Guitar Potentiometers
In this series of articles and videos, I show how potentiometers work, demonstrate how the different tapers sound for guitar volume and tone, and explore in what situations you may want to replace your guitar’s pots. Enjoy!
When a pot is really just a pot
I’ve read stories of people saying how their guitar sound miraculously better after just changing to a different brand of pots. Are they just imagining it? Let’s investigate. In my earlier post Pickup experiment – bypassing electronics, I determined that entirely bypassing the electronics on my Epiphone Riviera P93 did marginally brighten up the sound. […]
More on selecting pots, and evaluating tapers
Here’s part 2 of my potentiometer project. In this one, I compare linear and audio tapers, and compare the different audio tapers of Alpha, JS, Bourns and CTS pots. Then I go over a bunch of other factors to consider when buying new pots- tolerances, dimensions, shaft types, etc.
This is not a drill!
Next up in the series on guitar pots, I demonstrate how to enlarge the holes in your semi-hollow body top, to accommodate the larger diameter 3/8” pot shafts. Import guitars appear to use slightly smaller 8mm or 5/16” shaft pots. In the video, I demonstrate using a Unibit stepped drill bit to cut very clean holes. Note […]
Pots, Wafers, Wipers, Shafts, Dimples
How do potentiometers actually work, and how are they built? In preparation for my tutorial on how to make a no-load tone pot, I dissected a couple pots (the same Bourns and CTS pots I’ve been looking at in my other videos). In this video, I explore the details of pot construction and how they […]
Relax, Take a Load Off
In this video I demonstrate how to modify a tone pot to be no load, for true bypass. The change in brightness is subtle, but worthwhile. Don’t be afraid to open up your pots and have a look – it’s pretty easy to do. But be forewarned, some pots are easier than others to put […]
Tone Pot Tapers
This is a quick video comparing linear and audio/log tapers for a tone control. I’m comparing a Bourns 500k audio taper pot (PDB241-GTR01-504A2) with a Philmore PC27 500k linear taper pot. The capacitor is a .022uF Orange Drop (225P100V 223K). I’ve wired the neck pickup directly to the jack with the tone pot in parallel, […]