500k or 250k?

Stangman

New member
Hi everyone,hope you are all well...so I'm planning a re-wire and new pick-ups on a Strat copy that is an HSS set-up with two pots and a 5-way switch.I know the humbucker will like a 500k pot,but if I use two 500k pots will it be any problem for the two single coils?I'm new to this,it will be my second build,the first was a HH set-up so I used 500's and SD hot-rodded humbuckers,turned out great,but I read somewhere that 250's are used on single coils to cut down on hum and such things.Any advice is appreciated,thanks.
 
Re: 500k or 250k?

Welcome to the forum!

This is really up to you. I've used a 500k volume pot, and a 250k tone for the singles, and a 500k tone for the humbucker. 250k is used on the singles not really to cut hum, but to more effectively cut treble on the naturally bright singles. Some people use stacked pots, and some split the difference and use 300k for everything. Since pots are so cheap, it is worth experimenting to see how pot value affects things like volume & tone on the different pickups.
 
Re: 500k or 250k?

The guitar is a 2004 Fernandes Retro-rocket strat style...not sure if Fernandes made them or used something else. The guitar had been in my closet because I had worn out the first three frets and the volume pot was no longer working.I robbed some frets from the other end of the fret-board and used them as a temporary fix and replaced the 250k volume pot with a large pot of some kind I took out of a broken chorus pedal and it made the humbucker sound a lot better...turned out so well that I decided to do a full fret job and put some Duncans in it.I'll go with the JBSH4 for the humbucker,still need to do a little research on what I should get for singles,was thinking about going with the vintage ones from Duncan...
 
Re: 500k or 250k?

There’s a Suhr diagram out there that I think let’s you give the singles 250k and the humbucker 500k.
 
Re: 500k or 250k?

What amp are you using?

How the volume pot values behave in a passive electric guitar depends on the input impedance of the amp. The same guitar can be better with a 250K vol pot on one amp and 500K on another amp.
 
Re: 500k or 250k?

I have a HSS strat with the 5 way switch too. It's modified with a 500k volume pot for the HB and a 250k pot for the singles. No tone nobs. It's very versatile. I like it.

But try the JB with your existing wiring and pots first.
 
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