Can I make a pickup "see" 1M with a 500K pot and a resistor?

[Rex_Rocker]

I know I can make a pickup "see" 500K with a 1M resistor and a 1M pot. But can the opposite be done?

I ask because I used cheapie 1M pots in my Gibson, but one of the split ends of the shaft broke when changing the knobs. I'm getting replacements for both because the ones I used are short shaft, and they went in kinda weird and are finicky to turn. But the local store only carries long shaft 500K pots. I don't mind going down to 500K for the bridge pickup, but anything less than 1M is a recipee for mud with an Air Norton in the neck of a Les Paul, LOL.

So... can I? Or should I order 1M online and wait?

Thank you.

 

[Spaghetti Bolo]

Short answer: No. Order a 1M pot. Or try using a shorter/ lower capacitance cable.

Long answer: Tangential ramble that I deleted lol

 

[jeremy]

right, you need a 1M pot

 

[Teleplayer]

The 1M pot is the obvious choice. However there may be another way to achieve the sound you want: You could try a 500k pot, but using a buffer pedal and a shorter guitar cable. If so, you need to check the input impedance of the buffer pedal - it should be a high impedance input.

 

[freefrog]

Alternative POV: pickup will certainly "see" 1M from hot to ground if there's a 500k in series with a resistor of the same value. But with the pot at 0, the whole assembly will still measure 500k so it won't be that useful...

+1 to the advices about low cap cable or buffer at the output of the guitar.

But I've to wonder: is it to say the guitar has 1M tone AND volume pots for the neck PU? If it's the case, a 500k volume and a no-load tone pot will do the same thing by giving the same global resistive load.

And if there's a 1M volume pot only, a push pull 500k connecting directly the pickup to the output (disabling the pot as a volume control) will give the peakiest resonant peak (=the brightest possible tone from the PU involved), in the old Kramer fashion. ;-)

Personally, I'd probably mount something else than a Norton in such a situation. But that's just me...

 

[Artie]

You can put a 500k resistor, in series with, the "ground" lug. That will be equivalent to a 1 meg pot. But . . . then you can only turn the volume half way down.

While that's true . . . . I am kidding. It's 4 am and I can't sleep.

 

[Chistopher]

Also if you were to put a 500k resistor in series your pot would have a funny taper. At 0/5/10 it would read 50%/60%/100%.

The way you describe it, it may be worth putting a cap in series with your neck pickup though.

 

[Securb]

Get a push/pull 1 meg and set it up as a blower switch.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, I'll get the 500K pots, rather. Let's hope the Air Norton ain't too bad.

 

[uOpt]

Tone pot or volume pot?

 

[Securb]

Tone pot or volume pot?

I have 1 meg on both in my Iceman and it sounds glorious.

 

[skelt101]

Isn't it possible to increase the resistance of a pot by removing material from the carbon track?

 

[Chistopher]

It's easier to just get a new pot

 

[ehdwuld]

You can remove the guts of your 1M pot
and install in the body of a 500K pot

Open the tabs and disassemble the broken one

Reassemble inside the body of a 500K body with 3 good legs

Start with the broken one
it's already jacked up
Can't hurt it

Just need to swap thw wafer