Tone Pot - 250K or 500K

Nice build!!

You can use either. I would always err on the high side because you can always dial back any unwanted treble with your T control.

 

yep at a few bux a pop buy a set of each. that way, if ya guess wrong.. it's just a minoir inconvenience..

 

There's not a huge difference in the end, both should sound similar.

My preference is 250k no load with a tele (no load for the option of maximum brightness).

 

But keep in mind, these are P-90s, not single-coils.

 

P90s are single coils...just not like a fender single coil...big bar magnet wide coil..hot wind and steel slugs...or screws...sort of like a ceramic single coil on steroids.
ive used both 250k and 500k with them in the past..trial and error is the only way...if you try one you will always wonder...so play about and see which suits that guitar...suits you and how you play...and your amp
just to note...a lot of folk think jazzmaster pups are like a P90...theyre not...just a flatter shallower take on a strat or tele pup...hence the difference in sound

 

just to add...i did a build with 2 P90s...one volume pot and a 3 way tone switch...500k was too much pot for that build...250k vol pot was right on the money...and backed off tamed any bright without using tone switch
...sometimes it pays to tilt your head to one side and rethink ...

 

I agree they are single coils, but they don't really sound like single coils - I guess that is what I meant. I personally view them as a separate TYPE of pickup because of this. They don't really follow the same rules-of-thumb, ie. 250k for single coils, 500k for humbuckers. These are "traditional" Fender and Gibson rules-of-thumb, but as you say, not necessarily the best end result for YOUR ears. Always best to try them both of course, or even consider 1M pots, but if I were to choose one, I generally go higher to squeeze a wider range of tones out of the same pickups.

For instance, on my home stereo, I never have the bass or treble dimed, because it is too much. Hi-fi designers try to shoot for the middle of the pot, leaving a great deal of tonal range to account for different ears and ALL types of music. But the tone controls can handle virtually anything. This is what I shoot for on my builds (NOT vintage stuff!). I shoot for the most pleasing tones to come from about mid-dial on the T pot to allow for changes on the fly to adapt to the mix and the music. To each his own...

 

i tend to do the same...i build with a sound in my head..then work out how to get it...sometimes it takes some whacky wiring...one i did i put 500k master vol with a 1meg master vol running parallel...with no tone control...the results were good...depending on how you balanced them that one had a huge tonal range....strat type build..but with the neck and middle pickups swapped round...never liked the bridge/middle on those type of guitars...so i did what i needed to get the sound i wanted...very jaguar esque ...unconventional often works...in that case it was dividing load between the 2 diff value pots...you could go from icepick surf to big warm jazz just by adjusting one or the other knobs...even before you switched pickups...

 

Wow - I am not that imaginative!! Always learning though - Thanks!

 

Shows there are no hard and fast rules.

 

One of my long time friends made pickups for Burns..he was also Chris Reas guitar tech....he also designed and built the "Colt" guitars.
that man taught me a great deal...fella called Jim Cairns...now sadly no longer with us

 

Guitar manufacturers design guitars the opposite way. It seems they want to give the owner FEWER options to the tone that comes out of a guitar with their name on it. They seem to want every Telecaster with SCs to sound one way, HBs another way, Strats yet another, Offsets another. They want to produce guitars with SIGNATURE tones. That makes sense, but it doesn't allow for much variability in tone that can be produced with each instrument. I guess I go more for the variability on guitars I customize or build. But I leave more valuable vintage instruments strictly stock. Originality counts!

 

Sorry. Luckily his mojo lives on in your head!

 

I tend to run an amp hot then dial vol and tone as i need them....if i cant get a decent range i throw that pot in the bin and start again....dont get the "leave it on 10" lot....theyre missing out on so much tonal variety and versatility....do it right no pedals needed to get that "bit extra"...eliminates tripping hazards...and other distractions

 

They wouldnt sell anything like the quantity if they made them truly versatile....next thing you would know they would have to downsize to a garage workshop.
they build to maximise profit....claiming they care about guitars...and us the consumer...its a corporate lie....they just want all our money

 

thats why im chuffed my tele sounds like a ric 330...sold one at the start of "current shenanigans".
easy enough to do...and it cost nowt...tele was free...so were bits...

 

That's what I like to use as well.

 

I installed a Fender (CTS?) no-load in my Squier Thinline. After about 2 days I lost the detent. Still worked OK, but kinda liked the detent. Junk?

 

Yeah, like all of the above said, trial and error is the way to go. But, I'm thinking 500k with a tone bleed circuit so you can roll down without affecting the highs. Or, pur a switch to engage/disengage the tone bleed too!

I'm not an electronics expert though.