what size volume pot should I use

[punkykatt]

Hey Guys, I have a strat and I want to change the bridge pup to a humbucker. Do I need to change the volume pot to 500k? Will the single coils sound too thin with the 500k?

Thank,s Punky

[G._Hoffman]

Hey Guys, I have a strat and I want to change the bridge pup to a humbucker. Do I need to change the volume pot to 500k? Will the single coils sound too thin with the 500k?

Thank,s Punky

You can use anything you want, really.  Traditionally, of course, you would use 250k's for Fender guitars, and 500k's for Gibsons.  Though Fender sometimes used 1 Meg pots (Jazzmasters and such).  But that doesn't mean they won't work with the other values.  It just sounds a bit different.  Higher values tend to sound brighter. 

As for your particular situation, I would recommend you try them both and see which one you like more, but personally I'd start with the 250k.  The longer scale of a Strat makes it a bit brighter anyway, so you may as well at least try the darker pot.  But eventually, you should try them both.


Gabriel

[punkykatt]

Gabriel,  Thanks for the good advise.

[jjasilli]

If you plan to coil tap the humbucker, you could split the differencwe and maybe try a 300k audio taper pot.

Also, strat wiring causes the pu's to load one another, while gibson wiring uses the resistance of the vol pots to isolate the pu's from one another.  No solution is required but I prefer to isolate the pu's. IMHO it improves clarity and eliminates muddiness.  The solution I use (which I think is from www.guitarnuts.com), is to use a resistor in series with each +PU lead to the Strat SW.  Using the Rule of 10's a resistor 1/10th or less of the value of the pot should not alter the operation of the circuit, but will decouple the pu's.  I use 10K.  There's no current to speak of, so wattage rating is irrelevant.

[bigdaddy]

It also has to do with whether or not you actually use the volume control. I have seen guitar players only use the volume control to turn their guitar off.

You can experiment with different values and resistor and resistors with caps in parallel over the tabs on the pot. There's a lot of tone to be squeezed out. I never realized it until I started building my own designs. I either used an LP or an ES335 or for a short time strats. I never mixed and matched pickups like I have over the last 10 years. That's when I found out how the volume control and tone control can dictate so much change in tone. Were it's hooked up and what values can make drastic changes in how the guitar sounds. Unless you use a wall of 100 watt Marshalls....

I also have noticed that with the tone controls, especially on my slide guitars, I use the tone control to take off some highs to get rid of some of that squeak from the slide and strings when I miss a finger mute. I found out that were the tone control is affects the output of the guitar. Also not only whether you attenuate the highs, even what frequency you are attenuating. Adding that resistor and cap in conjunction with the tone control setup can make for some interesting guitar tones.

The 250K pot should be fine.

I also use some of those stacked pots in my guitars so I can add more knobs without cutting holes in my bodies.