Components and prewired questions

[alex1fly]

Thanks for indulging my flurry of posts lately - after many years off from pickup tinkering, I'm getting back in to it and am hoping to reduce potential headaches

Pot sizing - how do you ensure that replacement pots will fit your existing holes? As in, the new shaft is the same width and length as the one you're replacing. It's nice to have a good fit without having to expand the hole.

Prewired components - I got a prewired harness from GFS a while back - Volume/Tone Push/Pull, 3-way switch. Both the volume and tone pots had their entire tonal range within like 0-3 on the pot, and 4-10 had no audible effect. Unlike every other guitar I've played where there is a consistent sweep from 0-10. Were these perhaps linear pots when they should they have been audio pots?

That's it for now!

Alex

[SoPhx]

If it's a Squier, you have to enlarge the holes for the controls if you want to use full-size pots. As far as a prewired GFS harness...ummm, just buy CTS/CRL/Switchcraft parts and make your own. It's very easy and that stuff will outlive you. I can't imagine a set of GFS controls is much of an upgrade.

[alex1fly]

If it's a Squier, you have to enlarge the holes for the controls if you want to use full-size pots. As far as a prewired GFS harness...ummm, just buy CTS/CRL/Switchcraft parts and make your own. It's very easy and that stuff will outlive you. I can't imagine a set of GFS controls is much of an upgrade.

Sure, wiring your own is certainly better. I was pretty stoked about pre-wired though just to save time & hassle, but was a little disappointed when they seemed to use pots that didn't have much of a range.

Are there standardized measurements for full size pots?

[AlexR]

Measuring is the way you find out what size you have. Pots either come in metric or imperial. The holes you have will tell you what diameter you have, and typically pickguards use short shaft.
Another aspect are knobs, as there are coarse and fine splines on the top end of the pots.....which will dictate the knobs you can use as they are not interchangeable.
There may well be 'pot resources' on the net if you search with diagrams to illustrate the variables I'm talking about.

[beaubrummels]

Thanks for indulging my flurry of posts lately - after many years off from pickup tinkering, I'm getting back in to it and am hoping to reduce potential headaches

Pot sizing - how do you ensure that replacement pots will fit your existing holes? As in, the new shaft is the same width and length as the one you're replacing. It's nice to have a good fit without having to expand the hole.

Prewired components - I got a prewired harness from GFS a while back - Volume/Tone Push/Pull, 3-way switch. Both the volume and tone pots had their entire tonal range within like 0-3 on the pot, and 4-10 had no audible effect. Unlike every other guitar I've played where there is a consistent sweep from 0-10. Were these perhaps linear pots when they should they have been audio pots?

That's it for now!

Alex

If both the volume and the tone, when used as volume and tone, only had an effect in a limited range of the pot, it’s possible the volume is audio taper and the tone is linear. Try reversing them and use the tone as the volume and the volume as the tone pot. (Move the tone cap over to the volume pot and wire the switch output to what was the tone pot.)

[SoPhx]

Sure, wiring your own is certainly better. I was pretty stoked about pre-wired though just to save time & hassle, but was a little disappointed when they seemed to use pots that didn't have much of a range.

Are there standardized measurements for full size pots?

I hear lots of complaints about pre-wired harnesses, so are you really saving time, hassle, and $$$? Soldering a few components is 9th grade shop stuff---I had my 10 yr old daughter doing it and she did a good job. Learn to do your own and you get what you want.

[Adieu]

Cheap USEABLE pots are ~$0.70 ea, so I shudder to think wth they sent you

[alex1fly]

Ha! Cheap junk, I imagine

[ArtieToo]

Almost every guitar I do, has cheap-ish import pots. I always upgrade to Bourns or CTS. For that, one of these is worth its weight in gold.

https://www.grainger.com/product/13H...P7A1P:20501231

A drill bit may chip and crack the finish. A chassis reamer like this will gently enlarge the hole. You take off so little material that you usually don't even need a handle. Once in a blue moon, I need to grab the end with pliers.

[solspirit]

Why do we still use audio taper pots?

[jeremy]

some people prefer audio taper pots. there are even different tapers available these days, 70/30 or 60/40. the mojo tone vintage taper pots are nice

[BluesIsBlood12]

To me, pre-wired can be very good (mojo tone and others) or very bad (like your GFS). As with most things, you get what you pay for.

[alex1fly]

Prewired for me adds a confidence factor. Whoever is professionally soldering even the cheap stuff is probably better than I am. So every time I wire something up I wonder "is this how it's supposed to sound?" regardless of the result, and while I have used my DIY cables and instruments at gigs, I've always brought backups just in case.

[Mincer]

Some pre-wired harnesses look great, and have awesome quality. But yes, you get what you pay for. Some people hire someone to clean their house or mow the lawn. Both are easy to do, but some people have the money and would rather not take the time to do it. If it is a good product, I have no problem with it.