Now this is what KZfaq is all about! Great presentation, very clearly explained and extremely helpful. Many thanks!

Been working with pots for a while now and this was still VERY informative and easy to watch. Thanks!

I do tutorials myself so I know what im talking about when I say this is a very well put together tutorial, more like a small seminar :) great job

FINALLY, someone who explains how these things work and how to tell the difference!!! Liked.

Thanks for the accurate, and well presented video on potentiometers. This video is SO MUCH BETTER than most of the others! The great thing about CTS pots is that they can dissipate more power than most of the other audio pots (except PEC) and they can be disassembled, and reassembled to to change shaft length or style and also change resistance elements of double ganged pots.

Natural teacher at work here. I came here knowing what a potentiometer does ....always wondered the what & how? In ten minutes I learned so much targeted information! Wow, thank you, johnplanetz

Thanks for the video. I had problems with my cts pot but your video gave me confidence to open it up and fix it. Many thanks. I was nearly ordering new.

I've been reading about Pots, but only after watching your video do I see and understand how they work. Thank you!!!

this is the best and simplest video on potentiometer....... thank u sir ........

So beautifully explained and so easy to grasp. Thank you for this elegant presentation!

My physics teacher threw a potentiometer on the speakers for the announcements. Turns the volume down to minimum and continues lessons... best hack ever.

dude...you are really good at explaining things...normally, I'll watch a video like this and the person doing it is so steeped in the subject that they just cant or don't bother to explain it in a way that's easily digestible...awesome video

Very well explained in layman's terms. Greetings from Kolkata, India.

Nice video - something I've often wondered about but had no idea how they worked. You explained it very well!!

your vid posts are like a breath of fresh air for novices like me. Thanks for posting

Thx after your vid here i did managed to "repair" him. Thx. Works again flawless

Thanks John. I went for a new push/push pot (might as well do a Gilmour mod if I've got to change the pot). Not put it on yet but the flow tests are completely different to my old pot, ie they're correct! What a relief, but interesting to know that a pot can die just like that. Love the idea of a troubleshooter vid if you're up for it. It'll save the world from restless nights and brain ache.

Thanks, Ive know how they work but your video and explanations really make it clearer in my head on how to wire pots to do different thing

excellent explanations and demonstration on how the variety of pots work and how they're manufactured.

Yes! Now I know why the volume on my Quasar black and white tv ain't working. Thanks, JC.

Is for this I prefer linear for volumes and audio for tones, imo and taste this way you can get a better control over each one. Nice video!

Thanks for your thorough explanation on those potentiometers! I need them to build my own home-made racing wheel, hadn't a clue what they were. Now this solves half of the problem already!

Thank You Sir! Bass guitar stopped working, checked everything with multimeter couldn't figure it out. Watched your vid, took mine apart and back together, tighter with the clips. I assume it just was a bad connection inside, works now and I understand pots!

Thanks for taking the time to do this for others. It was very informative and well done.

Your videos have been SO helpful. I've learned a lot about the technical and physical stuff that I thought I'd never learn. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom! I've been enjoying geeking out on these videos!

Great job, crystal clear explanation, thanks.

hello, i want to say that i really appreciate your effort you put into these videos, these are really helpful!

it is so nice to see you are informing us on these simple things

Thank you I really had hard time understanding how pots work but now its piece of cake thanks to you :-)

Clean explanation. Makes sense to lay-folk like me. Nice work!

Thanks for this excellent tutorial! It is a great help in diagnosing a volume control problem for a virtual organ!

Very precise and awesome presentation

Ahhh very cool man!! TY for that video. I have a 16 watt tube amp I bought from Tube Depot and I'm on my 3rd Potentiometer. I keep getting the ones from Parts Express and they are total crap!! After watching your video now I have a better idea of where to look for a better POT . Thanks again!! Looking forward to watching more of your videos. Take care

Very pleasant voice - can very well listened (is important in tutorials:-) )

Thank you Mr. Cooper.

You are awesome. Thorough. At 6:07, when introducing the audio/log taper, I found my mind starting to ask questions that this video wasn't necessarily covering...(jsut imagine showing a class this and imagining wehre some of the minds are going at this point. You might want to experiment with the video by having a complete novice sitting there while you rehearse the video, and getting their feedback. I realize that feedback comes here...of course.

Thanks for the video, pots make a lot more sense now.

Hi John, thanks for making this video, very well explained and helpful.

Awesome vid,I had a super smooth 250k Volume pot in a Left Handed Ibanez RS135 that guitar did[very soon after buying] became sort of strat-like in looks,but not-before I stripped the 2mm resin[joking] and reshaped the body.I re-used the stock 250K volume pot.even after hacking a Seymour Duncan JB Humbucker-tilted,sounded superb,but that wonderful Vol. Pot. Wore Out 24 years later [great run!]In 2009 I eventually got from the US some 500k CTS Left Handed potentiometers-anyway man they're all irritatingly STIFF[no more"Cathedral"attempts since!],so Thank You for confirming why they is so!

Thank you very much John Cooper.👍🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I agree with the nice things already said about this video but I sincerly hoped for some advise on really disassembling different pots completely and even harder things like putting them back together without killing them. I have a few different methods and they work well enough to be 80% certain not to totally destroy it but I didnt come up with something that makes it easier and less of a pain in the a.. so far... any ideas? What I do is either drilling a tiny hole in the shaft and put a screw and a washer instead of the flanged end of the shaft or I re - flange the end while pressing down the pot, the ring with the wiper and sometimes also the disc that makes the whole thing somewhat stepped (dont know the exact expression for that, sorry)...I'd love to make a tool for fixing the pot etc in place before hitting the end to flange it, but I have no idea how...or what...I only know two hand are not enough to make it an easy operation and I hate assembling pots very very much...not as much as a dirty pot but still...a lot!!

Excellent tutorial. Thanks for taking the time to help educate us all.

great explanation simple and easy to understand...love electronics

Very good videos. In one of your other videos showing an epiphone circuit being request, you have actually removed the pots and poked them through some aerated cardboard... But you didn't mention it ... That's actually a fantastically useful approach when wiring without a scratchplate... Keeps the work still and even allows you to draw the wiring between the lugs... The latter might help if you are just starting soldering.

thank mate you are spot on i had some cts pot 500k where well under not now i did what you said now they are over 500k now thanks

great vid!! so that's what A and B stands for!

Great job. Sorry I'm late to join you. You're an excellent teacher. I hope you're doing it at a college somewhere.

good stuff, man, artfully presented, professionally researched. Loves

No BS, pure gold! Thank you! Keep doing this! Rock ON!

very clear Yoda. thankyou

I appreciate this video. Fantastic, thank you.

other than the conceptual mistake pointed out in the video & by other commenters, this was very helpful in understanding how to properly use pots. If this had been explained before, my EE labs may have gone a little quicker!

cheers mate, this really helped with my coursework

Thanks for sharing your gift for teaching!

Well explained my friend. Thank you

Very informative! Thanks for taking the time to produce the vid.

@Tormy Van Cool - I buy Alpha, CTS and Bourns pots, from places like stewmac, pedalpartsplus, mouser, etc.

great explanation of pots....nice one man...

Excellent Video, very complete!

What an excellent video. Yeah, I caught the 2 mistakes, but so did you. I've never had a clearer explanation of potentiometers. The video is high quality, too. Do you have a Udemy course? If not, you should. Thanks. -Rodi

@johnplanetz theyre both pots, tone pot has a capacitors, that's what makes it a tone pot...without the cap, it's just another volume pot (but doesn't work)

Bass broke so I figured I'd learn all about the parts, thanks for the details, I've been playing with the pots for days XD

Super Clear! Thanks---- Very well explained. Thanks

Nice work I really enjoyed your video!

Really cool video man. Thorough and simple.

Thank you a lot I'm fixing up an old ibanez blazer bass and i really need those nuts and washers for it .

Usually 2 linear segments are used to approximate the audio taper. It works well enough for most applications. Exceptionally high-precision log and audio taper pots are a thing of the past.

This helped answer many questions I had..

Very, very helpful John. I learned a lot. Best wishes and thank you.

Perfect explanation, I'm sharing it on my facebook and twitter for my students. Thanks!

Thanks, I learnt a lot from this.

Thanks you for amazing video👍

Love your videos. Thank you for your time and the shared knowledge.

excellent teaching, dude

thanks this vid really helped because im a beginner

Thank you! You are an awesome teacher

Thanks very much. You explained it very well :)

well explained john

excellent explanation

Fantastic videos mate.

Fantasic Video please do a updated version

with all the youtube videos of monkeys smoking cigarettes, homemade fireworks gone wrong, and skiing accidents, it is nice to know that a video like this has 100k+ views and professionals are still posting interesting things. I'm not an old man by the way.

Learning. Thank you brother.

Thanks for a very informative video. I have an old Creek headphone amplifier, and the pot is very noisy when I turn it, so I contacted Creek about it, and they are willing to sell me a replacement if I want swap it myself, which seems like an interesting thing to do,but seeinh your video, I'll have a closer look at it to see if I can clean it up or if it's just broken or worn down first. I tried to clean it with some fluid I saw recommended somewhere online, but it didn't do the trick. This was a few years ago, so I don't recall what it was :P I will have a look at the other video you mentioned as well :)

very useful informations I have found here! Thanks!

Good narration

@johnplanetz Well, I just watched the video again and the the cts pot you disassembled has the copper tabs I am takling about! They clearly extend out from each outside lug onto the carbon trace. The older cts pots do not have this copper pad or tab or whatever you could call it at each end of the trace. I don't know if it makes any difference, I just noticed the change a few years ago. Thanks for your very neat posts!

Yep. If my pot is not what I expected then I go try some different pot. Lmao my stupid humor. 🤣 Thanks for sharing 👍

Well explained 🙏

Very well explained. Very useful video!

This is a really well made video. Thanks John!

@johnplanetz Well ive had a good result. I took the plunge, desoldered 2 of these pots that were sandwiched together, i guess 1 for each channel. Took them apart and carefully cleaned the carbon tracks and the contacts. I then very delicately tweaked the contacts to apply abit more pressure. Put it all back together and vola, its working perfectly! Thanks to your video.

I enjoyed your video. It was very helpful. Thank you!

Great explanation

thanks man, for such a tutorial

Thank you so much for taking the time to rite me back and i find your reply rely helpful, thanks.

Thanks for putting the time in this very well done video : )

yeah you can make the potentiometer control you pulse speeds kinda like how you would dim a LED.. Sort of like turning it on and off really fast to make it run slower instead of lowering the voltage!.

I thoroughly enjoyed this video John. Thank you for making it. It was VERY well done. I've got a rheostat on a ceiling fan that only has two lugs. I think it's bad because the fan spins very slowly across the whole range of the rheostat. It's soldered into place so I'm going to take it out of the fan (circuit) and test it with my VOM. If I can tell it's bad I'll go to the local lighting store to see about a replacement. It should work much like the ones you tested in the video, correct?

Fantastic video sir... it was helpful thank you.....and Stay safe.....:)