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Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
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Author:  xgabrielx [ Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
I mean, if you always play with the volume at full, does it matter. I know people say some signal still goes to ground through the pot, but my guitar has a selector switch where the first two positions are #1 bridge pickup with all controls disconnected, and #2 bridge pickup with controls in circuit, and nobody can hear a difference at all.
I plan on replacing my pots with better quality ones, for feel, and because for some reason I have a linear volume pot and logarithmic tone pot (though I could just switch them, but they feel cheap to turn) so...Does resistance matter in my case?
And can anyone recommend some good quality pots that feel solid and never get scratchy. The Alpha ones are obviously horrible, but the CTS have gotten a bit shabby lately.
Author:  David Collins [ Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
It does make a bit of difference. Not as huge as some make of it, but if you switch in real time, you can notice some effect.

http://youtu.be/W8dp9clGe-I

I still think CTS pots are among the best available, and especially prefer the feel of their vintage style housings, which have a different back/shaft/wiper assembly that yields a smoother feel for my tastes.

This video is part of a series of 6, and videos 2 & 3 go more in to effects of different tapers for tone and volume of you have the time to watch them.
Author:  xgabrielx [ Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
I actually watched them an hour or so ago. I don't notice a difference on my guitar, so I may have wired the selector wrongly and still have some signal escaping to ground.
OR...The first position on the switch is connected directly to the jack, but the jack is connected to the controls. D'oh. Now I think about it...that doesn't isolate the controls at all. They probably even still function as controls. I wish I had a working amp around to check, but I'm sure I'm right.
I think I have a spare pole on the switch that I can use to just switch in the controls on the other 4 positions. It's been forever since I modded this guitar. I wasn't even out of my teens. But the diagram I drew is still around somewhere. I'll have to check.
I've had one or two CTS pots lately that were scratchy and felt a bit cheap. I'd heard they'd moved production to china, but I think it's more likely that China just makes knock-offs, given their views on copyright and trademarks. I'll just buy some and see. They're not exactly pricy.

Ahh, nope. I haven't seen those videos. I'll watch them. The ones I saw were where the guy has different pots on sheets of cardboard, and compares his original pots, with CTS and Bournes
Author:  David Collins [ Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
Oh, and although I know I'm the one who said to keep all your original topics separate, :oops: you did post another question on stainless steel frets.

If you do watch those videos, the test guitar used in all of them has a special fret job. All the frets are Jescar wire of the same size, but six of its frets were randomly selected (numbers drawn out of a bowl) to be stainless with the remaining sixteen standard nickel. I know these videos aren't the ideal test venue for trying to hear a difference, but so far no one who has played it in person has been able to identify the odd ones out either.
Author:  Ben-Had [ Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
I get mine here and I am very satisfied with the quality:

https://taweber.powweb.com/store/potsord.htm
Author:  dzsmith [ Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
Yes,
The smaller the pot resistance the more treble is reduced.
I cannot hear the difference between 250k and 500k pots, but the treble loss is there.
Dan
Author:  xgabrielx [ Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Does pot resistance REALLY matter?
David Collins wrote:
Oh, and although I know I'm the one who said to keep all your original topics separate, :oops: you did post another question on stainless steel frets.

If you do watch those videos, the test guitar used in all of them has a special fret job. All the frets are Jescar wire of the same size, but six of its frets were randomly selected (numbers drawn out of a bowl) to be stainless with the remaining sixteen standard nickel. I know these videos aren't the ideal test venue for trying to hear a difference, but so far no one who has played it in person has been able to identify the odd ones out either.


I'm switching to stainless because of how fast I wear through nickel ones. If they sound the same, that's fine by me. As long as they don't sound worse. I've been playing an unplayable guitar so long my finger tips can bore through rock. I'm working on using a much, much lighter touch.
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