Potentiometers

Potentiometers (also known as Guitar Pots) are the controls on your guitar that you use to adjust volume, tone, and any other variables your guitar is set up with. In electronics terms, we're talking about types of variable resistors, and these humble knobs can have a surprisingly large effect on your sound.

In guitar terms, there's 2 main things to consider; Taper and Resistance. The taper defines how much your sound, like volume, changes across the turn of the knob. Linear Taper Potentiometers respond by the same amount across the whole turn, making them great for controlling parameters like EQ settings. Logarithmic Taper Potentiometers, also commonly called Audio Taper pots, work on a curve, responding quickly at first, then more finely at the top of the turn. Your volume goes from silent to loud-enough in the first part of the turn, then increases in fine amounts across the rest of the turn. This makes them especially great for volume controls for players who use that volume pot a lot to really control the sound.

Resistance defines the electrical resistance of the control, but in guitar terms this affects how much of the treble frequencies of your signal pass through. 250K Ohm pots are typically best with single coil pickups, while 500K Ohm pots, which allow for more treble frequencies, can give your humbuckers more room to breathe in the high end. You can also commonly find 300K pots, which sit somewhere between.

Upgrading your guitar with carefully considered and chosen, high quality pots is a really cost effective way of taking your sound to the next level, for comparatively little outlay!

Why Do I Need Potentiometers?

• One of the simplest upgrades to your guitar
• Can really improve your guitar tone for little outlay
• Replacement pots let you fine tune your sound
• Different tapers let you set up how your controls feel and respond to you turning them