Gibson SG faded pot values

[Sam SG]

So im in the middle of building a Stewmac harness for one of my SGs. A 2017 Faded. I ran out of solder short of hooking up the pickup ground and signal...ugh
Anyway i took the pcb i took out and with pickups disconnected i put an ohm meter across the ring of each pot.
The volumes are measuring 250k and tones 450k.
Is that right? I know gibson used 300k at times but i thought the new gibsons were 500k?
And 450k? Are those 450k pots cause thats a wide tolerance from 500k

 

[beaubrummels]

450k is right at the edge of 500k @10% tolerance. Don't know what the current Gibson specs should be. I have a PC board from my LP Studio, but I'd have to find it to measure. I don't think the volumes were 250k though. Could be 300k, but I thought things were all 500k by now, but it could also depend on the pickups and wood/model of guitar.

 

[Sam SG]

Nope....they are 500k.
I got thinking. I left the switch plugged into the board and it was in the middle. Which puts each volume pot in parallel.
Pulled the switch and checked again. Volume pots were 475-480k.
Tone pots are still 450ish....edge of 10% tolerance.

 

[freefrog]

Volume pots were 475-480k.
Tone pots are still 450ish....edge of 10% tolerance.

So the resistive load for each pickup is of approximatively 231,5k instead of 250k. As if a linear tone pot was set @ 8.54/10 instead of 10/10.
It should cause a minor difference @ resonant frequency. Simulation below ("normalized" 4-cond. dual coil pickup response, 5dB vertical steps).



Unless the pickups are very dark, a lower resistive load shouldn't harm anyway: the harness of a SG involves short wires with a lower parasitic capacitance, setting the resonance of pickups higher in the spectrum. That's one of the reasons why a SG "naturally" sounds brighter than a LP. Lower resistance pots are not necessarily a flaw in this case.

If it bothers, it's possible to change any tone pot in a no-load pot...

 

[Sam SG]

Should be fine. Stock i allways kept the tones rolled off slightly anyways.
But the new harness... those pots all measure between 477k and 491k so should be fine. Axe may be slightly brighter or darker but im sure ill find the sweet spot on the knobs

 

[hamerfan]

Use the highest reading pot for the neck volume and the lowest reading pot for the bridge volume, the others are for the tone controls.

 

[Chistopher]

You can never assume modern Gibson pots to be 500k. I've seen a couple now that had 500k all around except for 300k bridge volume. It might be something they do on a model by model basis

 

[Sam SG]

---

Yea i put the lowest resistance pot on the bridge pickup volume. I also tested the resistance at 50% and that pot has a slightly wider taper than the others. So win win

 

[Sam SG]

Finished Harness

 

[Mincer]

Looks great to me!

 

[Sam SG]

Thanks man. I had to get the harbor freight flouescent magnifier light and my dollar store readers out. Cause my eyes are getting weak.