250k Pots with Lil 59's?

[Butch Snyder]

Hey guys,

I've asked this before and received no response either time. You guys who use the Lil 59s or Rails single coil-size humbuckers in your Strats and/or Teles, what pot values are you using? I had a Hot Rails in my Telecaster and it was pretty cool. With 250k pots though, it was a little muddy when playing with a full band.

What are your thoughts?

[JimInMO]

I have a little 59 bridge and a vintage rail neck in my frankenstrat. The middle is the ceramic single coil that came with the squire body. I have it wired with 2 250k pots. Single volume and single tone controls. Had a pick guard made without the upper pothole. Kept hitting the volume knob while playing. Don't remember the capacitor value but it's whatever was shown on the Seymour Duncan wiring diagram. When I play the guitar with the band I'm usually on the 2 or 4 position. Contrasts real well with the Gibson humbuckers of the other guitar. Playing at home I like the sound of the vintage rail by itself. I have had lots of compliments on the tones I get from this setup. The amp has a lot to do with it too. Its a Fender Blues Deluxe RI. I keep just a touch of reverb on all the time and the tone controls set at about 12:00. Kick in a Dano tremolo and Danecho delay when ever the mood strikes.

[Grant777]

Just put a Lil'59 in bridge and QP (without cover) in the neck of my tele. Ame Deluxe, maple neck. 250k tone and volume pots, .047 cap. Plenty of treble. Not muddy at all. The tone control is very powerful. The original .022 cap would have been a bit better perhaps?

[super rad stuff]

immortal six uses a lil' 59 in the neck with a 250k with good results IIRC, enough bite and clarity with the right mix of warmth, or somesuch....

[Butch Snyder]

Thanks guys, that was just what I was looking for. I was thinking of putting the Lil 59 in the bridge with my APS-1 in the middle and my minihumbucker in the neck position.

[JimInMO]

Butch, I forgot to mention I don't use the 59 by itself very much. That thing will shatter glass. Haven't tried different value pots or caps as I really like the sound of it with the middle pup. That's the same reason I haven't changed the cheap Squire middle pup for another rail or strat type. It just works too good as is.

[Butch Snyder]

Butch, I forgot to mention I don't use the 59 by itself very much. That thing will shatter glass. Haven't tried different value pots or caps as I really like the sound of it with the middle pup. That's the same reason I haven't changed the cheap Squire middle pup for another rail or strat type. It just works too good as is.

Okay, interesting thoughts....

[Butch Snyder]

BTW, my cap is a 0.022uf.

[Laughing Kookaburra]

The Strat I had had the lil 59 dropped in w/o changing out the 250 pots. It sounded great. I had it in the bridge, and it was played by itself 99.9% of the time.

[Mark Cearlock]

I have a lil 59 in my tele w/ 59 in neck. Had 2 500k pots in there, but in ash/maple, a little bright. Switched to 300k volume and that did the trick.