Question about 500k and 250k pots...

bowlfreshener · March 1st, 2008, 02:36 PM

I was wondering if pickups are louder or hotter with 250k pots?

I ask because I have 3 Squier Standard Fat Teles, with 500k pots, and just acquired a Squier Black and Chrome Tele, which supposedly has 250k pots. Upon setting up the distance between the bridge pickup and strings on the Black & Chrome, it is a bit lower than the bridge pickup on the 3 Fat Teles, but yet they both sound about the same. So I was wondering if this has to do with the different pots? As 3 of my 4 teles, including the Black & Chrome, are from '05 so I am assuming that all the pickups are relatively the same. Or maybe I just got a particularly hot pickup in the Black & Chrome? Or is it just the difference between the bridge pickups going through a 250k pot or a 500k pot?

I think it may be due to the 500k pot having more resistance and the signal from the bridge pickup on the Fat Teles need to battle more resistance, so the strings need to be closer to the pickups, but I may be wrong, so any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

viking · March 1st, 2008, 04:39 PM

ALL guitars are different , pu´s will vary a bit , slightly more or less turns of wire etc.....Perfect alignment of the 2 screws on each saddle on a 6 string design will also count for some.... If anything, the 500 pots will make the guitar louder/brighter than 250´s.

bradpdx · March 1st, 2008, 04:58 PM

To be accurate, higher value pots (e.g., 500K) will make the guitar a tad louder/brighter WHEN FULL UP. As they are turned down, a 500K pot will exhibit much worse treble loss than a 250K (if no compensation is used).

tdowns · March 1st, 2008, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradpdx

To be accurate, higher value pots (e.g., 500K) will make the guitar a tad louder/brighter WHEN FULL UP. As they are turned down, a 500K pot will exhibit much worse treble loss than a 250K (if no compensation is used).

+1

I've modeled that before. Here is the response of the guitar circuit with

250K volume pot max CW
Tone Max CW
20ft cable
1 meg amp input impedance with 100pF
Tele single coil (2.9H 7.4kohm 160pF)

Here are the same conditions with a 500K pot.

That's 4.75mV at the peak vs. 3.2mV. That's 3.4dB higher at 2kHz. (I arbitrarily chose 2mV as a voltage source, the real world pickup would be higher) The bass will be slightly less with the resonance undamped.

yegbert · March 2nd, 2008, 04:31 PM

I think (but I'm not sure) the Fat Teles came with different pickups than the current production Standards, ceramic vs. AlNiCo. The Black and Chrome should have the same pickups and electronics as other Standard Series Squier Teles.

Compare the bridge pickups between your Fat and Standard models, based on what you can see with them installed and an ohmeter if you have one. Look at the polepieces, the steel poles on ceramic pickups will look more shiny, practically as shiny and smooth as if plated. AlNiCo polepieces will look machined and less shiny. The stock Squier AlNiCos have polepieces the tops of which all extend higher than the flatwork, the flatwork is coarse like fiberboard. The AlNiCo bridge pickup in my '03 measures just under 7k.

Check under the control plate at the colors of the insulation on the wires.

The Standards usually have 500k pots from the factory. So while you have
the control plate off look at the pots too. The stock Squier pots typically have markings D500K on the ones used for tone (audio taper 500k) and B500K (linear taper 500k) on the ones used for volume.

March 1st, 2008, 02:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
bowlfreshener Tele-Afflicted Join Date: May 2007 Location: Virginia, USA Age: 33 Posts: 1,551 6 Photos	Question about 500k and 250k pots... I was wondering if pickups are louder or hotter with 250k pots? I ask because I have 3 Squier Standard Fat Teles, with 500k pots, and just acquired a Squier Black and Chrome Tele, which supposedly has 250k pots. Upon setting up the distance between the bridge pickup and strings on the Black & Chrome, it is a bit lower than the bridge pickup on the 3 Fat Teles, but yet they both sound about the same. So I was wondering if this has to do with the different pots? As 3 of my 4 teles, including the Black & Chrome, are from '05 so I am assuming that all the pickups are relatively the same. Or maybe I just got a particularly hot pickup in the Black & Chrome? Or is it just the difference between the bridge pickups going through a 250k pot or a 500k pot? I think it may be due to the 500k pot having more resistance and the signal from the bridge pickup on the Fat Teles need to battle more resistance, so the strings need to be closer to the pickups, but I may be wrong, so any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. __________________ RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

March 1st, 2008, 04:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
bradpdx Tele-Holic Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Portland, OR Age: 50 Posts: 876 1 Photos	To be accurate, higher value pots (e.g., 500K) will make the guitar a tad louder/brighter WHEN FULL UP. As they are turned down, a 500K pot will exhibit much worse treble loss than a 250K (if no compensation is used). __________________ ---------- Tech Geek and Sensitive Artiste String bender ordinare!

March 1st, 2008, 04:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
viking Tele-Meister Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Denmark Age: 42 Posts: 411	ALL guitars are different , pu´s will vary a bit , slightly more or less turns of wire etc.....Perfect alignment of the 2 screws on each saddle on a 6 string design will also count for some.... If anything, the 500 pots will make the guitar louder/brighter than 250´s.

March 2nd, 2008, 04:31 PM	#5 (permalink)
yegbert Friend of Leo's Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Clinton, Maryland (US) Age: 54 Posts: 4,852 85 Photos	I think (but I'm not sure) the Fat Teles came with different pickups than the current production Standards, ceramic vs. AlNiCo. The Black and Chrome should have the same pickups and electronics as other Standard Series Squier Teles. Compare the bridge pickups between your Fat and Standard models, based on what you can see with them installed and an ohmeter if you have one. Look at the polepieces, the steel poles on ceramic pickups will look more shiny, practically as shiny and smooth as if plated. AlNiCo polepieces will look machined and less shiny. The stock Squier AlNiCos have polepieces the tops of which all extend higher than the flatwork, the flatwork is coarse like fiberboard. The AlNiCo bridge pickup in my '03 measures just under 7k. Check under the control plate at the colors of the insulation on the wires. The Standards usually have 500k pots from the factory. So while you have the control plate off look at the pots too. The stock Squier pots typically have markings D500K on the ones used for tone (audio taper 500k) and B500K (linear taper 500k) on the ones used for volume.