reverse audio taper long shaft 500k pots

[hangten]

Do they exist?

I haven't been able to find them on the web (found short shaft but not long), and have found a post or 2 saying they don't exist.

I'm left handed and trying to upgrade my LP and h535 electronics...

Suggestions?

[hangten]

Alternatively, is there an electronic workaround for this?

for example my LP classic has 300K pots - Is there a way to add a resistor or something to make the guitar "see" a 500K pot?

[mr coffee]

I did that once by mistake on a strat and never lived it down

Originally Posted by hangten

Do they exist?

I haven't been able to find them on the web (found short shaft but not long), and have found a post or 2 saying they don't exist.

I'm left handed and trying to upgrade my LP and h535 electronics...

Suggestions?

[Rosewood]

I've never seen any long shaft reverse audio, not saying they don't exist but...
Here is what I would do. Take a long shaft cts (Gibson) pot and see if you can locate a cts reverse audio pot (500k if you want) and disassemble the two pots and swap the resistive elements, there you have long shaft reverse audio taper.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by Rosewood

...disassemble the two pots and swap the resistive elements...

oooh, i like this one. i'm sure you would need to use the same brand pots for it to work, of course.

[hangten]

just call me McGruber

[hangten]

Actually, this sounds like the best suggestion.

Anyone got tips on disassembling a pot without destroying it?

[sidehatch]

Originally Posted by mr coffee

I did that once by mistake on a strat and never lived it down

I was wiring my guitar up the other day and the tone control worked backwards.

I posted it on here and someone said just to swap the furthermost lug to the other side and viola it worked.

Theoretically, Your idea about adding a resistor to get the ohm you need will work. I found a website once where the guy was changing all sorts of pots with resistors.

I did it and custom tuned the pot to what I wanted it to read however, in application it sounded wrong. the taper wasn't very good anymore. MAybe with the pot wide open it will be what you want but the sweep didnt work for me-at all.

Also, Gibson has been using Linear taper pots in their guitars lately. Why??? Who knows why but they need to be stopped. I feel a coup coming on. Samick wouldn't put a linear taper pot in a guitar. I dont think a Indonesian company would either.

My advice: get some 500k audio taper pots preferably CTS although I think alpha can be a better pot if you can find a large 500k audio taper. Believe it or not, I think those 500k small pots by alpha are just great. The ones I found are just as good as any big pot. Usually, small pots are junk that comes on imports and I get rid of them immediately.

there is a local shop that bought a bag of small 500k pots(like 500 pieces). They are sturdy as anything I've ever seen and get this: every one I've used has tested within a few %. The most variation I've ever got from them is a 500 k reads 510K!

I have also heard that alphas are junk on here so I think there might be different quality level alpha's. These are good enough that I'd put them in a $5,000 guitar! The last CTS's I bought that were marked 500k actually read 360k,370k and the highest was 414k. I had to go back to that store and read about 25 CTS pots til I got what I needed.

[Rosewood]

Originally Posted by hangten

Actually, this sounds like the best suggestion.

Anyone got tips on disassembling a pot without destroying it?

Just don't bend the tabs more than you have to, they can break.

[hangten]

thanks for the suggestions - I'm gonna order some pots and see what I can do...

[zombiwoof]

There is an article in the FAQs section of Aron's Stompbox forum that tells how to add resistors to a linear pot to achieve any type of taper, that sounds like the answer for you. Just get some linear pots and add the correct resistors to get the reverse audio taper.

Al

[zombiwoof]

Actually, the info about tapering resistors is on this page from GEO's "The Secret Life of Pots":

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folder...s/potscret.htm

It's a little confusing (at least to me!) but if you study the "tricks" you can figure it out.

Al

[hangten]

Very cool - thanks for that great link!

I am going to try both approaches - swapping guts to get a long shaft 500k reverse audio taper, and also trying to get that with a resistor - I just need to sit down and wade through that article.

I'll post my results...