HSS advice for beginner

[GuitarStv]

Pot values are a non issue. Just use 500k and be done with it. You can, always take highs away from the single coil. You don't have to ride the tone wide open. But then there's those of us who literally always leave their tone knobs on 10 and never touch them. Those are the folks that need to learn how to turn their knob lol because hums and singles in the same guitar is a non-issue.

You can use a 500k tone pot and just turn it down to 250k - exactly the same result as using a 250k pot. It's not that simple with a volume pot . . . turning down to 250k will not give you the same sound at all as using a 250k pot. Even turning down your tone knob to try to compensate won't give the same tone.

 

[pskorz]

You can use a 500k tone pot and just turn it down to 250k - exactly the same result as using a 250k pot. It's not that simple with a volume pot . . . turning down to 250k will not give you the same sound at all as using a 250k pot. Even turning down your tone knob to try to compensate won't give the same tone.

For the vol pot differences, are you saying even when it’s on 10 it’s a noticeable difference, or just when you turn the vol down you’ll notice the diff between 250 or 500?

 

[GuitarStv]

For the vol pot differences, are you saying even when it’s on 10 it’s a noticeable difference, or just when you turn the vol down you’ll notice the diff between 250 or 500?

The way that the volume pot works in the guitar circuit is like a voltage divider. Turning the volume pot down won't change the tonal impact . . . it will still make the pickups peakier at all settings (often bright and scratchy with single coils).

 

[eclecticsynergy]

It's often said that one can add a 500k resistor (commonly 470K) to ground, leting a singlecoil "see" 250K when using a 500K volume.
Simple on an HS guitar but it becomes more complicated with HSS I think.
If you put a resistor on each singlecoil, position 4 would be doubly affected and extra dark.

I know you can avoid that problem with the Suhr wiring using a superswitch.
Don't think it can be done without compromise using a standard 5-way though.

Another advantage of a superswitch is that you can have one tone control for both singles.

 

[ErikH]

There's so many options out there and so many "What if I do this with the singles and this with the Humbucker" things. I've tried it all. In the end I stick to what works. My current HSS setup is 2 x Classic Stack Plus neck/middle and a Whole Lotta Humbucker (neck) in the bridge. Yes, the neck model in the bridge because I had it on hand already. Honestly, it sounds great and the output is plenty. Beside the 5-way switch (no fancy splits or anything), there's a 250K volume and 250K master tone w/ a .022uf cap. That's it. All the other fancy stuff gets in the way of just playing for me.