Hot strat pickups : 250k or 500k pots

[ThomasP]

Hello everybody,

The title say it all, wich pots should I choose for the tone control of a hot strat pickup ?

Thank you !

 

[beaubrummels]

I think it depends on how hot, and moreover, which type of Strat pickup. If it's true single coil, 250k is the typical recommendation. If it's a noiseless humbucker dual coil type, 500k is often recommended. But if you have a really hot single coil, 330k or 500k might work better. It really depends on what pickup exactly.

 

[GuitarStv]

A quarter pounder sounds best with 500k pots for both volume and tone. An SSL 5 is kinda a judgement call - I like 250 when it's in the bridge and 500k in the neck.

In your case I'd try it with a 500k pot first, and if it's too bright then just wire a 500k resistor in parallel with the pot to drop it to 250k.

 

[Mincer]

Start with what you have in the guitar already. If you have issues with how that sounds, you can replace the pots.