250k or 500k pots in Tele?

[JBHorse]

Feedback:
Which is "best"; 250k or 500k pts?
Which Cap rating is best; .047?
I realize this subjective.
What are tone characteristics of each.
I am building "Fake-ocaster" with a 4-way switch; neck & bridge PUs.

 

[waparker4]

250k, .033 or .047, 50s/fezz wiring

 

[dsutton24]

What pickups are you using?

 

[Scantron08]

The search function is your friend - though you probably won't find any definitive answers there, either.

Conventional wisdom says 250k for single-coils and 500k for humbuckers, but I don't know specifically why this is. I've always wondered what Fender and others do on a Tele that has only one tone knob and one volume, but both a S/C and a 'bucker pickup.

 

[JohnS]

I had a Cali Fat Tele with neck bucker and stock it came with a 500K vol and 250K tone pot. I just "created" an American Series Tele with a Kent Armstrong Firebird neck bucker and a Lawrence L200-TL humbucking bridge pup with 250K vol and tone pots. Sounds great. Fender 52 Hot Rod Tele has 375K pots. All uses .022 cap. Experiment.

 

[Tommyd55]

All I know is I had a set of 500k pots in my thinline (stock pups) for a bit and I took them out.
To Ice Picky for my ears... Replaced with 275k pots and I'm happy with that.

That is JMO, as this, as most things on a guitar are personal preference.

 

[TwangyWhammy]

Conventional wisdom says 250k for single-coils and 500k for hum buckers...

+1

As I understand it, single coils are generally low output and the resistance in a 250k volume pot is enough to keep the signal from bleeding-off to ground (-). Humbuckers having roughly twice the output, needs to have more resistance (500k) otherwise there would be some signal loss - resulting in a slight decrease in volume and decrease in highs clarity. Humbuckers are inherently muddier sounding than single coils anyway, so by using a higher pot resistance, a clearer tone with better 'highs' is maintained.

Some years ago, when I was a high output freak, I decided... why not use a 1000k pot (1M) and get rid of any potential for signal loss? I didn't like it… a 1000k pot just made the tone sound too bright/harsh and sterile for my taste.

Sometimes I do break the general rule when I'm trying to compensate or match the pick-ups better with the characteristics of the body wood. If the guitar is bright enough, I would still use 250k pots even with humbuckers… in order to mellow it out a tad. Single coils with 500k pots will sound brighter, but not necessarily nicer sounding, depending on the body wood.

I've come across some specialty volume pots at (270k - 350K ?) some time ago… useful if the tone you're looking for can't be had from the usual pots. The difference is noticeable but the slight variance in tone voicing is just as easily achieved in the amp setting.

I'm currently using 250k pots on my Teles equipped with mini-rail buckers at the mid and bridge position… they're plenty bright enough. I still like to use original Fender low output single coils at the neck position so I don't want to lose that classic Tele neck vibe with a 500k pot.

 

[Scantron08]

+1 As I understand it, single coils are generally low output and the resistance in a 250k volume pot is enough to keep the signal from bleeding-off to ground (-). Humbuckers having roughly twice the output, needs to have more resistance (500k) otherwise there would be some signal loss - resulting in a slight decrease in volume and decrease in highs clarity. ........ I've come across some specialty volume pots at (270k - 350K ?) some time ago useful .,....

Interesting. Thanks for the reply.

So would you use higher value pots for high output pickups, even if they're single coil? My Rick uses 330k pots I believe, and its "hi gain" single-coils are very high output.

 

[waparker4]

Interesting. Thanks for the reply.

So would you use higher value pots for high output pickups, even if they're single coil? My Rick uses 330k pots I believe, and its "hi gain" single-coils are very high output.

Hi output pickups usually add volume at the expense of treble, the higher the volume pot the more loud and strident the sound and more treble gets thru IME

 

[surfoverb]

i use either 250k/.022 or 500k/.047

most tele pickups sound fine with 250K but for overwound/hot ones 500K will open them up a bit especially the neck pickup. My broadcaster has 11.9K bridge and with 250K it sounded kind of dark/dull, but with 500K its lively.

with overwound pickups they tend to have a lot of midrange already (think p90s) so I use .047 caps on the tone because .022 has an increased mid bump when cranked down.

 

[charlie chitlin]

I have 1meg pots in my '69.
Folks tell me it sounds great.

 

[TwangyWhammy]

Interesting. Thanks for the reply.

So would you use higher value pots for high output pickups, even if they're single coil? My Rick uses 330k pots I believe, and its "hi gain" single-coils are very high output.

That's the gist of it.

i use either 250k/.022 or 500k/.047

most tele pickups sound fine with 250K but for overwound/hot ones 500K will open them up a bit especially the neck pickup. My broadcaster has 11.9K bridge and with 250K it sounded kind of dark/dull, but with 500K its lively...

^ What he said

 

[Scantron08]

Hi output pickups usually add volume at the expense of treble, the higher the volume pot the more loud and strident the sound and more treble gets thru IME

Guess Rickenbacker's figured out a way to get both - you rarely hear someone saying they're having trouble gettting treble out of a Rick. May have something to do with that magnet they use there - neither AlNiCo or Ceramic.

 

[Swervin55]

I had a Cali Fat Tele with neck bucker and stock it came with a 500K vol and 250K tone pot. I just "created" an American Series Tele with a Kent Armstrong Firebird neck bucker and a Lawrence L200-TL humbucking bridge pup with 250K vol and tone pots. Sounds great. Fender 52 Hot Rod Tele has 375K pots. All uses .022 cap. Experiment.

So can someone explain the logic of using 500k vol and 250k tone on a tele with a neck humbucker? I have one and as soon as I leave the bridge position, everything goes to mud. Sorry, I can't recall what is in there at the moment for pots and caps but I'll certainly be checking now.

 

[waparker4]

Guess Rickenbacker's figured out a way to get both - you rarely hear someone saying they're having trouble gettting treble out of a Rick. May have something to do with that magnet they use there - neither AlNiCo or Ceramic.

I rarely hear someone say anything about a Rick... only know 2 people who own one.. Also have never heard someone modding a Rick.. Fender Telecaster comes from the factory with the best pots for its pickups too.. but when ppl start subbing in crazy pickups, what the vol/tone pots are become important

 

[waparker4]

So can someone explain the logic of using 500k vol and 250k tone on a tele with a neck humbucker? I have one and as soon as I leave the bridge position, everything goes to mud. Sorry, I can't recall what is in there at the moment for pots and caps but I'll certainly be checking now.

Maybe your pickup heights are wrong... my 500k vol/ 250k tone w/ 0.033 uF cap tele w/ an alnico 2 humbucker in the neck sounds great on all positions

 

[Swervin55]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be looking at that also.