The “after” was clearer,richer and more output

I listened to this over my surround system, there is a huge difference to my ears & that 550 sounds amazing on an already amazing guitar!

That tune will get the crowd up and dancing 🙂 It's my understanding that the rule of thumb for pots and coil combination is 250k for single coils , 333k for hot Tele bridge , P90's and low output humbuckers and 500k for regular humbuckers. Experimentation is fun and will keep us young ! Rock on Paul 🤘🏻👍🏻

Sounds really good to me it has a little growl and more clarity, and of course your playing is spot on like always.

Definitely sounds louder. And emphasized a different maybe higher mid frequency. I like the 500k. At one point I thought some highs were too high but you can adjust the tone for that. I have a parts telecaster with antiquity neck and bg pickups t90 bridge to mimic p90 sound. The t90 is significantly brighter and louder so I need to sort that out somehow.

Your playing never gets old! Just love it. I put a quarter pounder in and really enjoying the tone! Thanks. And the 550 just sound more open and more balls.

Changing the tone pot to a larger one shouldn't make a huge difference when off. Just when you're using it you should have more "tone" control, but you can easily change that with a smaller cap value to offset that. Changing out the volume to 500K you should have more highs as the pots actually in parallel with the output and loading the signal down to whatever the pot value is (so it looks like either a 250K or 500K resistor across the output). The lower the value, the more highs it inherently rolls off. You can always set the pot to halfway if it's too bright and that will be the same as a 250K pot. Some people like it, some don't but general rule of thumb is 500K for anything with a humbucker to preserve some of those highs getting rolled off.

I recently added a Seymour Duncan 59" to my Tele neck and decided to use a .033 to maintain the Brights. Sounds great!

Well done, Paul - nice comparison. I have 500k pots in both of my Teles - one is a Nashville, the other a standard. There is a noticeable difference over 250k but it’s not huge and really opens up the middle / in- between tones as well as the neck sounds. I often roll back the tone a bit when using the bridge by itself but not always.

Great improvement definitely. Pots and capacitors make considerable difference, it would be interesting to know what capacitor is in there? Probably a 47. For me, a 33 would be my choice, I tend to prefer bright over dark tones, but this tele is pretty close to how I'd want it.

Wow! Love the tone. All your tones are sweet . You still happy with 500k tone, 250k vol? Cuz what a monstrous tone you got here. Was thinking of trying with my 1/4 pound for T set, in a T style thinline. Thanx

Definitely hear a difference. This is my first time to your channel, love your playing! Thanks for sharing

Such good playing. It makes a real change from the pentatonic noodling on a lot of other guitar channels.

Great shuffle to start. I hear the difference clearly. A successfull experiment Professor Paul.

Best guitar is a Telecaster with 500k pots with a Gibson Holy grail neck pickup and a overwound bridge pickup, thick neck and a light body. Run it thru a tweed or 64 reverb, tasty and dangerous.

I used to run my strat with a 500k tone pot. As most people keep the tone pot fully up, they in effect have a tone control they can only turn down. With a 500k you can set it on 7 and have the original tone and, have the option to turn the tone up or down.

No, I use 500k pots in every guitar, and .001/.010/.033 caps on a switch also! That gives me the tones I like!

The microphonic pot must surely have been faulty. I wonder how much that actually affected the sound of it...

Generally speaking there will be more upper mids and highs in larger value pots. Higher value pots generally sound best with muddier or darker sounding pickups, such as humbuckers and p90s. Most people who want super clean sounding tones will run lower output single coil pickups with lower value pots and usually use fender style amps that tend to bring out more highs. That’s just been my observation.

Some top playing Paul, definitely sounds better with the new pot, I've got 500k tone and volume pots in my HS Tele, got a 470k resistor on the bridge so it still sees roughly 250k, let's the humbucker breath and retains the best value for the single coil, sounds fantastic

Don't know if you did both volume and tone post changes, but with your setup/rig, the 550K is definitely a bit clearer and slightly louder and a good enhancement. If i played through a cleaner blackface-style setup it may be a touch too bright or hard on bridge pickup (again, changing both vol and tone pots). It also helps add a bit more clarity to that full-sized humbucker at neck. When I use a mini-humbucker up there, again I like to keep things at 250K, but a full bucker can get woofy. I hate 500K and above pots on a strat, though. If JUST doing the tone pot, it probably won't make much difference except if you're doing the 'hand-wah-wah', so perhaps a bit more range on the sweep. Also, what you might be hearing is more the difference between an older pot that was dying and a brand new one than the actual resistance values.

Thank you Paul. I was actually thinking about this around a week ago. I've been on the fence whether to stick with my lipstick or replace it with a P90. I can really tell the difference. I'm going to change my pots now and stick a P90 in my Tele.

i have a single coil pick up and it is ceramic ill going to try a 500k pot for the vol to make it brighter coz it sound little bit mud i hope it work thanks to you sir for sharing this.

Your guitar sounds stunning! The intonation is amazing. Did you happen to mention the tone cap value?

Oh how tastes change. From 1968 to around 1983 Fender used 1 meg pots for both volume and tone in all Telecasters. For most of those model years, they also had a treble bleed cap.

Cuando se juntan esa tele y tus manos se unen lo mejor de los mundos! 👏👍 Slds desde Argentina y gracias por tus videos que me llenan el alma 👍

For sure! 500k pot more getting through, creating a lovely warm slight breakup towards overdriving the tubes, turn it down get that nice clean full sound... I always thought that more resistance = less tone but that more if a capacitor thing. But yes- definitely more in the range of lower to upper mid frequencies and to where the pickups are in relation to the scale lengths hot spots/dead spots, so I was thinking about installing just one 500k push pull pot with two capacitors with a bigger gap in value of capacitor on the push then pull on either or strat or tele.. or both if it works out, just to see if I can give my strat or tele or both modification if beneficial in or simply put- greater tone. regards to gaining a fuller range because of the pot value up, and with a choice of two master tone filters and, well, because I completely subscribe to Leo Fender's creation being the stratocaster designed and created for that very reason- to be modded, to experiment with, and have the ability by original design to make it your own, it's a guitar that I believe was built to be modded if you wanted to do so. And you literally cannot break it if you do minor component changes. But I will do an A/B as controlled conditions as possible maybe direct to a daw exact same settings, and direct through audio interface to cakewalk no pedals fir many reasons and because of background noise where I live. An uninterrupted experiment in tweaking the guitars voice. So you swayed me because it's sounds totally great 👍 Thanks for sharing your vid, time and effort- credit where credits due, also desrved you can play that tele like she's an old familiar friend! Top notch.

Sounds like two different guitars. Both nice. I personally would take the former, however, for it seemed more nuanced. Fantastic playing as always!

Is it possible to add the Clapton TBX tone booster to your really cool Tele ? ✨🇺🇸✨🎸

Correct me if I'm wrong but the Humbucker gives the tele a more RnR edge. However, split coils could get some of the Nashville Tele twang if needed. I do think the 500K pots are the way to go with this hybrid PU configuration, and just use the tone knob back to pull back some brightness on the bridge. Sound about right ? Btw -- that custom shop looks amazing !!

One of best tones I've heard on YT. Damn good ears. Tho, when you move your head sideways - does it mean ts deep?

Nice work, I wired in a 470K Ohm resistor so the bridge PU see's 250K ish. somewhat of a compromise instead of riding the tone pot.

I heard the difference, but both timbres had their charm. You would change the volume control to 500K so you don’t load down the high end of the pickup. I thought that Danny Gatton used a 500K tone control. For the “wah” effect from the tone control the taper of the pot is important. A log taper is important.

The 250K was extremely dirty. Have you tried using a clean 250K. I hear a huge difference great mod. I got a second hand guitar and used some contact cleaner on my pots, night a day improvement too.

My tele build is very similar to yours and I feel the 500k pot produces more articulation/ touch sensitivity in the bridge pickup. As far as tone, the bass is tighter and the trebles are a little more “shimmery” with out becoming “ice picky”.

Hi Paul , Greetings from Akron , Ohio USA ! Thanks for a very interesting video . I never had a Tele with a Humbucker before , I always wondered if you had a 250K pot for bridge , or a 500K pot for the neck ? Since there is only one tone pot it has to be one or the other ! Anyway , it is a classic video !

Definitely a difference., Paul. More resitance = less high freq lost to ground. IOW: 500k pot will retain more high end, commonly used for humbucker fitted guitars. It's the norm but not the rule.

Since a 500k vol pot extends upper mids and high's, a good way to compare a 500k vol pot to a 250k vol pot to simply roll your tone pot back on a 500k vol pot to see how close you can match it to the tone of a 250k volume pot. If it's essentially the same tone to your ears, then the 500k is simply giving you more tonal range. If you don't like what you hear, stick with a 250k pot.

Sounds louder but also clearer to me. Also i love the look of that tele.

I slowed this down and zoomed in...studied it for about an hour, mostly your use of double stops and 3rds were really amazing. You were really on one here, there were many parts of this that were simply genius where you would mix major and minor. It seemed like you had the whole fret board at your disposal and you mostly stayed on A! I can't imagine your range on this if you played the changes! 😅 If you did a video on country style blues that would be amazing. No one really teaches guitar like you do where you show your thought process.

Yeah the 500k pots are like it’s been “uncovered.” Sounds much nicer to me. I have a stat with a tone control on the bridge with a bad spot in the sweep when it’s turned all the way down. Instead of the bang, I think mine it unloads & bypasses the pot completely. It’s a way better sound maybe the best strat bridge sound I’ve ever heard, & the change is similar to your 250/500 comparison or the sound of an Esquire that’s somehow different than tele. I’m curious now, what pots were in your tele during your Roy Buchanan video?

Thanks . You answered a question to which I could not find an answer,,,,

I can hear the difference! Great suggestion, good on you for following it up. Will you change out the neck pot as well? Also: OMG that guitar is gorgeous. My lovely wif says relic-ing should be your own dents and dings. I say there's freedom in having it like yours because you're less worried about being precious with it. I think maybe we're both right, there's strength to each side. I'd love even a road worn Tele.

To me 500k is the way to go with a humbucker in neck position, and you can always use the tone pot to tame highs on bridge pu. I have a tele with a vintage Bill Lawrence 250 in bridge position and a PAF replica in neck position and both sounds better (to my ears) with 500k pots. Thanks for your amazing videos!

Great Cannonball shuffle there. You nailed that one :-) I was a bit surprised to realise you were on the bridge pickup most of the time as I thought the 500k would be mainly for the humbucker and that the single coil would be a bit to trebly now? I had a HSS strat at one time, but really struggled with the wiring to get the pickups to sound like a balanced group. And also the character of the tone would be really different between the single coils and the humbucker. I never got that to work. Do you find that these two pickups are easy to switch between without you needing to adjust the tone or volume from the one to the other?

I use 500k in my 1962 telecaster! It opens up the tone and I do prefer a crisp tone! I have a overwound tele pickup in bridge 9,1k and I try many neck pickups over the years. Have ended up now whit P90 neck pickup. Just my input best regards from Sweden 🇸🇪

2times impressed! The things you do, how you play… 🥇🥇

Yes there is more output- anyone with an old single tone amp will tell you that (i scratched my head over a new/old 6G2 princeton for months).. I put 500k pots in all my single coil guitars (1meg on humbuckers) then i put a big fat cap on the tone pot. i don't know if this will help but try a .047uF or even higher cap on your pot ( this coupled with the higher pot will give you a huge range of tones)

Wonderful tone, btw what pickup manufacturer , neck and bridge are these ?

500k pots are used on les Paul's to combat the thicker woods and allow more top end,, by fitting 550k pots to a tele you are allowing more high frequencies to transmit, its all to do with C/R networks, the choice of resistance and capacitor determine the frequency range. I think he loves this tele the most, it sounds amazing

Yeah for sure, a big push in the upper mids and very high end, like where the pick attack is. I'm not sure its actually louder, but if it is, its a small amount.

yes!. I love 500 k pots on my Godin Stadium 59 with MJS Humbucker and Tele style Bridge single coil. It makes it into less of a "Hee Haw" guitar and much less spikey.

Definitely an improvement. I’ve modded my Tele like yours. Thanks 🙏👍🙌🎸❤

I would like to say a huge Thanks! for helping me shape my final decision on swapping the 250K tone pot to a 500K. It really sounds awesome! Just an question, I’m curious what’s this nice tune you have played at 9:44? It will be great, if you can share, I’d love to learn to play it!

250k sounds better on the tele, they are better for single coil. I would just put 500k on hambuckers.

I have tele with both 500k pots. It has p90 neck pickup. I like it that way.

250k pots for single coils always best, 500k for humbuckers or 330 k ala Gibson I had a Strat with the TBX pot, sounded horrid /shrill, replaced with 250k much warmer

I am converting my tele and strat with 500K pots. Did you have to buy a new controlplate too, i know in some cases like in Strats you have to drill bigger holes in the plectrum plate to make the 500K fit. and did you also have to change the knobs yeah?

I mentioned in a previous comment that I had this dilemma with my tele that had a filtertron in the neck...I did find the Broadcaster style bridge pickup a bit shrill with 500k (and the neck still a bit woolly) It was finding a filtertron sized single coil and returning to 250k that really made me happy. Also both pickups together now balance really nicely. As always...I wish I could borrow 1% of your talent. (I should mention I don't have a tone pot, so rolling off the highs wasn't an option)

I'm starting to really like that Tele, Paul and I love your chicken pickin'. I really envy that you can pick with the plectrum and by using your other fingers really add to the overall sound in an organic way. I know it's never too late to start but ...

It's funny how the techs always say that. Lol. Your smile says it all. The 500k pots are very open and active, especially with the Seymour Duncan pickups in particular. The difference in sound is like going from a drinking straw to a water pipe. The broader frequency range opens up the sound to be naturally more full. The immediate reaction is, Wow this is louder, but really you are actually hearing more of the tonal sounds filling a broader spectrum of color for your ears to hear, in essence creating a larger volume of sound rather than an increase in loudness. In technical terms, the 500k allows a smoother flow of current with less restriction much like bigger cables and better quality materials allowing better current flow. I agree that you will probably want to stay with the 250k volume post because the 500k will most likely be too hot for your style and taste, but who knows, sometimes just having the extra punch in a venue is just what you need. The fuller open sound is my favorite part because the versatility is so nice to have. You can play soft and low with more choice of sound in subtle adjustments and not big turns on the knob. Welcome to the 500k club!🎸🎸🎸

For sure a big difference. I have the duncan quarter pounds in a tele right now and thinking of going 500k. I think ill try it , I do all the guitar work myself I like it im crazy. Also I have replaced both my les paul standards with 500k tones and volumes , most people dont know but the tone pots on most les pauls are around 300k. Makes a huge difference on those. Anyways great tele and playeing. cheers

Great playing. What was the pot type please? 500k sounds better, how about a 1meg pot?

Hey friend.... There's some cool ear twisters in these licks..... Good stuff my friend. Love the Robin Ford stuff.

Paul I enjoy watching your videos you are talented. I think you're Issue was with your pot the 550 did produce more volume and a lot of treble It sounded good but thinner To my ear I have the exact same pickup configuration I experimented The bare knuckles 280K Is what I settled on In my telecaster. Thick, Fat & Juicy tones can be easily achieved keep jamming brother

Very nice. Diminished sounds so nice.

2:46 brilliant Paul!

You do a lot of volume swells. Do you prefer linear or audio taper? And for the tone pot?

Tom Bukovac said he put 100k pots on his firebird to darken the tone but Nashville teles usually have 500 or even 1k pots to make them super bright.....I didn't know this.always thought 250 for single coils and 500 for humbuckers but also heard Yamaha uses 300k pots.....guess it's one of those life choices and havin rock and roll ears I usually dial out some treble....others embrace it......I love that tele Paul...it sounds great to my ears

a definite difference. I'm putting the 500K s in my G&L Asat Bluesboy. Thanks for the vid and Nice playing.

I love it. For both pickups.

Or just get a 250k push/pull pot and wire it to bypass both controls, if you really want to get the absolute most you can out of the pickups. Or you could get a 4 pole, 5-way lever switch to replace the pickup selector switch, and pretty much do anything you want, including having a different tone cap for each selector position. There's plenty you can do without even drilling any holes or routing out any wood.

Paul! Brilliant as always mate could u tell me me if you haven’t already and I’ve missed it😅 did u change the volume and tone pot? Thank you!

Hi Paul very nice realy loved golden heart one of my favs. Thank you very much.

I have 500k pots on my SSS Strat and love the sound...I have a single tone control and just use it to take the edge off if necessary...it is NOT true that single coils always need 250k pots...cheers

great video and lovely tele, so for wah wah type swells guess 250K value is better?

The 500K pots will brighten up your high output pups. 1meg is even brighter. All a matter of taste. BTW, I love that tele!

100% more balls/growl with the 550k pot I like 👍🏻 it sounds great. Great guitar and playing too 👌🏻 Cheers John.

Now that was hot! 👍 Good stuff man! Whoohoo Tele sounds great too!

What a great comparison video. For me the 550 is better. Do you have 50s or modern wiring layout in the Tele Paul?

Hey! pickups and guitar models?

Do you think this would work on an old 79 tele that still has its 1meg pots in and can be a bit shrill on the ears on the bridge pickup?

Hi Paul yes definitely sounded brighter in my headphones good job.

That is some truly Masterful noodling brutha mang! Please Teach me the ways oh “enlightened” one! Please!!!!.🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

What are your Vox ACS1 settings for play low room volume like you are in this video?

Hi brother.. Which pot’s brand are you using on this guitar? And which one pot would you prefer?

The new bigger pot sounds thicker and warmer.Sounds great. ATB

Got a love a bit of the big yin on the Tele!!

Not a placebo, there is a difference. When working with a reactive circuit being fed by inductors like an electric guitar, you’re only talking a couple hundred millivolts. Not only the value of the components, but also the order in which they are wired can make a difference. Nice demo, man!!

Aye, sounds better noticeably 😎 👍🏻

probably been answered, but did you swap the tone pot only?

Again, the hands on this dude......and the phrases. Nice indeed.

well that was interesting, much more pronounced difference than i was expecting, wondering if your old one was actually knackered and soaking up the signal ? you've certainly ended up with a cracking tone, loads more headroom and clarity . I'm sure i read somewhere you can get a dual pot, split between 250 for the single coil and 500 for the humbucker, spose at the end of the day it sounds brilliant, now leave it alone , well maybe get it painted again :) cheers for posting, stay safe stay sane :)

Lix for dayz 😱 Always amazed by the tone and feel. Definitely the most soulful player on the You Tube. Oh yeah, and anyone can heard the difference with that output 🤘

I came here as i am looking at adding a 4 way to my tele to get a in series/humbucker tone. From what i understand 500K will keep more high frequencies so will be good for the humbucker tone... but what about when i use the single coils individually? Im commenting as it looks like you are playing the bridge here, so wasn't the pot upgrade to take mudiness away from the humbucker in neck??

I would just replace the defective 250K pot. I prefer the darker sound of the 250K.

A tone 550k is way different than in the volume position. In the volume the shrillness would become barely manageable. In the tone, though, I love it.

It sounds so cool! rythm and a lot of blues 😎

Hey Paul, have you just changed the tone pot to 500k and left the vol as 250k or did you change both?

Sounds fantastic. Question : when did you last go busking? And how was it ? And what was your busking amp before you used the boss amp? Just curious. Steady the ship !! That telecaster!!! What a guitar!!! Suits you sir !!!