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Correct potentiometers for my pickup choices

mrpinter

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Reality check please: for my current build I ordered a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom Trembucker, rated at DCR 14.8K, and an Alnico II Pro neck, rated at DCR 7.5K. I'll be doing a single volume and two tone controls. Should I use 500K pots for all three? Or would the Alnico II Pro take a 250K?
 
Up to you. I have 1 Megs on guitars equipped with Filtertrons, single coils and buckers. I prefer the higher value because you can dial in more of the resonant peak and get a more articulate tone. And backing off on the control a bit, will get the same tone as a lower value pot. IMO 250K's 'choke' the pickups too much.

Use 500K for all 3, IMO.
 
My recommendation would be 500k all around. If the neck single coil has too much bite then a 470k resistor run from its switch lug to ground will have the effect of "showing" it a roughly 250k load, taming it a bit. I do this a lot with SC/HB Teles, really works nicely. Or, since each pickup will have dedicated tone controls, you could always just roll that one back a smidge. There's a lot of conversation to be had on this subject, but generally speaking and within reason you have more options dealing with too much treble than you do trying to get more...
 
Firstly, the DCR rating of a pickup is an almost useless measure unless you are the guy winding the pickups, or you are trying to authenticate a particular model of pickup. Don't let the numbers factor in to your decision about anything.

As far as pot values go, it isn't a matter of choosing the "correct" value. There is a wide range of values that are appropriate for the given impedance, and so you may simply choose the value that fits your own taste. A lower value pot will have a warmer tone, and perhaps a slightly more usable taper, whereas a higher value pot will be brighter. The conventional wisdom is that very bright pickups, such as single coils, can benefit from being tamed out with 250k pots, whereas mellower pickups, like humbuckers, sound best when you preserve their frequency response with 500k pots. This is merely a suggestion, however, and tastes vary. If you don't have a particular preference, then you can always consult the manufacturer's website for their recommendations.

Someone suggested 1M pots; those are generally not very good, because the high resistance causes the taper to suffer. As you roll down from "10," the series resistance between the pickup and the output increases very quickly. 1M pots are especially bad on tone controls, where you basically have on/off switch behavior. It really depends on the pickups, though.
 
Sounds like you've settled now, but for future reference, I've wired up that exact same pickup combination many times, and depending on the guitar and player—playing style, tuning used, string gauge used, woods, etc—I install them with either a 300k and a 500k pot, or double 500k pots. I can't think of a time that I have or would ever use either 250k or 1meg pots with that pickup combination.

The A2P is a much lighter and clearer pickup than many people assume, so my pick for that is always the traditional combination of a 300k volume pot and a 500k tone pot.
The Custom Custom has been wrongly represented by Seymour Duncan for many years, but people are now starting to get a better idea of how it actually sounds: take the Pearly Gates, up the output to 150%, and you've got the Custom Custom. For people using lighter strings and more classic amps, a 300k volume pot works fine, but for users of medium or heavy strings and/or oversaturated amps, I wire the Custom Custom with 500k pots for both controls.

In cases where the pickups will share controls, I typically allow the Custom Custom to decide whether the volume is a 300k or 500k pot; it's usually preferable to accept a little added brightness on a neck pickup than to have a slightly muddier bridge pickup, so if the Custom Custom demands double 500k pots, that's what the A2P will just have to put up with.

As line6man says, 1meg pots aren't a great idea because the taper is so inconsistent, even with a linear pot. Even if people want the increased treble and output from higher-resistence pots, I always recommend using a 'no load' pot instead, which is a 250k or 500k pot that simply clicks 'off' at 10, or a bypass switch, rather than using a 1meg pot.
250k pots can be okay with the bridge version of the A2P, when used with an HSS pickup arrangement. It's just clear enough for it. I wouldn't put a 250k pot on the neck version, though, and I'd absolutely never use a 250k pot with the Custom Custom; you may as well roll the treble on your amp all the way to 0.
 
line6man said:
Firstly, the DCR rating of a pickup is an almost useless measure unless you are the guy winding the pickups, or you are trying to authenticate a particular model of pickup. Don't let the numbers factor in to your decision about anything.

I'm going to get this printed on a t-shirt.
 
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