Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

[stringster]

Hello!
I intend to put a Pearly Gates trembucker in the bridge position of a new Fender American Standard HSS Maple Neck Strat. What pot and capacitor values would you suggest for the tone control and, potentially, also the volume control to get this pickup sounding full but cutting (the idea being that I want to thicken the sound without muddling it and, basically keep it bright and lively enough without sounding brittle)?
I play some pretty varied alternative rock, with lots of both distortion and cleans. By default, I like my sound to be solid, but bright and open and would go with 500Ks on both tone and volume, but I am just wondering whether that wouldn't be a bit too much on a maple neck guitar. Also not sure what capacitors to use to balance things well.
To be honest, I am not really sure what pots and caps come stock with the guitar (don't want to open it myself either, I leave that to luthiers). Maybe they could do, but who knows ... Anyone checked that recently?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

Begin with the stock 250k. This may "darken" the sound of the PG but a No-Load Tone pot would compensate for that.

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

many options. if u want a minumum of modifications go with 250 pots and start with 22 caps. from there you can try 33 caps if 2 bright. i had a custom shop american deluxe hss with a custom dimarzio and the body cavity was all routed. you could go with separate 500 and 250 pot circuits if you want to get fancy. but i would go with 250s and a split mini toggle for the humbucker. use .010 gauge strings and dont forget to just roll the tone back a little if necessary. you'll stand to gain massive tone. I'm sure that pearly'll rock.

 

[~Vintage~]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

As a rule of thumb single coils usually get paired up with 250k pots & .047uF capacitors.

And humbuckers get wired with 500k pots & .022uF or my favorite, .015uF Orange Drop capacitors.

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

but as a further rule of thumb, cause I'm a f-ing knowit all, when u mix a humbucker with single coils you use 250k pots. I have already researched it extensively and tried it and most experts including Duncan agree. this guy needs 250s which are already stock so no change needed. 15 caps too bright for a pearly and the genre this guy wants. maple fretboard, etc. 22 and up caps.

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

and another thing, the only guitar with stock 250k pots and 047 caps was an early tele, I mean like 50s. and they changed it, got away from that config, man like a lot of people state stuff like fact but don't really know... OK they do commonly show it but with an HSS or similar u often see 022 caps, or 033.

there are also 300 something pots, which I think schecter has gone to, kind of a middle compromise. I already forgot the exact reason they went to them but seem to remember there was more to it than just tone, there was some deal or politics involved or cross marketing or some bs. but they probably sound OK. check it out if you want, then you'll be the f-ing expert

 

[~Vintage~]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

but as a further rule of thumb, cause I'm a f-ing knowit all, when u mix a humbucker with single coils you use 250k pots. I have already researched it extensively and tried it and most experts including Duncan agree. this guy needs 250s which are already stock so no change needed. 15 caps too bright for a pearly and the genre this guy wants. maple fretboard, etc. 22 and up caps.

and another thing, the only guitar with stock 250k pots and 047 caps was an early tele, I mean like 50s. and they changed it, got away from that config, man like a lot of people state stuff like fact but don't really know...
there are also 300 something pots, which I think schecter has gone to, kind of a middle compromise. I already forgot the exact reason they went to them but seem to remember there was more to it than just tone, there was some deal or politics involved or cross marketing or some bs. but they probably sound OK. check it out if you want, then you'll be the f-ing expert

That's good info, thanks for the posts!

 

[stringster]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

Thanks guys!

So, 3 things I seem to get out of this:
- the HSS strat is apparently known to have 250K pots all across;
- no one's actually deeming it necessary to change these for 500Ks (or at least not in the first place);
- to avoid too much treble cut with the stock 250K pots, I should use a .22 cap rather than .33.

I am just wondering whether a potential replacement of the middle and neck Fat 50's (single coils) with Dimarzio Areas (single-sized humbuckers) - which, knowing myself, I will probably do at some point - would change anything about the optimal pot / cap situation above.

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

the cap value is best left to your ears, try to be there when its done and listen to the options. as for the other pickups, see if duncan has a wiring diagram for multiple single coil sized hb's. i don't know but think ur probably looking at 300 something or 500 with all hb's. my suggestions were for the mixed only. find a wiring diagram for a guitar with a similar pup config to what u want and go from there. heck, the mini humbucker in the neck position would be useful. it may prolong ur life when somebody decides to end this bs and choke you, lol.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

but as a further rule of thumb, cause I'm a f-ing knowit all, when u mix a humbucker with single coils you use 250k pots. I have already researched it extensively and tried it and most experts including Duncan agree. this guy needs 250s which are already stock so no change needed. 15 caps too bright for a pearly and the genre this guy wants. maple fretboard, etc. 22 and up caps.

I agree with this at least when with the PG but also many other PAFs and also JBs. The PG bridge is pretty bright even with alnico II magnet. It slides right into a strat without needing to change pots to 500k almost every time. That solves a problem that people often find when putting Hbers in strats-the singles want to see 250k and and the HBer may want to see 500k, but the PG still sounds fine with 250k. In fact it might need 250k in many guitars. When I did a mahogony strat several years ago I put in a PG with 500k pots. It was too bright so I had to put in 250k anyway.

 

[namklak]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

I have a really bright guitar, how low of pot value can you go on HBs?

 

[njstoehr]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

You can go as low as you want but 250K is pretty standard. YOu may have a hard time finding anything lower in a "full size" pot.

As for the values to use, I agree that starting with the stock setup is the best route but don't leave it that way if it just doesn't work for you. I recently modded a MIM strat from SSS to HSS with 2 SSL-5s and a JB. Started with the standard 250k pots, 0.047uf cap, and a few wiring gimmicks. It just didn't sound right. Ultimately I ended up with 500k pots all around, 0.022uf cap, and otherwise standard wiring of the pickups/switch. Now I love the tone. That is just my way of saying that just because a setup is standard doesn't mean that it is the best for YOUR setup. Use it as a starting point and go from there.

 

[namklak]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

The pot is just a load to the pup, and changing the load changes the pup freq response. To experiment, I actually didn't change the pot from 500k for 250k, I just put a 470k resistor around the pot, aka, from the switch to ground. This presents a load to the pups of 470K|500K, or about 242k. I suppose I could just continue to experiment, but my solder/motor skills are terrible, and I usually f something up every time I do in there...

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7440801/Guitar Wiring/TeleHHHHotRailsSeries.jpg
This is a 3 single size hb tele diagram using a 5way switch, so u can use this for ur strat. then add an additional mini switch before the 500 k volume, and a second 250k volume pot in place of your strat tone pot.

duncan has a strat wiring diagram for all hb all single switching with all 250k pots and 47 cap.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics/schematics.php?schematic=3lil_hum_1v_2t_5w_3splits
I'd go with the tele mod and 2 volume pots myself. normal mode all humbucker, using cool configs. youll be mindful of the polarities in 2 and 4 positions.
now what you do is one mini will split what u want, the other selects the volume pot. can u handle that? kind of a combination of the 2, but no pushpull, 2 minis, 2 volume, 1 tone.
alternatively look up schecter wiring 2v, 1 tone if all hb desired, or consider this:

Gibson installed 500k Tone and 500k Vol pots on all guitars up until mid-1973.

Beginning mid-1973 Gibson was using 300k pots for both Vol and Tone.

Then from approximately 1977 thru the late-'80s Gibson was using 300k Vol pots with 300k or 100k Tone pots!

The stock Vol pots starting circa-1990 thru today for all Standard production models (not Historic or Custom Shop) are 300k linear-taper, and Tone pots are 500k audio-taper.

Historics and Custom Shop Les Pauls use 500K for both Vol and Tone pots

 

[shawn7oh]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

this is probably more what u want, but again, i,d go with the 2 volume pots, 2 value switch i suggested.
https://sites.google.com/site/phostenixwiringdiagrams/hhh-guitars#HHHStratHotRailsSeries

lastly, why a pearly with a maple fretboard?

 

[stringster]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

lastly, why a pearly with a maple fretboard?

Cause it sounds great on maple neck strats on so many demos I've watched. Plus, it is SD's recommendation to use it on brighter guitars: "For brighter toned instruments. Works especially well with maple and ebony fingerboards."

Once again thanks everyone who posted! For the record, I am going with the stock electronics as a first (and hopefully final) iteration. And, BTW, I wrote to Fender and this is what US HSS Standard Strats come stock with currently:
"
1) 250K Split-Shaft No Load Pot [1]
2) 250K Split-Shaft 10% Taper Pot [2]
3) .022uF 250v 10% Capacitor [1]
"
A little puzzled by the "10% taper" (shouldn't these be linear tone ctrls, hence a 50% resistance curve?), but there you go.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Recommended pot and cap values for Pearly Gates on a Strat

No, humbucker and singles mixed with 250k do not work for me! I tested it with a JB, a
Pearly Gates (very low measuring at 7.9k), Pearly Gates Plus (looks strange in parchment white), 59B and a gibson classic 57.
You should check out this fantastic wiring, solves the problem with an additional resistor and 500k pot:
http://www.acys-lounge.de/hss-schaltung.html