Wiring question; replacing 250K pots with 500K for 'buckers

[picker]

Hey guys, when you switch p/ups from single coil to humbuckers, I understand that it's best to change the pots to 500K. What I want to know is, do you need to replace the tone pots as well as the volume pots, or is it just the volume pots?

[Larryz]

500k for humbuckers and 250k for singles is a good rule of thumb for volume pots. I have an LP Jr that came stock with a 500k pot and orange drop cap on a single coil P90? So, breaking the rules must be OK.  When I changed my pups on a favorite guitar humbucker to humbucker, I used Gibson 500k "audio taper" pots on the volume and tone, 22iu Orange drop caps and matching USA 57 Gibson humbuckers. I also upgraded the 3way to Switchcraft.  Everything was pre-approved by my tech who did the swaps.  Good luck Picker and I'm sure others will chime in...😎

[Caevan O’Shite]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:58 AM, picker said:

Hey guys, when you switch p/ups from single coil to humbuckers, I understand that it's best to change the pots to 500K. What I want to know is, do you need to replace the tone pots as well as the volume pots, or is it just the volume pots?

Short answer: yes.

Humbuckers will generally sound livelier, crisper, brighter with 500k pots for volume and tone, than they will with 250k pots. The higher resistance provides a better 'wall' between the pickups and ground, letting less treble frequencies seep through to ground.

If your humbuckers sound too bright with 500k tone pots, though, try the 250k, or 300k.

Consider a "No Load" tone-pot, as well- the tone-pot is cut out of the circuit completely when all the way up, and only becomes part of the circuit as you initially roll it back a little.


If the tone-control takes out too much treble, upper-mids, and even mids when you turn it down, try a lower value capacitor on the tone-pot.

If you want it darker and digging deeper into the upper-mids and mids when you roll back the tone-knob, go with a higher value capacitor on the tone-pot.


Let us know how things go for you, @picker- keep us posted!
    
  

[KuruPrionz]

^^^ What Caevan said ^^^

[picker]

So, if I replace the 250k volume pot with 500K on a two-pot circuit, it isn't necessary to replace the 250K tone pot to get the same brightening effect?

 

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, picker said:

So, if I replace the 250k volume pot with 500K on a two-pot circuit, it isn't necessary to replace the 250K tone pot to get the same brightening effect?

 

Too many variables. Humbucker and single coil are both pretty vague terms. There are many different sizes and shapes of both pickups and they do sound different.

Some humbuckers are very bright and others will never be bright. The same is true to a certain extent of single coil pickups. 

The shape of the pickup is a factor, number of winds is a factor, the gauge of the wire is a factor, the type of magnets is a factor, which guitar the pickups are mounted in is a factor. 

Generally speaking, a P-90 single coil pickup won't be as bright as a humbucker that is made to fit a strat single coil position in the neck, Gretsch and TV Jones pickups are generally much brighter than Gibson style humbuckers, the high output Gibson shaped humbucking pickups with huge magnets and coils are much less bright, I could go on...

 

If you told us exactly which pickups you had and what you are wanting to switch to, it would be easier to discuss this project. 😇

 

I recommend you try the 500k volume pot and see where that gets you. Then if you want more brightness you can try the 500k tone control. If that doesn't get you there you could rewire the humbucker in parallel instead of series, you'll lose output but you'll gain some chime. Those are all universally true but the differences could be subtle.