300k for Gibson, 500k for Duncan

[rainsong86]

Is that what works best for volume pots, on average? Every Gibson electric I have was made between 1995 and 2007 and have the 300k linear volume pots (and 500k audio tone pots). No complaints from me, and I like the volume taper. Every time I've put in Duncans I've gone with 500k pots and it's worked out great. I had a Duncan in a HSS setup before and I noticed the top-end loss from using 250k pots. Will Duncans still be 'darker' with 300k-330k pots? Anybody have any observations as per using common Gibson pups (490r/498t, 57 classics etc) with 500k volume pots as opposed to 300k?

[beaubrummels]

I prefer 500k. You can always make something darker with the tones, but you can’t recover brightness that isn’t there to begin with.

[hamerfan]

It has nothing to do with a certain brand, neck humbuckers tend to sound better with 500k, while with bridge humbuckers it depends on their treble content. With HSS I like a wiring that used a 500k volume but makes the Single Coils see 250k.

[eclecticsynergy]

Higher resistance pots give brighter tone. That's why Fender singlecoils normally get 250K pots, while humbuckers often have 500K.

That's typical but there really isn't a hard and fast rule.

A 250K pot can help tame an overly bright humbucker, and on occasion fat-sounding singles can do well even with 500K pots.
People have also chosen 1Meg pots to open up the highs of dark sounding pickups or guitars.

Generally 250K and 500K are fine. But sometimes other values can help tailor a specific guitar's voicing and pickups to your personal taste.

[Aceman]

Just use 500k for hum buckers, 250 for singles unless you know why you DON'T want to. Example: 250 for a JB to cut the harsh, or maybe a Distortion.

Pots CAN vary quite a bit from the rated number. Learn to measure with a meter. Two 500k pots could be one at 400 and one at 550. Suddenly the bridge is uber bright and the neck is kind of dark, or vice-versa.

As for Gibson, stupid is as stupid does. They made a decision 500 years ago when they were blasting through fender or Class A amps that were super bright so 300k made sense. Now...we know better. Tradition > Good sense.

[Securb]

I use 250s in my Super Strats with humbuckers. I play with darker tones and hate harshness. There is no right or wrong experiment and find out what you like.

[Wound_Up]

Just use 500k for hum buckers, 250 for singles unless you know why you DON'T want to. Example: 250 for a JB to cut the harsh, or maybe a Distortion.

Pots CAN vary quite a bit from the rated number. Learn to measure with a meter. Two 500k pots could be one at 400 and one at 550. Suddenly the bridge is uber bright and the neck is kind of dark, or vice-versa.

As for Gibson, stupid is as stupid does. They made a decision 500 years ago when they were blasting through fender or Class A amps that were super bright so 300k made sense. Now...we know better. Tradition > Good sense.

A 400k reading on a 500k pot is a 20% difference. Meaning it'd have a ±20% tolerance(40% total) and I've never seen one with tolerances that high. You usually see 30%(±15%) or less. So I doubt you'll ever find a modern 400k measured pot that's marked 500k. Now I could totally be wrong about this and am totally prepared to be. But I've never seen one with tolerances that wide.

As a comparison, the 500k pots I just bought were ±5% tolerance. All were between 500k and 525k.

That's a good case to show why you should always measure the pots you're removing and do what you can to replace them with like values if you're satisfied with the current tone and don't want it to change.

Also, I've got all 500k pots in my HSS Strat for the exact reason beaubrummels posted above.

You can always make something darker with the tones, but you can’t recover brightness that isn’t there to begin with.

[Aceman]

I'm just making up numbers - but the point stands. Quality companies, expensive pots may vary a little. Others....who knows.

[alex1fly]

My Gibby SG has 500ks all around and is still quite thick and dark.