What is the best Pot/Cap combo for a Les Paul?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Inca Roads
  • Start date Start date
Inca Roads

Inca Roads

Active member
Les Paul guy's, give me your opinions. :rock:
What is the best Pot/Cap combo for Aldrich pups
in a Les Paul Standard?
Pretty sure I want the 500k CTS Audio taper pots,
just not sure what are the best caps to use?
Do the Jensen .022 caps, work well in this situation
or is there a better Value cap to run?
Thanks,
-Rick-
 
not sure about "best" but for me, in my les pauls, i prefer:

duncan custom bridge /alnico 2 pro neck

wired standard

i like a treble bleed, but you dont NEED one....a small one at that too....like a 1000pf.

on between the volume and tone pots, i like a the standard old ceramic cap from Gibson, usually labled 203 mp....which SHOULD be about .022

all the ones i like measure around .015-.018...i cant really start to hear the difference between those ratings, but definitely a difference opposed to .022 caps

for pots, again, i like the stock 300k gibson ones.
mine measure a little closer to 285k. but some are a bit over IIRC towards 350

again, starting to split hairs to my ears IMHO....YMMV.
 
It depends really. I actually like bumblebee caps and Jenson caps from RS. I use mostly CTS 500k's but I have stock Gibson 300k's in my traditional plus and feel no need to change them.

If you want to try a decent tone and playability improvement on your LP replace the nut with a TUSQ-XL one http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddl ... _Nuts.html
 
pickup direct to 500K CTS pots for me...never use tone controls
 
http://www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/CT ... 4SLBpVOVNA

Mojotone Vintage Taper CTS 500K Long/Split Shaft Guitar Potentiometer

You don't necessarily need the long shaft, just vintage taper. The taper on these pots is so gradual you can dial in just the right amount of overdrive. The interesting thing about this taper is it is so gradual, the treble roll off is gradual as well. They seem to maintain the highs better. IMHO
cap value .022 any brand
 
Rocknrollamps":1mky6gk3 said:
http://www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/CTS/Mojotone-CTS-500K-Long-Split-Shaft-Guitar-Potentiometer#.U4SLBpVOVNA

Mojotone Vintage Taper CTS 500K Long/Split Shaft Guitar Potentiometer

You don't necessarily need the long shaft, just vintage taper. The taper on these pots is so gradual you can dial in just the right amount of overdrive. The interesting thing about this taper is it is so gradual, the treble roll off is gradual as well. They seem to maintain the highs better. IMHO
cap value .022 any brand


thanks! im gonna check those out....and the tusq nuts too....my main LP is due for a rewire/repot and a re-nut.

if my camping trip is out due to weather next week ,this might just be the deall!
 
Nice Info, "Pots and caps" one of the most overlook key parts in the equation to True good tone miss by Guitar players.
 
After researching this for awhile I went with CTS 500K all tested to be 500K or above with older orange drop caps. The seller was on Ebay and the setup was all nicely pre-soldered. He felt the orange drops were equivalent to the bumblebees and possibly superior.

I installed the set and I am very happy with the results.

If you like your pots to spin easy the Bourns low friction 500K audio are really nice too.
 
I have the stock pots and wiring in my 35th Anniversary Custom with my Aldrich, but that guitar is fucking awesome to begin with and needs nothing. To be fair, I only replaced the bridge pickup on a whim, but even the original was pretty awesome. As long as the guitar has quality stuff, it should be fine. Otherwise, check out RS Guitarworks, they have a lot of good stuff. I use their kits in some of my other stuff. I was going to rewire the LPC, but why bother if it already sounds awesome?
 
Back
Top