Strat pot value question

[picker]

Hey, strat wiring question; I got some stacked single coils that are a tad on the dark side, tone wise. I'm told that a higher value pot, like a 1 meg, can brighten up the sound of a darker pickup. I do know that on the Fender Noiseless strat p/ups, they use at least one 1 meg pot. The question; on a strat, do all three pots need to be 1 meg to get that result, or can it be just the volume pot?

[Guitarzan]

Hey, strat wiring question; I got some stacked single coils that are a tad on the dark side, tone wise. I'm told that a higher value pot, like a 1 meg, can brighten up the sound of a darker pickup. I do know that on the Fender Noiseless strat p/ups, they use at least one 1 meg pot. The question; on a strat, do all three pots need to be 1 meg to get that result, or can it be just the volume pot?

 

anything in the chain is going to color your sound, when i had the p90 Godin i snipped on lead of the cap for the tone pot thus rendering the darkening effects of the cap on my full on mode. the tone pot was then useless but it brightened it up a noticeable amount. also test the pots because they vary so much,.. a 300 may only read 200 so even though you expect it to be brighter than a 250 it could be darker..."wtf?..it is a 300!"

[pinkjimiphoton]

as long as the volume pot is 1meg, the tone controls can be 500 or even 250 k and it may work. the 1 meg volume will add some air, possibly to the point where you'll dig them tone controls a little more.

 

i often use 1 meg pots to brighten up a too dark guitar, for me 500 is about the average..i like to have to roll my tone knobs back some tho, so i can add a little more presence if i do need it.

 

generally, if the guitar's too dark, go 500k-1meg. humbuckers tend to prefer about a 330k load.

if the guitar's too brite, go to 250k or even in extreme cases 100k pots...100k can make it seem like less output tho.