Pot taper - your experiences and take on it?

[TOMMO]

Hello. Looks like I need to change the volume pots in one of my guitars because they started to make some noise when turning plus the taper doesn't work for me at all - at about 7/8 the signal is way down low. Don't know what's in there yet but I've contacted the company and hope for a reply soon.
I have changed pots in several guitars in the past (thinline ES 335 type mostly) so I know what I'll be doing. My experience has been that contrary to what most people seem to prefer linear pots work better for me than log pots. I have measured log pots I had and they always were 80/20. Over the years I have often read that "audio taper" pots back in the day were more like 70/30, 65/35 or even 60/40 which brings them much closer to linear. TAD offers a special 70/30 pot (instead of the usual 80/20) but I'm a bit hesitant to buy a pair and try them out.
What works best for you? I'd greatly appreciate your experiences and replies.
Thanks.

[PDeville]

Hello. My experience is that the volume pots quality and functionality are very inconsistent. At this point I assume that it is poor quality control, regardless of manufacture.

I have 2007 59' Reissue Les Paul. It has lovely wood, and Burstbucker pickups. The volume controls work so well, that I can set them at 4 or 5 and get many nice sounds from that instrument. My other Les Paul is a newer 54RI. Supposedly has the same CTS pots and wiring, but like most every other guitar, the volume drop is significant at 8. At 7 the volume is nearly gone.

Same thing on my ES175 (59RI). It has a 57 classic, and the same wiring, and pots. Volume is almost dead at 7.
Same with a "luthier" made guitar I owned recently.

I had the same problem with every historic 335 I owned between (between 2000 - 2015), (maybe 5 of them).

It is not "50s wiring", it not the brand of pots. It is not Audio vs Linear. I have had all of those modification options with very little to no difference in the function or sound of the guitars.

A few years back, I was reading the Les Paul forum about this issue. Several people had said that 2 or 3 out of every 10 CTS pots functioned well. (But I had the problem with Bourne as well, which was almost no difference compared to the stock pots).

Aside from my 59RI Les Paul the other guitars I have played which had a full usable sweep were early 1960s Super 400CES and L5CES.The pots functioned properly. Also, PRS had excellent usable volume sweep but I have not owned or played PRS in 10 years. The vintage CTS were better made?

Good luck. I have never figured this out. I just leave the volume on 9/10 to get the sound I like.

[blackcat]

Hello. Looks like I need to change the volume pots in one of my guitars because they started to make some noise when turning plus the taper doesn't work for me at all - at about 7/8 the signal is way down low. Don't know what's in there yet but I've contacted the company and hope for a reply soon.
I have changed pots in several guitars in the past (thinline ES 335 type mostly) so I know what I'll be doing. My experience has been that contrary to what most people seem to prefer linear pots work better for me than log pots. I have measured log pots I had and they always were 80/20. Over the years I have often read that "audio taper" pots back in the day were more like 70/30, 65/35 or even 60/40 which brings them much closer to linear. TAD offers a special 70/30 pot (instead of the usual 80/20) but I'm a bit hesitant to buy a pair and try them out.
What works best for you? I'd greatly appreciate your experiences and replies.
Thanks.

Tommo,

Are you talking about your AR372CE here? Maybe not? I did not like the linear pots that came with mine and changed all four to CTS audio taper. Works fine for volume but the tone pots have little perceptible change after '3' or '4'. Or is it me!

David

[TOMMO]

Tommo,

Are you talking about your AR372CE here?

Yes - it's the Eastman.

[jads57]

I usually depend on a Boss FV control, and leave volume controls wide open.

[icr]

Depends on my playing style.
With over driven sounds, the linear pot is no good because you have to turn it almost all the way off before it gets any quieter.
With clean sounds the Log or Audio pot is no good because the sound goes away with just a touch of the knob.

[TOMMO]

Depends on my playing style.
With over driven sounds, the linear pot is no good because you have to turn it almost all the way off before it gets any quieter.
With clean sounds the Log or Audio pot is no good because the sound goes away with just a touch of the knob.

That's interesting and matches my observation of players' preferences: those who prefer log pots have usually been the ones who use a lot of gain / overdrive / distortion.