2020 WW R7 Pots Measurements

[Nikodax]

I am about to try set of new PAF clones in my Wildwood R7 Goldtop . I desoldered pickups and decided to measure pots. I was pretty amazed at measurements.
bridge vol- 431
neck vol- 475
bridge tone - 490
neck tone - 470
These are stock Gibson branded pots. In a past I did several pickups swaps on this guitar. Is it possible that prior heat from iron would cause bridge vol pot read so low ? Assuming that bridge vol pot is damaged or out of spec from factory . I’m curious why rest of the pots consistently below 500 ? Gibson deliberately going for 475 range ? I was under impression that ideal range for pots is 500-550 .
It left me scratching my head. Now I’m curious if I need to check pots in my others R9s

 

[cmjohnson]

They're all within 20 percent tolerance values which is the spec. Three are wtihin 10 percent. Two are within 5 percent. Nothing to see here.

 

[ARandall]

There is no 'ideal value' concept full stop.
Also there is no logical reason to blindly put in the same value for every position.

If I was going to spec out a 2V, 2T setup the values you have are almost right where I'd want them. The highest values in the neck to keep clarity, and the low values in the bridge to round off the treble.
A simple swap of the bridge tone to the neck volume would be 100% optimal for the values you have IME

 

[Nikodax]

There is no 'ideal value' concept full stop.
Also there is no logical reason to blindly put in the same value for every position.

If I was going to spec out a 2V, 2T setup the values you have are almost right where I'd want them. The highest values in the neck to keep clarity, and the low values in the bridge to round off the treble.
A simple swap of the bridge tone to the neck volume would be 100% optimal for the values you have IME

Appreciate it.

 

[Dilver]

Pots vary so much. You have to test them all before installing if you really want 500k. Gibson just orders them within a certain tolerance range and puts them in.

 

[RocketKing]

It's normal.
As said above it's within tollerance.
My 2014 Traditional was supposed to have 500k all round according to spec but it turned out that tone pots , both bridge and neck, were way below 300k.
I changed it all out a few years ago.

 

[VictorB]

These are your best bet, period.

https://www.solomusicgear.com/product/wd-cts550k-custom-audio-taper-split-shaft-pot/

The difference will be like night and day after you switch.

 

[Jimmi]

Vintage pots are very leaky either because the changes with time or weren’t that accurate to begin with. Most read higher…sometimes much higher than 500k (I have seen 1000k). The vintage harnesses I have range between 650-750. The sweep is also a little wider so while the taper on the new ones is much better than in the past it us is still off a bit. To my ear, the higher range frequencies are part of what is missing with the newer pickup/harness combination.

 

[PoorMan]

I've measured a LOT of pots over the years and not once have I encountered a "500k" pot that was 500k. Bourns, CTS, Gibson...every single one has come in in the 400k range. 430 is a little on the low side, but other values are typical. I would even argue 490k is surprisingly high.

If I want a pot to measure 500k+, I order 550k VIP pots. My only complaint is that they do not have brass shafts.

 

[dbruno]

Lots of good pots to be had these days. I’ve said it before. VIP pots are my favs. They sound awesome, turn with ease, have the perfect taper and are always spot on value. They are not the most robust pots and don’t have a phenolic disk like CTS. So longevity remains to be seen. I’ve had no issues so far and won’t use anything else in my guitars

 

[martin H]

As everyone has said, normal tolerances. Further, unless you want it to get brighter, I wouldn't swap these out for higher resistance pots.

 

[Jimmi]

As everyone has said, normal tolerances. Further, unless you want it to get brighter, I wouldn't swap these out for higher resistance pots.

Most vintage LPs are fairly bright sounding . Besides, you can only roll off the high end, not add so if you want to error in one direction, brighter is usually better

 

[jimijam33]

Brighter is ALWAYS better on a Les Paul. Go with 1 meg audio CTS. These will/should be slightly brighter than 500K pots (not a big difference but noticeable).

Vintage Les Pauls are usually/always brighter sounding than contemporary LP's due to wood quality (used then), and glue (used then)....

 

[Nikodax]

Thanks everybody. Really appreciated it. I guess I was curios if there were any intent behind those numbers. . Sounds like it’s totally random within 20% tolerance . I was surprised that not a single one is at 500 or above . I would think that 20% should work both ways

 

[MyGuitar]

Tolerance +/- 15...20% of the resistance of the pots has minimal affect on the resulting tone. Choose 250k or 300k or 500k or 1m pots - as you like. Higher resistance results in higher resonance peak AMPLITUDE (height, not frequency) - more pickup's "character", and a brighter tone. Very subjective subject.
Pot tapers are even more important, I mean % of linear or log (audio) tapers measured from the mid position. I do not mean affect on resulting tone but your feel and adjustment precision with respective pot, especially if swelling. In my opinion, relatively rare and expensive, approximately 20% : 80% ratio log (audio) tapers are the best for both Volume and Tone. What I can recommend for the Tone pots is to use 500k log pots with a "no-load" option, providing just a wider Tone adjustment range.

 

[bluesoul]

While you can hear some difference … and multimeter will provide a number….. I would recommend spending your time playing and not fuckering with analyzing all the little details.
I have been down this road only to learn that the subtle differences are not worth the time to put a soldering iron in your hand when you could be playing! It’s a distraction… imo. Just my take… mileage may vary per person

 

[martin H]

Brighter is ALWAYS better on a Les Paul. Go with 1 meg audio CTS. These will/should be slightly brighter than 500K pots (not a big difference but noticeable).

I tend to agree. In fact, still have one with the pickups feeding straight into FET buffers! But I remember a huge amount of bitching from folks who insist they sound better with 300K pots

 

[martin H]

While you can hear some difference … and multimeter will provide a number….. I would recommend spending your time playing and not fuckering with analyzing all the little details.
I have been down this road only to learn that the subtle differences are not worth the time to put a soldering iron in your hand when you could be playing! It’s a distraction… imo. Just my take… mileage may vary per person

Agree. and if changing from 430K to 500k had a negligible effect , I have to ask why some folks swear that changing a 500k pot for a "high quality" 500k pot has a significant effect on tone? Apart from differences in taper and possible longevity , a 500K pot is a 500k pot.

 

[Stealthracer]

Are we supposed to use audio taper for both volume and tone like Fender does?