Knobs & Pots

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
Post Reply
User avatar
Tweedsuitcase
PAT PEND
PAT PEND
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:19 pm

Knobs & Pots

Post by Tweedsuitcase » Tue Apr 06, 2021 10:25 am

Anybody know a good combination of pots and witch hats knobs for an MIJ Traditional 60s jazzmaster? I’m running into a few challenges due to the mini pots in the MiJ and being a lefty. Any suggestions appreciated!

Here’s what I am looking for based on my research:
• 1M or 500k reverse audio taper pot (for tone)
• 1M or 500k linear pot (optional, depending on matching the tone pot and what knobs I end up with)
• Witch Hat knobs
o Off white-ish
o Numbers facing out
o Matching font or no font?

• My tone knob is basically an OFF switch at 1 and does nothing else through the range. I need an audio taper, correct?
• White/cream witch hat knobs
o Seems the most commonly available knobs are the Fender Pure Vintage 65 which have a set screw and don’t seem like they would fit on the mini pots
o The 65 Fender standard knobs also have the numbers facing out which I want, but the font differences on the two knobs really pushes my buttons. It might be dumb, but it is driving me crazy. I guess if everyone is using these, I’ll learn to live with it

pic of my guitar with tone knob removed

Image

User avatar
Beebe
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 186
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2021 7:30 am
Location: Atlanta
Contact:

Re: Knobs & Pots

Post by Beebe » Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:59 pm

The Fender Pure Vintage 65 are really nice and should work with solid shaft pots. I've had the best luck with the pots from StewMac.

https://www.stewmac.com/electronics/com ... -pots.html
Without music, life would be a mistake.

User avatar
Beebe
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 186
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2021 7:30 am
Location: Atlanta
Contact:

Re: Knobs & Pots

Post by Beebe » Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:31 pm

You can also give these sleeves a shot if you want to keep split shafts. I haven't used them, but the idea makes sense:


https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... es-5-pack/
Without music, life would be a mistake.

User avatar
HarlowTheFish
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 806
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 7:09 pm

Re: Knobs & Pots

Post by HarlowTheFish » Tue Apr 06, 2021 6:19 pm

For the harder-to-find pots, check out Small Bear Electronics or your local equivalent if you're not Stateside -- they have reverse-log 1Ms with solid shafts for like two bucks.

User avatar
Tweedsuitcase
PAT PEND
PAT PEND
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:19 pm

Re: Knobs & Pots

Post by Tweedsuitcase » Thu Apr 08, 2021 5:20 pm

Thanks for the suggestions!

User avatar
solfege
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 544
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:05 pm
Location: Philly

Re: Knobs & Pots

Post by solfege » Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:34 am

Beebe wrote:
Tue Apr 06, 2021 4:31 pm
You can also give these sleeves a shot if you want to keep split shafts. I haven't used them, but the idea makes sense:


https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... es-5-pack/
I've used those sleeves and they're great. Totally solve the problem.

User avatar
solfege
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 544
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:05 pm
Location: Philly

Re: Knobs & Pots

Post by solfege » Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:53 am

Couple things:

1. There's nothing particularly wrong with the pots on MIJ JMs that automatically necessitates replacing them.

There is a lot of CTS is the greatest thing since sliced bread traditionalism that can push in that direction, but depending on what CTS pots you get, you may not end up with something that's actually better that what the instrument manufacturer already put on there to create a properly adjustable set of controls. CTS audio taper for instance can be a lot of things -- and that's before we even get to the problems that you as a lefty are going to have. Then there's the hole size question.

2. But it sounds like the pots that came with the guitar aren't doing what you want for tone. I'd say that what will be most useful is to find a fairly high % taper log / audio pot. I think Fender branded CTS, Emerson, and Mojotone are all somewhere around 30%. I dunno about finding that in a reverse audio though. And there's the hole size question for your pickguard. The simple solution to that last one, if you don't care about originality, is just to ream it out a bit. I bought a little hand reamer on amazon for like $20 that'll do the trick there. Or just get metric-sized pots with the right taper in reverse audio.

3. As for knobs, the real problem is that there are 2 kinds of non-solid shafts. I forget the details, but some knobs use coarse and some fine spline. it may actually be easier to get solid shaft knobs and use the sleeves. But do a bit of research to sort out compatibility.

TL;DR: the most important thing for controls that work for you is to get the right taper percentage on your audio pots. Too steep a ramp and it's not really going to do you any good. Everything else can be figured out with a little judicious tweaking.

Post Reply