There seems to be a lot of confusion about the pots used in an electric guitar. Why are there different types? What do their values mean? How does all this vary the tone of the instrument?
A guitar sounds the way it does due to many factors, and the pots are no exception. Here is are some things to consider when choosing these ingredients in your "tone recipe"
250K vs 500k: These are by far the most common valued pots available for the passive electric guitar market. Typically guitars with humbuckers use 500k pots and single coil guitars use 250K. A general rule is, higher value pots give the guitar a brighter sound, and lower value pots give the guitar a warmer sound. Humbuckers tend to have a fuller, darker and louder character and are complimented by the use of 500K pots. Single coils on the other hand have a brighter, snappier tone and the 250K pots adds a little more warmth and body. This is acheived because higher value pots put less load on a pickup so treble frequencies aren’t bleed through the pot to the ground, and lost.
Graph Tech uses 250K pots on both the MIDI volume pot (Hexpander system) and Acoustic volume pot (Acousti-phonic system), but you can use a 500K (or even 300K) to further fine tune the sound of your instrument.
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