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Topic: Pot & capacitor values for Gibson MM single coil pickup |
Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 16 Aug 2017 6:36 am |
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I have an orphan pickup from an early Gibson Skylark (the wider model). It's basically the same as the pickup(s) installed on the Melody Maker guitars from the 1960s.
I plan to install the pickup in a derelict lap steel body that is missing its original pickup. Basically, I'm trying to inexpensively cobble together a playable instrument from parts I already have in the junk drawer.
I'm looking for suggestions for the values of the volume pot, tone pot, and tone cap. The theory or reasoning behind your recommendations would also be appreciated. |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 18 Aug 2017 6:22 pm pots and caps
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General rule of thumb is 500k for humbuckers 250k for single coils.
Either will work - the 250 is a little darker , and a single is a little brighter than a humbucker ence a 500 k will be a little brighter.
Cap .047 is a standard -- used to be .05 but not as available now of daze.
I go with 250k and .047 caps on my single coil steels and it works great.
I am sure it will on your Melody maker set up too.
The StewMac ones will be great for your project.
The new Emmerson tight value pots and orange drop cost a lot more than ceramic disc caps and standard pots.
Honestly you most likely can not hear a difference on a lap steel.
part # 1292 cap #0128 pot , get a 6mm alpha knob ---- or #0115 get a 1/4 knob.
use 250k for both volume and tone.
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Steven Paris
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 18 Aug 2017 6:27 pm
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Stew-Mac's "orange drop" capacitors are the polyester ones, not the preferred polypropylene types. And they are WAY over-priced!
I see lots of lap steels with 0.02 tone caps---????
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Emmons & Peavey |
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 18 Aug 2017 7:20 pm
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I'm with Mr George on this one. I like 250 K-Ohm pots and the 0.047 mfd caps. Audio taper is usually recommended for Volume and Linear taper for Tone, but either will work for either. If you get your parts from GFS, you can probably get four pots (250 & 500, A & L) and four caps (2 @ 0.047 and 2 @ 0.022) and change from a Twenty. Of course the shipping may eat up your change and then some. But you can try all the possible combinations yourself then and see (hear) what you like.
Have Fun! 
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"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2017 7:30 am
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Thanks George and Michael for confirming what I had though was correct: 250K pots and .047uF tone cap. I was happy with the Emerson 500K pots and .022uF cap from Stew-Mac that I used on this previous project employing a humbucking pickup:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=319989
Steve, I'll probably stick with the Emerson paper-in-snake-oil tone cap, since it worked so well last time. |
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Steven Paris
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 20 Aug 2017 5:28 pm
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Paper-in-rattlesnake-oil caps have more bite!!
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Emmons & Peavey |
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