Gibson Pots - Audio or Linear Taper for tone control?

[Phelan]

Hi all,

I need to replace one of the tone pots in my 2004 LP standard.

From the store I'm looking at for parts, I notice that the Gibson 500K pots are audio taper, and liner taper pots only seem to come in 300K.

Do guitars come with all of one type or the other, or are one type of pot used for tone, and the other type used for volume? I've looked up on here and whilst there are lots of discussions regarding 300K v 500K pots and differences in caps I can't seem to find anything that answers my question:

If I wanted to replace like for like, which Gibson pot do I need to replace my tone pot?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Tom.Ashworth]

Very interested to know this... I also need to replace one on a 2004 standard (one in my avatar picture)
Strange world

 

[Ansen]

Linear for volume potis, audio for tone potis.

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

Both will work for vol, audio only for tone.

 

[dodger916]

It's really personal preference. The "taper" of audio pots gives a larger change from "10" per movement of the knob than linear, which I prefer for gigging. It requires a finer touch (small increments) to nail down what I want, but I prefer that.

Linear pots "ramp up" faster from 0 than audio, and the change is more incremental from about 3 to 10. For example (and these %s may not be accurate), from 0 to 3, linear pots may see 50% of the total sweep whereas audio pots may see 20%. Down from 10, audio pots may see 50% of its total sweep from 10 to 7 whereas linear pots may see 20%. It all depends on how fast you want to drop from 10 or up from 0. Linear taper pots are great for players who use the vol pot for volume swells as most of the change occurs close to 0.

 

[Rob H.]

Gibson USA models, including your guitar, have 300k linear pots for volume and 500k audio for tone.

Taper is definitely personal preference. I like the Gibson USA setup because I like the volume roll-off better.

 

[Classicplayer]

Both of my Lester's (2000 Classic & '10 Studio Deluxe) have 300K linear pots for volume and 500K audio taper for tone. I prefer the stock volume pots because I don't have to roll the control up or down very much to get a significant (for me) change in the actual "tone" of either guitar. I like the ability to do that quickly. I'm a firm believer that my volume controls can change my tone almost as much as my tone controls do.

Classicplayer