Humbuckers and 250K pots

[rockabilly69]

Against the most common gear forum opinion, which states PAF style humbuckers work best with 500K pots, I recently I rewired two humbucker equipped guitars with 250K pots.  One of them I used 500K volume pots and the other guitar which was brighter, I used 250K pots all the way around. And guess what, in both cases I preferred the 250Ks over the 500Ks that were in there previously. I just got tired of never using my tone pots wide open. To me, they were always too bright, and now I can use the pot through it's whole travel. Both of these guitars were bright to begin with, and when I put the humbuckers in, Tyson Precious and Grace, and Wolfetone Legends, I just shotgunned both guitars with my go to, .015 neck caps, .022 bridge caps, and 500K pots all the way around. And even though I loved the pickups with the tones rolled back, they never felt quite right. The pickups just always seemed brighter than they should be. Well both of these guitars sound much better now. So if you're dealing with a bright guitar maybe you should consider this. 

 

 

[davesultra]

I’ve done that before. Worked out well with a Duncan JB pickup. That was back in my “Metal” days. I’ve also gone the opposite direction and used 500k pots with some overwound Strat pickups.

Remember gang, there are no absolutes.

[rockabilly69]

1 hour ago, davesultra said:

"....Remember gang, there are no absolutes."

Right on Dave, that was the main idea of my post!

[bolero]

Yeah that's interesting, thx for the tip!

Goes to show: always trust your ears &  don't blindly follow conventions.

I have a 90s H150 that I once upgraded the whole wiring harness on. After a while I put it back to stock, it sounded better. I believe they used non 500k pots back then, and the upgrade was the touted 500k's.

[rockabilly69]

On 8/28/2024 at 9:47 PM, bolero said:

Yeah that's interesting, thx for the tip!

Goes to show: always trust your ears &  don't blindly follow conventions.

I have a 90s H150 that I once upgraded the whole wiring harness on. After a while I put it back to stock, it sounded better. I believe they used non 500k pots back then, and the upgrade was the touted 500k's.

Yep your ears are to be trusted!

[bolero]

Your nose knows, and your ears hears!