocks so to speak; these require about as much force to rotate (maybe a tiny bit less), but it just feels less rough.

 

[arievds]

Arthur,

I'd like to test these pots. Where can I get them? ( I am also in NL ).

MTIA,

Kindest Regards,

Arie
.

 

[ArthurS]

Arie: Vox Humana sells them (or at least ones that look tremendously similar).

 

[dmt]

Interesting. I'd like to hear from more knowledgeable forum members than I. I would be interested in long lasting pots with a nice taper, built to close tolerances (and that even cost less). I guess the questions are; are they all built to close tolerances, and how long, considering the materials/construction, would they be expected to last...