Decent CHEAP pots, caps for strat copy?

[David P.]

I'm working on a guitar for a friend right now that he got for free from a coworker who left it out in the rain. It's a Johnson by Axl Strat copy with 3 single coils. It's all cleaned up now and actually plays pretty decent, and I've installed a Fender Yngwie Malmsteen brass nut to replace the cheap plastic one.

I'm going to route it and install a humbucker (from an Epiphone G-400) in the bridge position and keep the neck and middle single coils as they are. What potentiometers and capacitors should I get for it? I pretty much want the cheapest decent ones that get the job done, since I'm not charging him anything to fix it up, but I'm not made of money.

[CharlyG]

CTS aren't that expensive.

[walterw]

+1 spend $5-6 each on CTS pots, or skip it and leave the originals in there if they still work (my vote on a "gratis" repair.)

[David P.]

The ones in it now work, but make a little scratchy sound when I turn them. I think I'll get CTS, but what values would you recommend for 2 singles and a humbucker?

Oh BTW, I'm going to rewire it with just 2 knobs -one volume, one tone.

[CharlyG]

Get some contact cleaner at Radio Shack, and spray it in the tiny holes in the back of the pot around where the crimps are, and then turn back and forth a bit. That should do it.

[David P.]

http://www.seymourduncan.com/images/support/schematics/HSS_1v_1t_5w.jpg

Okay, so I found a wiring diagram for how I want to do it, but what do you think of the values on the pots? Would a 500k volume make the single coils sound like crap, or does the tone pot make more of a difference in that? Would a 250k tone make the humbucker sound too muddy?

What about 300k for both pots?

[memiller]

Guitarfetish.com. Pots are Alpha, decent quality, $2.50 each. Caps are also cheap. Cheaper if you ignore all the drivel and just go buy some $0.20 caps from Fry's or something. They really don't matter.