Potentiometer differences?

[Muzza]

Can you really notice a difference with upgraded pots?

Is it the feel of the knob? The feel of the movement? Or sound/tone you're referring to?

[tonyw]

It depends on a number of things, the capacitance of the pots for a start, you might have 500k pots reading 100k less or 100k over, not uncommon with cheap pots and sometimes in expensive pots but resistance is resistance 500k is 500k no matter what pot you use. What you are after really is a long lasting pot, a quality pot with a smooth sweep and a nice taper (taper is a matter of choice A or B) . As for caps if its .047 thats what capacitance your getting, even with these green chicklets, but myself i like orange drops, i get good close reading on them, i check everythings value i put in a guitar.

I have expensive paper in oil caps here, but i really only use them for vintage correct stuff, other than that i throw in orange drops, i have had a very good run with these caps. I use resistors for treble bleeds and changing pot values, these i get from JayCar.

[Fretworn]

Can you really notice a difference with upgraded pots?

Is it the feel of the knob? The feel of the movement? Or sound/tone you're referring to?

A friend of mine had a guitar go from crappy to awesome just by changing the switch and jack from whatever was in there to Switchcraft. So yes cheap electronic components can (not will) detract from the tone of a guitar.

[wazkelly]

A friend of mine had a guitar go from crappy to awesome just by changing the switch and jack from whatever was in there to Switchcraft. So yes cheap electronic components can (not will) detract from the tone of a guitar.

When the sum total value of most of these Chinese electronic parts is less than $5, make that more like 50c, you cannot expect too much in regards to quality, tone or longevity. Suspect the switch was the main culprit as it contains more moving parts than the jack. Either way it is cheaper and easier in the long run to upgrade pots, caps, and the tone bleed resistor when wiring up as to do it later often creates messy solder joints that also introduce their own set of problems. Shouldn't ignore the crappy standard thin guage wire as switching to better quality will not only give you piece of mind but improve the signal too.