Volume pot for vintage pickups?

[jalbertochavez]

Hey y'all. I'm gonna build a Strat pretty soon and I'm going for a vintage sound. I got a set of Fender Custom Shop 1969 pickups, but I'm wonderin' what would happen to the tone if I went with something stronger than a 250K volume pot. Would they sound a little stronger or would they start to shriek or sound shrill? I was just thinkin' of takin' it up to the next level and going for a 500K pot. Anyone ever experiment with this before?

 

[line6man]

500K pots divert less of the signal to ground, so thus, there is not as much treble loss.

250K versus 500K is strongly a personal preference, and being as pots are very cheap, it is best to try both to see what you prefer.

 

[tfarny]

It is going to be a small change at best, you'll get a touch more volume and a touch more treble response. Try it and see if you like it. Taking it to the next level might be a bit too much to expect - it's not a boost pedal or anything.

 

[jalbertochavez]

Thanks for the replies. By the way, what pickups have y'all used in your guitars when going for a 50/60s tone?

 

[pabloman]

Nice one from the archives. I'm not an affcianado or anything but I really think 50's strat tone is different from 60's tone. The 69's are good. So are the Fat 50's. Both are pretty good being corporate and all.

 

[Superlizard]

Hey y'all. I'm gonna build a Strat pretty soon and I'm going for a vintage sound.

If you're really going for a vintage sound, then wire it up like a vintage circuit... 250K's all around.