Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

[roglf1]

Was wondering if any one knew what size pots & caps Eric Clapton had in his Gibson SG when he was in Cream?

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

Consensus I've heard is 500k with .022 on the bridge, .015 on the neck pickup. But I'm not an authority on that detail, and not sure anyone is. The one person who might know is Todd Rundgren. He owned it for a significant period of time and had to work on it to repair/maintain it.

[roglf1]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

yeah I had read somewhere once of a .015 cap being used but I had the impression it was on the bridge & neck but I am not for sure. Hoping someone knows for sure. Pretty sure the pots where 500k but was looking for verification on that to. yeah I knew Todd had it but I thought he still owned it? Who owns it now if he doesn't. I always wished I had it. Loved the way it looked & sounded.

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

I think a .015 on the bridge and .022 on the neck would make them too far apart in tone when rolled off. Wouldn't make for effective mixing of the two pickups. I would expect having the brighter cap on the neck would bring the two pickups closer together in tone when rolled off equally. I usually keep identical values across pickups, however, and use physical raising/lowering of the pickups to get tonal balance between them.

[roglf1]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

yeah that's not what I said but it was probably .015 on the neck & .022 on the bridge

[Oinkus]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

That is most likely or both were .022 remember people didn't really change things very much back then.

[jeremy]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

I would assume whatever was stock in it when it came from the factory

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

That is most likely or both were .022 remember people didn't really change things very much back then.

Maybe, but Clapton was a tone chaser and did work on his guitars. Note the covers pulled off the pickups in these photos.

[jeremy]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

pulling off covers is a little different than swapping caps

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pot & cap in Eric Clapton guitar?

pulling off covers is a little different than swapping caps

Still have to partially disassemble the guitar and get the solder iron out to do it. Seems like a similar level of effort to me.