500k Volume, 250k Tone?

[TimmyPage]

So my HH strat, more and more recently I've been noticing that it's pretty bright. I've found more and more these days that I'm playing with the tone on 5-6, making it darker but also a little mushier than I'd like. Now, I have to replace one of the volume knobs because it's gone bad, but I've had an idea that while I'm in there, I might take the 250k tone pot from my old pickguard and wire it in.

I'm lead to understand that a 250k in a tone pot is less extreme than in the volume, so it might be just enough to get that little bit more warmth that I want. Am I looking in the right direction?

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: 500k Volume, 250k Tone?

You could try either a 250k or 300k pot or start with 500k and wire resistors in parallel till you get a value your happy with.

Also if you only go down to 5 on the tone knob maybe try a lower value cap like a 15 or 22.

 

[DreX]

Re: 500k Volume, 250k Tone?

I did some tests last night with tone pots https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...rat-vol-pot-versus-turning-down-the-tone-knob and it appears that the span of attenuation for a high value cap like a .047 uF is rather broad, taking out lots of mids as well as highs, making it muddy like you describe, but I found that changing pot values for lower ones also results in a broad attenuation, a lot like a .047 uF cap.

If you want to knock out just the very high treble, you have to attenuate with a small cap, like .003 uF. You can hardwire in a permanent attenuation with a cap and trim pot in series, where the amount of trim determine the amount of high end that's sent to ground, or do a push pull tone pot that gives you two different cap options to choose from

Supposing it's true that downgrading to a 250 tone pot is functionally the same as turning the tone knob down a little, I think what happens is that people psychologically often prefer attenuation via a 250k pot, because if the guitar is at 10 with a 250k pot, then there's no more head room in the treble as far as the guitar is concerned, so they might turn up the treble a bit on their amp and be on their way, but if they have to balance the tone control and it's always right under their fingers, then there's more temptation to fiddle with the tone knob and become bogged down with indecision.

 

[Securb]

Re: 500k Volume, 250k Tone?

I don't have any fancy diagrams but I have 250s in 3 of my humbucker loaded Fenders and they all sound awesome. I am also putting 250s in my current HH Strat build.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: 500k Volume, 250k Tone?

You could try either a 250k or 300k pot or start with 500k and wire resistors in parallel till you get a value your happy with.

Also if you only go down to 5 on the tone knob maybe try a lower value cap like a 15 or 22.

Well I use a 22 at the moment. I don't only go down to 5, as I often play small jazz gigs/jams, where I'll roll the tone knob almost all the way off. I can tell you, I previously had a cool rails in the neck of this strat when it was HSS, and that tone knob was absolutely perfect in terms of it's taper and darkness, I'm mostly wondering if I'm going crazy or if my line of thinking is totally okay.

Keep in mind, cap mods are great and all, but putting this 250k pot in would be 100% absolutely free.

 

[DreX]

Re: 500k Volume, 250k Tone?

To summarize, it seems to me that replacing the 500 with a 250 will not be much, if at all, different than rolling the tone knob down a bit, but it would make your guitar "default" to that darker sound, which might make your life a little easier.