3 Reasons To Replace The Pots And Wiring On Your Guitar
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- Опубліковано 12 гру 2021
- 3 reasons to upgrade the wiring and pots in your guitar and the parts we use
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Dylan Talks Tone Recieves Commision From Some Of These Links
Worth noting for Classic Vibe Tele owners: If you have a China made model from before 2020, it has full size pots, full shielding, and Tonerider-made pickups. They cut a number of corners on the newer Indonesian made ones, but the China ones are quite good.
I just discovered your channel and I’m learning AND enjoying your videos. Keep it up!
I'm so glad you mentioned the degree of tone adjustment possible with today's amps, controls and DAW's. I have recorded bass guitar parts on my keyboard and trumpet parts on my 6 string. Anything is possible nowadays.
Best guitar tech channel. Especially for us clean tone players.
I just did this and it really does make a difference. Even keeping the same tone and volume levels, the sound is quite different.
Hey Dylan!! I was shocked at the difference!! I really didn't think that it would make much difference, but WOW!!
On the last Tele I did (started from a high-end body kit - gift to a cousin in 2009 - passed on to me 2019, still in the box) I had a bit of fun, electrically. First off, I wound up a coil-tapped bridge pickup with 0.24" Alnico magnets - a bit of fun all by itself, as I drew some elements from the "Dream Machine" Tele pickup design. Then, I decided to set up the control plate "Bill Kirchen style" - pots at the front, and at the last minute put in a Duncan humbucker at the neck (found on local classifieds for $10). Happily, I had a good 4-position blade switch, and 2 Bournes audio-taper pots with push-pull (my last 2 of a batch bought pre-Virusworld), Last, I persuaded one of the machinists at the lab where I worked to make a new cover plate, with the spacing changed just enough to put a hole between the 2 pots. Into that went a rotary switch that gives a choice of 3 caps. The switch has a "miniature" knurled knob to match the 2 main ones. Part of the reason for this was as an experiment to test an idea requested by a friend, and the other part "just "for the heck of it." I was lucky enough to have a sympathetic machinist - the plate he made, and the 1/2-size knurled knob is "unobtrusive" in appearance. I'd always wanted to make a Tele with a reversed control plate setup like Bill Kirchen's, so since several other one-off mods were going in, that one did also. The project was a success overall. If I want to revert to a stock control plate, I've still got the Bournes push-pull pots for the bridge coil-tap and neck humbucker split. I'm not usually a big fan of neck humbuckers, but the Seymour Duncan works well. All in all, an interesting project that turned out surprisingly well. Thanks for the tech project posts you do. I've recently retired from engineering, but my 1st career was playing music professionally, full time. I'm always on the lookout for improvements to sound that are (as much as possible) unobtrusive to look at. Your ideas and discussions are always worthwhile!
Hi Dylan, I have this model of Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom. Mine is about 3 years old. I recently changed the pickups to Fender 60's vintage models and changed the pots, and pickup switch to the Fender spec ones too. I also made sure the pickguard, pickup and control cavities were shielded properly and grounded as well. It made a big difference. Now it sounds like a Telecaster should. It won't have the hum or buzz as much due to ground problems.
Love the look on this model and that binding is just pristine looking!
I just got a 50's Butterscotch Classic Vibe in a trade and it has full size Korean tone pot's, it also has the nice Fan 3 way switch. I play simple pop punk music and I run it through a JCM 2000 DSL 100 and a 900 50w and even with the stock pick up it sounds pretty sweet.
iv'e seen alot of cheap teles with .22 caps but never with a .15, all of my teles have .47 caps in, i might try a .15 to see if i notice any difference
This was a no-brainer for my Squier FSR Bullet. The tone and volume were scratchy right out of the box with 2 dead spots so had the pots (Mini asian to CTS) and pickups replaced with 59 SD's. Made a huge difference, best choice and now sounds much more Fendery.
I have to be honest though the stock pickups weren't bad at all, surprisingly good in fact. I just wanted a little more in the mids.
thanks Dillon man ,You get good tone ,That low overdrive is about where i stay ,You play good too
I'm upgrading my new CV Tele after a week even though it played and sounded great out of the box, since it doesn't keep up with my $100 Solo Tele Kit with Fender Custom Shop Pickups, StewMac Wire Harness, Compensated Brass Saddles and an Unbleached Bone Nut for feel and tone.
Yep....I do the same thing on every Indonesian/cort made thing with those dime size (worth the same) pots to CTS gear and a switchcraft jack. You show um Dylan..... :-)
Yes Linear pot's...log or other named types suit some guitarists but not bassists...linear only...i fade in my bridge Jazz pickup so like to know 50% is 50% of tone or volume is accurate...CTS 450 series,8% tolerance, 250k linear pots the best i've ever used..the ones with solid brass shafts are more resilient to excess heat as pot cover mounted on top of track unit...sounds very good...i have a MIM Mkl Fender Cylcone & i have a vintage USA Fender California series Tele with 9.5 fretboard,3 tone sunburst,2 piece matched body,i would like brass saddles just for a slightly heavier bass tone with a bit more definition...better than steel or alloy'd cheap metal...Tele's are easy to tune right ,put in a Greasebucket tone control using small hifi grade polypropylene caps,3 (2× 0.022mfd & 1x0.1mfd cap) & a 4K7 1% resistor...if you don't like the tone just change the value of the caps to suit...i used a Puretone jack socket, 2 of each contact on one ring (mono) 200% more contact,keeps jack plug solid and lasts for years,worth £6 for sure,built for mounting plates only though may fit a Tele as fitted my Fretking which has same jack socket as a Tele guitar...good advice Dylan...good wiring with good pots,& a Greasebucket tone set up... notes sound cleaner & more defined,clearer & does not effect the tone when volume is turned down or boost the bass turning down the Greasebucket set-up linear tone pot...some guitarists may prefer log volume pots but always use a linear tone pot... years ago i put 2 small screws through end of ashtray bridge into Tele body...sounds far better...Danny Gatton screwed down the front of his ashtray bridge...
I enjoy your vedios.
I purchased a Glarry telecaster to modify!!!
Way to go Dylan,a puretone jack and an electrosocket and audio taper controls
Wow, I sure hear a difference. Very nice. Would you approach a Squier Esquire (60s classic, FSR) with a somewhat similar approach?
Sounds way better!
Would have been helpful if you had A/B edited the before electronics change and after electronics change video/audio closer together. With that much time passing between the examples, it's hard to tell any thing.
I've found, over the years, with many of the overseas produced instruments that the weakest link is the electronics and it is primarily a reliability issue. Switches go first, pots get intermittent and jacks don't make good contact after a fairly short time.
Great Video Dylan, quick question thinking about dropping in a humbucker in my Squier Tele. Would you recommend a 500K pots and just use the tone knob to dial back the treble on the bridge ? Also was there a tone bleed in that Telecaster, mine came with one stock, Thx
Another way to do what you want of clarity of bridge and neck pickups is to bypass the tone for the neck pickup and only use it for the bridge pickup. Therefore the neck pickup will not muddy when you turn the volume down, and you can now set the tone to the bridge to your liking. You do lose the tone control of the neck, but advantage of no tone cap loading. So basically, set your tone to the neck, and then turn the tone down a bit on the bridge to taste, and then you have a bit of bright boost on the bridge for lead without having a TBX tone control.
My squire 50s classic vibe strat volume pot started cutting out. I think a ground wire is the problem but I’m changing the pots
Also trying to jude sound or did "x" do "y" through UA-cam is hit or miss. But I appreciate the effort you put into the uploads.
Nice thanks for sharing again love your channel.
Q- purely objective- on a tele single coils, is there any reason that would be bad to have the tone pot a 500k and volume 250k, does it need to be matched values because no two pots are exactly the same vale unless they've been matched to the same vale even if it's 530k +530k for example or below the 500k +/- 10% tolerance margin.
My plan was to use a 500k audio logarithmic push/pull master tone with big difference in capacitor values. Just because I believe strats/telecasters (more so strats) Leo Fender designed them to be modded to experiment and make it your own thing in every way if you wanted to. Which what I love about Fenders! You can go your own way, but still- there are some rules of physics that have to be followed, understood and applied for it to work well with your amp.
Hi Dylan! At an Orange Drop type capacitor, in your opinion does the cap's orientation matter?
What make pots and cap do you recommend ? And what about the switch?
If they get scratchy, CTS pots can be taken apart and cleaned.
My classic vibe 50s Volume pot is cracking up only works dined most of the time I figure it ground wiring not sure tho
Are you gonna do Brass Saddles?
Im replacing my Squier Strat pots. One doesnt stop anymore.
Im looking at set of 3 CTS pots thst come with one cap.
Which pot does it go on?
Really great videos Dylan, im learning a lot. PLease just a quick question " I just bought online a Fender Duo sonic, I just find out that the volume pot works a little werid, when Im going up, the signal is very weak and clean all the way to number 8, only when I reach the 9 an 10 the sound sudently becomes much stronger and thick, I have a strat and a Tele...the volume pots works like very linear in comparison. Do you think may be some problem in the volume pot of my new Duo sonic....or maybe in the wiring?."... maybe I need to ask my luthier to re wire and change the volume pot on my brand new guitar..... thanks so much!
He talks about that very issue in the video
If I had that tele I would put a hum bucker in the neck position to make it look like Andy Summers' guitar
I put 250k mojotone CTS pots and it I noticed it’s not as gritty as the stock pots less twangy what the heck it sounds cleaner but I would like more twang maybe I need to adjust the pick up height since the new pots are bigger ?
What would you choose for pot value and capacitor value if you were to put a humbucker in the neck and kept or upgraded the bridge single coil?
Buy a squire custom 70s style.
Hey Dylan
Do you do wiring harnesses for a strat sss?
What I'm looking for is G&L PTB system.
250k volume
500k treble cut
1 Meg reverse bass cut
5 way switch and a mini toggle expander.
Basically a G&L Legacy setup.
I can get the parts from G&L and do it myself but I'm shaking and eye sight not good.
You interested?
We do loaded pick guards
Sounds like a tele should be completely awesome.
Just purchased vibe classic starcaster was wondering what to improve, any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated?
Have it set up by a luthier?
Wiring and shielding: Don’t leave the biggest improvement on the table! Proper shielding with copper (not aluminum) tape, soldered joints, and full coverage of the back of the pickguard on Fender-style construction greatly reduces unwanted noise compared to bare finish or a badly-applied factory conductive paint. Changing wire does zilch in comparison, so don’t waste time and money on a replacement harness without doing a proper shielding job. Shielding can be a 50% improvement, compared to at most a fractional improvement from an overpriced aftermarket harness.
I heard a lot of difference. I'm surprised there was so much improvement in tonal range and clarity.
Just saw a Video of this channel saying changing pots is not really need. 😮
From Leo: No doubt better is better, and in America people can have what they want. I replaced many dime sized potentiometers and box selector switches on customer guitars. Very few were actually bad, but customers wanted something different. In the shop we had those cheapie Squier strats and Tele guitars in the lesson rooms. They had the dime sized pots and box pickup selectors. I never had to replace a part in any of them over several years. Surprised me, but they held up.
I hear it, the difference.
Throwing my 2 cents worth into the conversation about sound/tone. Firstly you’re no going to hear much difference in tone or sound if you’re listening to these types of videos on UA-cam as the audio is converted for performance and in heavily compressed and if your listening with Bluetooth headphones, it’s even worse. So in general you’re only going to hear the most radical differences which is a point I’ll draw on later in this comment. Secondly, A/B tests or any comparative assessment is meaningless as a slight difference in sound or tone doesn’t equate to bad, it’s just different. The idea that all Uber expensive guitars from the same manufacturer of the same model have a uniform sound is fantasy, every guitar sounds different and that do make on better that the other, they are just different and you’ll choose to one you feel the best with. The quest a lot people get wrong is it not that a cheap Squier doesn’t sound as “good” as a custom shop so therefore the Squire is bad. The question is, is the custom shop worth 10 time more than the cheap Squire. Are you really getting value for your hard earned money? I’d suggest no.
On to tone, this is a fascinating subject. People sit in a quiet place and listen intently to the “tone” and nuance or the guitar, then will throw on heavy distortion and and a long run of effects pedals. It’s funny. And then you get into a band situation where all the fuss about and nonsense about the quality of your guitar gets thrown out the door as you need to change the sound that sounds so great in your bedroom to one that can cut through , balances and doesn’t clash with the other instruments in the band. Also if you are a working musician you need a solid reliable instrument that works, stays in tune, plays in tune and if it gets lost or stolen you won’t need to sell your left kidney to buy a new guitar that of course after you recover from the heart attack. The Squire is a fantastic platform and cheap especially if you buy it second hand. Get it properly setup, I will add all guitars need to be properly set up even the Uber expensive ones. It will play like a dream and if you must tinker, you are spoiled for choice and even if you completely gutted the instrument and replaced all the parts it would still be cheaper than an Uber expensive guitar, heck buy two and you’ll be able to buy a good amp because that’s what makes the real difference.
I don't like the breaking up sound of the pickups. Grungy. It should be warm, full but clear. If I need a braking up sound I use the amp's gain option or a blues type pedal. I like your sound at lower pot setting or very soft playing. I prefer the Fender Tex-Mex sound. It's personal. ;)
500 or 250k?
Pots: Don’t change them unless you need to! Aside from the taper, there is no reason to change them unless a.) noticeable crackles or sloppy operation, or b.) dark, dull tone because the resistance is too far to the low side of tolerance. As long as a cheap mini pot truly measures 250K, then a longer-lasting, more expensive 250K pot will NOT sound different.
The first thing I would do is take out the cheap parts and replace the pots and switch and don't forget the pickups. Squire guitars are cheap because they use cheap parts and cheap labor.
the best upgrade to any guitar ever,, it will make your 70 dollar chinese express soung like a gibson 7500 dollar piece of crap... "PRACTICE" ..
please put a rag underneath the soldering area, you are too brave to solder over the unprotected guitar top
Replacing pots is not necessary.
I love to see a P90 neck in a tele!
Interesting. My older (pre 2018) CV Tele has the “not Tonerider” pickups and full size Alpha pots. It does have a box style switch and a cheap input Jack. I’m not sure what value of cap is on the tone pot, but it gets dark pretty quick, especially on the neck. Odd that they made the decisions they did but margins drive decisions, I suppose.
Most teles tend to get dark quickly unless you install a treble bleed mod to stop the treble rolling off when reducing volume.
@@thetattedpharmacist3215 Would a treble bleed have a similar effect as what he's trying to accomplish here, to increase the range of motion of the volume pot?
@@BoltRMone retains the high frequencies when lowering the volume and the other tapers the width in which the volume is reduced as you turn the knob. I plan on building my first ever guitar soon and I will go with both!
I really don't understand why guitars would even use linear taper pots? Perhaps some guitarists just use the knob to function as an on/off and don't like to dial in a tone? But I love having audio taper pots for tone + volume so that you can get fine-grained control over the sound
I think it is an availability issue as well as a manufacturing issue. For a while I was running across Linear taper pots with the "Audio" designation stamped on the pot.
You clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about. An audio taper pot is the one that would give little effect untill the end of the pots travel. A linear pot has a steady, LINEAR effect on resistance.
@@FoulOwl2112 That's exactly wrong. That's why Dylan switched from linear to audio in the build above. That's what he's showing when he did the comparisons between 10 and 7 on the volume pot.
I will agree, though, that the name linear is dumb and misleading and confusing.
@@GEfromNJ Yeah it is a bit confusing indeed, as the human hearing is logarithmic. So in theory, our ears would perceive a logarithmic (audio taper) pot as being more linear than an actual linear pot. Which is what Dylan showed in this video indeed.
The taper of an audio pot sounds the way a linear taper looks. It's not intuitive. If you want steady increases in volume as you turn the knob, get audio taper.
However , uno caveat - if the guitar is a "vintage instrument" and there are no issues with the pickups , pots , wiring or switches LEAVE 'UM ALONE !!!!!!!!!!! i.e., DO NOT risk effecting the "collector value" !
Just keep them after replacing so you can switch back before selling.
@@carlthegnarlEven disturbing solder joints will affect collector value.
@@johnsieff2921 I'm not much into collectable guitars, agreed. But if you care about value loss, just let a pro solder the parts to make them look normal.
If you don't plan on selling, then why worry about collector value?
@@TexanUSMC8089 If one is doing these budget mods to cheap Asian guitars, is "vintage" in the same conversation?
I do not chase tone. Tone chases me. Great presentation, thank you.
I can't believe the useless misinformation some still spread on these channels. First thing I picked up on was your view of the taper of the volume pot. You should be able to turn all the way up and control the way in which you attack the strings. The worst aspect of these channels is too many people, especially beginners, are hearing hundreds of different points of view which is nonsensical meaningless mental overload and confuses things further. They end up chasing bullshit and spending money they needn't. I have been playing since 1974, my oldest guitar is a 1957 P bass and my newest a 1999 PRS. The only things I have felt a need to change were pickups or worn tuners.
.... I always replace them. All my Squiers have been upgraded to Fender spec. As long as the base Squire is good enough.... then its worth the time and money put into it. The 1990s Taiwan (YN) made Strats are a very good base model.
I bought a Squier CV Custom 60s Esquire and the pots and switch were pretty good. It looked like an Oak copy but has full sized pots. I wouldn’t feel the need to change them at all.
I got the CV 50s Esquire and it was similar re the pots. I added a Bare Knuckle Flat 50 pickup and it sounds fantastic now.
Cool, what brand is The Best 5-way switch for a Fender?
Lost me at you need to have a quality cable to hear the difference. WTF.
The quality of your cable can definitely affect whether you hear a difference or not…. So
I know this is off subject: If you want to get that Joe Walsh tone on a Les Paul, disconnect the tone capacitor for the bridge pickup. All guitar tone pots will still roll of treble even though the pot is turned all the way up. Also, if your playing is too fast, cover your hands and fretboard with marshmallow cream. It will really slow it down.
Quit watching crazy videos.
The smaller value cap made it sound brighter.
Worth a mention, sometimes in just replacing the pots and wires in a budget guitar, you can 'rescue' a set of stock pickups. Sometimes [I said SOMETIMES], doing that simple change may breathe some more life into the circuit. There are naysayers, and they do not have MY ears, so when they say they don't hear a difference then it may be because their ears cannot hear the difference made. I have done this to Squier and Epiphone both with some success and not. But, the issue is, SOMETIMES it it worth doing the pots first, before buying expensive pickups for 'old/cheapo' pots.
I guess it won't get mentioned since you might be sponsored by suppliers/manufacturers.
@@tommacdonald6295 When you have a fraction of the experience that I have, then you can speak on the topic. Until then, you are a simpleton seeking attention.
Absolutely true. Some inexpensive ceramic magnet pickups sound absolutely fine with the addition of quality audio taper pots of an appropriate impedance and a suitable capacitor value in the tone control circuit. It’s certainly worthwhile to do the pots and wiring first then re-evaluate the stock pickup sound before committing to a pickup upgrade.
@@15thwardadrian Exactly, I glad you added to my comment, it adds to the evidence and I thank you SIR. And, you know there will be more naysayers commenting on this, and their added silliness of inexperience will be witnessed by all. Likely, Millennials and Gen Z's that just haven't learned yet.
@@b.scottfarthingsworth Grandiose Half-wit
Total Bollocks! Like for like impedances and capacitance will not change the sound regardless of what you interchange. Only thing that will change is reliability. Thats just the way it works with electricity!
I recently switched out the electronics in my Tele and I used a Freeway 6-position switch to add series/parallel options both in and out of phase. My only criticism is that I wish it had more of a defined detent for each position, but otherwise, I think it's pretty cool. Wondering what other people think of those.
Curious.
What is the wiring schematic you used for your Freeway Ultra switch?
Did you think there was enough tonal variation amongst the six positions of the Freeway Ultra vs. the typical three position, Tele configuration?
I recently had opportunity to A/B two guitars that came each came stock w/Freeway Ultra switch, Duncan Vintage stack(neck), Lawrence L250-TB(bridge), EXCEPT, one had been modded thusly: 3-way switch, Lawrence Black Label T(neck), Lawrence Tele Twin Blade(bridge).
Have to admit, the stock instrument sounded great.
The modded instrument, however, just sounded like a HOT, classic Tele (even w/the Twin Blade(bridge) pickup, that had all the modern hardware and build design updates some of us LOVE.
In comparison, i didn’t feel the extra 3 positions were noticeable enough for me to prefer the Freeway Ultra to the typical 3-position Tele switching.
Thanks!
@@GByePorkPieHat Enough, yes. It becomes more worth it though with humbuckers than single-coils.
Hi there. Just recently found you and am enjoying your tips. I need to go back and find the previous v ids on setting up my tele. I am only 14 months into my guitar journey so need all the tips I can get!
Ignore them for 5 years.
cool, but a 20th Anniversary Fat Tele and Jagmaster....
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Correct me if I'm wrong. Before you changed pots you tested with the neck pickup. After the swap it looks like you're on the bridge pickup. Did you flip the switch 180 degrees? I've already done this to my Tele and Squier Strat, among other upgrades; I just want to see what you say about it. But I've got to say, I'm most excited with the Squier sound. Here's what I changed, new: Locking tuners, Tusq Nut, Seymour Duncan P/U's, Tusq String Saver saddles, all new pots, 5-way switch, and jack. I also went with a wound G string and it stays tuned. Harder to bend but as a beginner I don't care. My instructor says it sounds like a regular Strat (he didn't say from what country) but he was impressed with the sound. I'd like to see you cover Tele bridges. Mine has a vintage bridge with 3, non-compensated saddles and it has intonation issues. Would you go with compensated saddles or replace the entire bridge to accommodate 6 saddles? I don't care if it looks "vintage" or not. I just want it to sound and tune better (although it sounds good since I did essentially the same with it as the Squier, except for the nut and saddles.)
My luthier changed all the wiring in my Affinity Tele plus CV 50s pickups, and it sounds awesome now, miles better than stock..
My Tele had 500K Alpha pots and a PCB 3-way switch I swapped out for a premium kit consisting of CTS 250Ks, a Sprague 0.047uf orange capacitor, pushcloth wiring and a Switchcraft jack followed by an Electrosocket (that football jackplate was irritating!) and the G&B A5 pickups sounded much warmer unlike the 500Ks having em sound like nails on a chalkboard.
Most are too emphasize on changing pickups when the pots make as much difference in tone if not more.
This. If the objective is to have a more pleasing and warmer sound, 250k pots and a .047 cap is the way to go. You'll get much more roll off of the highs when you turn down the tone knob.
@@15thwardadrian exactly!
Hello- New to this channel and looking forward to catching up.
It'd be great to see some vids addressing your take on some common (or not so common) tele mods. And for that matter, mods on other guitar types. Thanks for the info
Especially on a squier. Bringing it up to gig-able instrument is a good series because I like to buy cheap guitars and mod them for fun
Buy a Fender and save the mod money for an amp.
Same
Question: I have a 1999 Fender Nashville Telecaster 3 pu/ 5 way. All 3 Seymour. B Bender Saddle, CTS, 22, Treble Bleed,
Vintage Wiring. My favorite of 8. All tube amps except a Fender Deluxe 112 which as you know is a Freak!! What is the
loss in Potential and Frequency between the Vintage wiring an the Modern wiring. I am willing to make one more internal
change on this Beauty. Go back to Modern or stay with the Vintage Mod ??? Thank You DGA
Really all that matters is between the nut an bridge. Decent frets, properly positioned bridge, straight neck, proper nut, intonation and action. After that, mod at will.
Good turners next
The guitar will be worth the same after installing this kit. If you want to sell it later, you're losing the cost of the kit, $265.
It might make more sense to sell the guitar instead and buy a better one, using the money you get for this one plus the money you earmarked for the upgrade. You could get a second hand Fender Player Tele, which should give you what you want (full size pots etc). Then, if you sell that one later, it will still still be worth pretty much the same and you don't lose your $265.
Always buy the guitar with appointments you want rather than a cheap one you plan on modding.
Well, captain obvious, to get a Fender with all the aftermarket goodies you can put on yourself like (possibly second hand) kick ass pickups, tuners, pots and bridges/tremolo systems, nut and saddles will cost well over a grand. What if you WANT to learn HOW to upgrade a surprisingly great playing inexpensive guitar? Are you going to do it on a $10,000.00 vintage Telecaster or Les Paul? No. You're going to do it on a Classic Vibe or an Epiphone, have fun learning throughout and have a better guitar than you had b4 that's unique to you and why would want to sell a guitar like that?
What I wanna see on a tele or my tele .. the T90..
Dylan, you never said what taper the pots had factory. I'm guessing the volume pot was linear and you switched to audio? What about the tone knob? Is it factory audio taper?
I'm new to this, but I tried both styles for volume and tone and I definitely prefer the audio taper for both.
I build guitars from kits, first thing I always buy for the kit is replacement electronics, which includes ALWAYS audio taper pots for both. Much better results every time.
@@thetattedpharmacist3215 I don't have experience in what normally comes in kits or in factory guitars. Do you see a lot of linear taper pots? I wonder why they use them?
@@JasonWW2000 Honestly the first time I built a kit, I had no idea, but knowing what I know from reviews etc, I was underwhelmed with the tiny dime-sized alpha pots and crap quality capacitors etc. I was advised by watching reviews and building videos to always go for audio taper pots for both and they've always served me well. My first purchases are always CTS full sized pots and Sprague orange-drop capacitors, adjusting their specs dependent on whether I'm using single coils or humbuckers of course. Next purchase is always better pickups too than the cheap Chinese trash they ship with kits.
@@thetattedpharmacist3215 Wow, you don't really watch Dylans videos, do you? You've been brainwashed into buying stuff you don't need. I guess thats fine if you have the cash to spare. Just don't get caught up in it. Next you'll only buy Fender brand guitars, then only the made in USA fender guitars. Then only the vintage model fender made in USA guitars and on and on. It's a slippery slope. Lol.
I bought a display 2021 Affinity tele from a large store for the discount. It had a couple small scratches. When I opened it up...it has CTS pots. I wonder if it came with them or was it repaired or upgraded in the store.
CTS pots are most definitely not stock for an Affinity Tele. You got lucky !
@@raytorvalds3699 Lucky? Only if they are the right ones.
@@JasonWW2000 Heh true.
They hotrodded the display model? Sneaky but ounds like a score for you.
My Tele does that. The volume knob goes from 0 to 100 in an 1/16th of a turn. I was guessing it is an audio taper and should be a linear. What do you think? It is an HH Blacktop so it should have 500k pots in it I guess. Or, that is what I will replace with if I need too.
That sounds like a linear taper. You will probably prefer an audio taper pot. Its logarithmic scale provides smooth changes as you turn the knob. Its not intuitive. The audio taper sounds how the linear taper looks. My strat came with linear taper volume pots and I got 70% of the volume from numbers 1 to 3. Then from 4 to 10 was a slow volume increase from 70% to 100%. I hope that clears it up for you.
@@JasonWW2000 Okay cool. I have both pots in stock at my shop. I'll try changing to an A500k for the volume and see what happens. It is an easy change. Thanks.
8:06 - He he he, you said jack-off. Sorry, had to let my inner Bevis out for a moment. OK, back to our regular adulting program.
hey Dylan,
ever thought of doing a series on building an amp or some pedal kits?
My kids bought me a Squire Affinity Tele for Father’s Day. I put a Mojotone solderless wiring harness and Fender Classic 57 pickups along with a set of hipshot tuners on it. It’s an amazing guitar now. My next project is a set of graphtec saddles for it.
You can see my post. I installed the Graphtec string savers on my Squier Strat and they're incredible, and I don't think they were too expensive. Personally, I'd put a Graphtec nut on it at the same time. I also used the Mojotone on both my Tele and Squier. I like Mojotone. Glad you're enjoying it.
The graphtecs will probably make you want to bump up the string gauge a little. They made my ‘08 Tele play so much easier, I went from .009’s to .010’s. Can’t wait to get back to Arizona to get it back from shop after fret crowning.
Did that for my Squier Tele and is a bit warmer tone (to my ears) without losing the highs. Definitely helped on string life too even though I went down to 9's.
Definitely sounds better. I like the idea of string thru vs top load. I’ve tried it and I didn’t notice a difference in sound.
String thru has more sustain sound bcz it has more curve of strings.
@@carryla I honestly tried it and if there was a difference it’s not noticeable.
@@daleturner3507 from my logic i rather choose the hole in the body, but ur experience tells me its fine so i'm down 👍🏼 btw wanna buy a tele n this CV 60'S kinda looks great than 50's
I put your pickup and pot set in my Squier tele with the solderless option. I had to chisel a little out of the cavity to make them fit. Maybe an eighth inch deeper.
I did not know Squire made a telecaster that costs dang near $500..it's like fishing..lures aren't made to attract fish,but rather to attract the fisherman's eye!! great video though.
You ever fish?
@@alwaysopen7970 heck ya..I fish every chance I get,have to telescopic pokes always set up in my car ready to go
The most noticeable difference will be in you playing, because you'll have confidence that you have better parts than before.
The placebo effect..so true!!!
@@overnightguitarist5063 Otherwise known as myth.
Love this one. Can't wait for the MGK video. I don't waste any time hating him and I do love a good Schecter PT.
Great job
Hi Dylan tks for the series on CV upgrading. Very interesting. I would be interested to see how u turn a classic tele set up to a Nashville set up.
I swear I watched that one
I have been wanting to show someone that knows more about the electronics of guitar, these pickups I have that were in my classic Vibe 60s in 2019 when I bought it. It's 2015 , I love it. Anyway , it had some mighty mite cloth wired ceramic high output pups in it but someone added or replaced the pots to 500k. For single coils but I guess since they are high output this helps I don't know. But I'll be honest. They just might be some of the best single coils I've heard for the Non strat specific tones. Like say super strats. I wanted more of the classic tones so I put in loaded player series guard. They sound great too but now after 2 years of more learning I'm thinking about replacing it with the mighty mites. Whoever owned this CV 60s 3tone SB had also very tastefully relic the headstock as well. Including a cig burn mark. The body isn't relic at all and it just looks good. But man it sounds even better. This was sold as a SE Squier. So yeah I scored. I might redo the review of it since it's been a while ...But man. It is fantastic ...I've read up a bit and am still not sure but this just might be a mutt of parts from Korea pots and etc but wired up by someone that knew a specific tone they wanted and look. It's amazing. Peace!!!
For the next video do string through and toploader on each of the different saddles you plan on testing. See if there is more of a difference.
Damn those pickups sound good.
Dylan, are you planning to switch out the nut? It would be an interesting video how to get out the overlacquered nut without chipping the finish too much.
nope. the nut is fine