Vol/Tone pot values - Fender Nashville Telecaster

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So I just rewired my Nashville Tele from the stock wiring (same switching as a Strat but just the one master tone knob) to remove the middle only option and replace it with neck/bridge together (i.e. classic Tele middle position).  

While I was in there, I noticed that the volume and tone pot were both 1M ohms CTS pots.  I had always in the past used 500k pots for Humbuckers and 250k for single coils.  Anyone know what the reason for 1M pots is and any benefits over 250k?  

The pickups in the guitar are Fender Vintage Noiseless Tele single coils (neck and bridge) and a Fender Vintage Noiseless Strat single coil in the middle. 

(and any excuse - here's a pic!)


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Comments

  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    They aren't single coils, they're stacked humbuckers. This means they have much more windings than a normal single coil, and need a higher pot value to avoid treble loss. Fender have presumably tested it and found 500K wasn't enough, so they use 1M.

    This isn't going to give quite the same response and tone if you turn down the controls a bit though, which may be one reason a lot of people find these pickups don't sound quite 'naturally' like traditional single coils.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

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  • SteveFSteveF Frets: 536
    I see, that makes sense - hadn’t really considered what made them noiseless tbh.  

    It definitely doesnt suffer from from lack of treble - especially on the bridge!
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