Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Charlotte Henry on February 24, 2012 at 7:56am

General consensus is that humbuckers get 500k and single coil gets 250.way too complicated for me to say why. I just read and follow the basic guidelines.

Permalink Reply by Skeesix on February 24, 2012 at 12:36pm

It's a tone thing.

The higher the pot value the more highs it will let through. A 1 meg ohm pot will be about the same as hooking the pickup up directly with no pot in the circuit. Since humbuckers are darker, they get a higher value pot typically 500k. This will keep them from being too dark/muddy.

A single coil is brighter so it's gets a lower value, typically 250k to take the edge off the highs and warm it up a bit.

Same thing with capacitors, except the larger the value, the darker the sound. Humbuckers typically use .022mf and single coils .047 mf.

Permalink Reply by Corbie on February 25, 2012 at 3:31am

Skeesix......... Where does the Piezo pickup come in here........high low muddy clean.....? Or do we just leave it be?

Permalink Reply by Uncle Toad on March 8, 2012 at 2:17pm

Corbie -- piezo pickups tend to be REALLY spanky - almost like an ice pick in the ear on the high end sometimes - so (a) a lower value pot is good - even 100K if you can find one - look for audio taper, and (b) a larger value cap can warm it up (or take the edge off, more accurately).

 

Permalink Reply by Corbie on March 9, 2012 at 2:52pm

Thanks Uncle Toad. I have been experimenting  with the piezo on placement inside the box. I'm looking to spice things up.........or unspice........... hard to tell when you don't know. You have dropped a lot of info in just a few lines. I'll work on this.