Harness and Pots for a Zephyr Regent SH55 Upgrade

[Boze]

My good ear had been telling me the pickup was lacking on my 98 Peerless ZepReg. I'm interested in following the advice from LtKojak and others and getting the harness accessories ordered without my ignorance leading to a mistake.

Apart from the Lower SH55 neck pickup, my shopping list could use proofreading:

CTS TVT 550K audio taper pot LtKojak suggests for volume:

CTS 500K linear pot tone options:

CTS 500K Linear Taper Pro Guitar Pot w/ Long Brass Shaft | ReverbCTS 500K Linear Taper Pro Guitar Pot w/ Long Brass Shaft | Reverb

EP-4986-000 CTS 500K Linear Tone Pot, Split, Knurled Shaft | Reverb

Or do folks recommend audio taper for tone, which I believe was LtKojak's suggestions earlier?

CTS 500K Audio Taper Pro Guitar Pot

What's the difference between .0047 cap and the usual .0022?

Modern or 50s wiring? I read the helpful discussion from this old ZepReg thread (also where my parts list originated).

Thanks very much for any suggestions or direction! Here's a phone pic for your trouble. Thinking about replacing the tuners with the same style Gibsons from StewMac too.

[MtnCat]

I have the same instrument and have made some changes. My ZR had been abused and I took a chance and went with it.
Your ZR looks to be in great shape. I really like my ZR, but I will end up changing the pickup I chose at some point,
but that is another story. I prefer a .047 microfarad cap for a darker sound.
I am not affiliated with any of these links BTW. No economic interest at all.
Just posting here as 'food for thought' for your search.

The circuitry is the same as a Les Paul Jr. Vol pot and tone pot w/a cap, wiring and a jack.
Lot of pre made harness's available, pre soldered or just the parts.

I ended up with the Kluson Revolution non locking tuners. Direct drop in; 19:1 ratio. Gold. Very smooth.
Do a search on eBay.
StewMac used to have those in gold with the plastic pearloid buttons, but they no longer carry that version.
You can search for those on eBay. Some are at a good price, others not so much.

Here are some links regarding pots and caps. Both Lindy Fralin and Dylan do a very good job explaining the general concepts.
Well worth watching, a least for me.

Lindy Fralin and tone caps
the guy on the right, Chris Whiteman, is a wonderful jazz player.

How To select the right capacitor for your guitar! 3 tips - Dylan Talks Tone #240

Dylan Talks Tone Ep #10 250 or 500k pots in your guitar #30

How a Guitar Tone Circuit Works - How the Tone Knob Works #32

What Capacitors Should I Use In My Guitar

How To select the right capacitor for your guitar! 3 tips - Dylan Talks Tone #240

250k Pots Vs 500k Pots - Sound Comparison

Some of the text spacing is awful in Preview..

Of course pickups can be a real rabbit hole.
Have fun and good luck.

[Boze]

Thanks! I watched all those videos and learned a lot. I remember Chris Whiteman from his YouTube clip of Round Midnight on an ES125 like mine (only less ugly).

Followup questions:

1) does my Peerless ZepReg use short or long shaft pots? I'm planning on trying the 550k volume and 500k tone so as long as the short shaft is correct I'm sorted on that front.

2) won't a .0047 tone cap reduce the SDSL to mud quicker than a .0022? Dylan and our LtKojak recommend the .0047 capacitor and 500k tone pot for a wider range of tones, which sounds enticing.

3) finally, I need to decide on linear versus volume taper for each pot. I'm surprised linear isn't more popular: it always sounds like highs fall off a cliff as soon as either knob is backed off.

I've historically kept knobs at ten because a volume knob at 8 or even 9 sounds like the tone got cut to 7. I've never used a volume knob that made me think "that sounds like the same pickup just a bit lower volume".

I'd love for the SDSL to sound viable using either the volume or tone even down to 5 or 6 on the knob, something I've never encountered in the wild.

The SDSL arrived yesterday so I just need to order pots plus a cap from somewhere and we're ready to rock (i.e. jazz).

Thanks for being the only person to weigh in and thanks again for the helpful links!

I have the same instrument and have made some changes. My ZR had been abused and I took a chance and went with it.
Your ZR looks to be in great shape. I really like my ZR, but I will end up changing the pickup I chose at some point,
but that is another story. I prefer a .047 microfarad cap for a darker sound.
I am not affiliated with any of these links BTW. No economic interest at all.
Just posting here as 'food for thought' for your search.

The circuitry is the same as a Les Paul Jr. Vol pot and tone pot w/a cap, wiring and a jack.
Lot of pre made harness's available, pre soldered or just the parts.

I ended up with the Kluson Revolution non locking tuners. Direct drop in; 19:1 ratio. Gold. Very smooth.
Do a search on eBay.
StewMac used to have those in gold with the plastic pearloid buttons, but they no longer carry that version.
You can search for those on eBay. Some are at a good price, others not so much.

Here are some links regarding pots and caps. Both Lindy Fralin and Dylan do a very good job explaining the general concepts.
Well worth watching, a least for me...

[Cunamara]

Check out a capacitor-resistor treble bleed circuit to prevent treble loss when rolling down the volume knob. Fender tended to use just a small capacitor for this effect, but it sounds better with a capacitor and resistor. Stew-Mac sells them ready made, if you prefer.

Personally, I find the treble rolloff of the volume knob to be a helpful feature as it mainly tends to roll off the harshness of the high end, so I don't use one of these circuits on any of my guitars. I set my tone by first rolling the volume off a bit, usually to about 9-9.5, although in the case of my Ibanez GB10, I roll it down to 4-5, because the pickup output is so high). Then I do the rest of my tone adjustment with the tone knob.

On YouTube, I hear a lot of "jazz" guitar tones that are harsh, clangy and metallic and highly unappealing to me; the frequent alternative to that, however, is mud. There's a sweet spot in the middle that I'm aiming for.

Be aware of analysis paralysis. There is a ton of bloviation on the inter-webs and on YouTube about stuff that is just plain BS.

As far as 50s versus 60s versus modern wiring, it's important to remember that the tone and volume controls are always interactive to some extent on a guitar: The volume knob always affects tone to some extent and the tone knob always affects volume to some extent. With some of the wiring strategies, the volume knob has more effect on tone and the tone knob has less of an effect on the volume; with other strategies, the volume knob doesn't affect the tone as much, but the tone knob affects volume. It's really just a matter of what seems most natural to you. Personally, just pick one, and you'll quickly figure out the settings that you like. I prefer modern wiring.

Most players do not like linear taper pots on an instrument with passive electronics. Audio taper pots function more closely to the hearing curves of our ears. However, there are some famous players that prefer linear pots, at least for some applications.

For the classic sounds with humbuckers, 500K potentiometers with a .022 capacitor and for single coils, 250K potentiometers with a .047 capacitor. Gibson and Fender got it right (they had electrical engineers on staff to get it right). Also, note that the units of the capacitors matter (microfarads versus nanofarads, etc.). With microfarads a .022 versus .0022 capacitor is going to function very differently.

[Boze]

Thanks for the great tips. The bleed circuit does sound like something I'd appreciate. I'll stick with volume taper pots for a more traditional setup. The SDSL is the star here and I'm just hoping to be someone who can enjoy using knobs for more than just set breaks.

Do you know if short or long shaft pots fit my ZR?

MtnCat taught me the parts for a ZR were the same as a Les Paul Jr. For a 50s wiring option it looks like I'm assembling something like this Les Paul Jr kit on Reverb uses. They'll swap the .022 cap for a 33 or 47 on request. Looks to cost about twice as much as the parts individually but I do appreciate the headstart.

[Cunamara]

Archtop guitars are usually short shaft. Les Pauls are usually long shaft due to the thickness of the maple cap.

[sgosnell]

Changing pots is the least bang for the buck possible. A potentiometer is just a variable resistor, and while the tolerance can be wide, the ideal resistance can be found somewhere in the sweep. As long as the resistance is zero with the pot full open, or within a very few ohms, the pot should be fine. Replacement will only help when the pot is scratchy and damaged. Caps is caps, except for the tolerance. A few picofarads either way is probably not hearable.