'Tribute' Pot pet peeve

Wed Mar 25, 2015 11:50 am

So, I love G&L guitars, but one pet peeve I have with two of my tributes are the pots. The physical resistance of turning the pots are 'off' IMO.
Both my Superhawk and ASAT Dlux carved top have volume pots, which have too much physical resistance, making pinky swells difficult. The tone knobs, OTOH, are the opposite, they turn very easily, and could easily be knocked out of place. I think the tone pot should have more resistance and the volume pot should be easier to turn. I'm probably just going to get some 1 Megs for the volume, I can live with the tone pots how they are, but pinky swells on the volume are tedious, now.

Just my .02 anyone else agree, disagree?

Otherwise, I find them to be great guitars.

Re: 'Tribute' Pot pet peeve

Fri Mar 27, 2015 6:34 am

I don't know what year your Tributes are but G&L did have a run of bad pots in the early years of the Tribute line.
Most were replaced under warranty but you may have some that just were hard to turn and didn't completely fail.

I would just replace the pots and consider upgrading all of the pots so that they match.

Good luck with your guitars.

Re: 'Tribute' Pot pet peeve

Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:30 am

Both my Tributes are 2014 FWIW.

The pots aren't bad per se. They aren't scratchy or noisy, they essentially function as intended, taper is fine. What bothers me is the actual physical resistance it takes to turn the (Volume) pot, most notably, with the pinky. It's simply too resistive to turning, to get good pinky swells. The tone pot is the polar opposite. It's incredibly easy to turn, to the point, it'd be very easy to knock, while playing. That's the more minor issue IMO.

I'm just voicing my opinion that I think G&L should change how the pots feel on these guitars. It's not a deal breaker, but it is tedious, and I'm probably not the only person in existence, that feels this way. If G&L swapped their volume pots in the future, I would be much happier, and their guitars would have more utility, IMO.

I hope G&L pays attention to small things like these, because overall their guitars are top notch. This is just a little pet peeve of mine, and it's probably the biggest design flaw, I've noticed in the G&L's, which is saying a lot, because as I've said this is a rather minor issue, but all it would take is a rather small change in part orders to 'fix' for the future. It doesn't have to be as slick as oil, but the current volume controls just feel 'wrong' they dont feel sticky or like anything is binding, they're just resistive to turning.

Anyway, I ordered a couple 1Megs to sort it out. I felt like a tad more high end wouldn't hurt on my bucker equipped guitars, so in the end it works out. The tone controls are staying, for now, just until I either find 1Meg push-pulls or learn how to mod a push-pull into a 'no load' this is just my 'tweeker' side taking over, now, though. :)

Re: 'Tribute' Pot pet peeve

Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:29 pm

I utilize volume swells often as backing layers (usually with a couple delays, or vibe, or long decay modded reverb, or a vibe voiced chorus), and I could see that being an annoyance.
I use those little mxr rubber pedal knob covers on my volume knob, as it makes it a little easier to transition from playing, to rolling off, and ramping up the volume. They're cheap, and give you a little extra purchase. Hypothetically increasing the size, should give you a little more torque...if you're already happy with the sound, might save you from having to swap anything out.

Re: 'Tribute' Pot pet peeve

Sat Apr 04, 2015 1:48 am

There are low friction pots -
Dunlop EVH , Bourns , and these Seymour Duncans (made by Bourns)

http://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Duncan-YJ ... 7GYBWED7NA

I imagine a typical CTS would feel tighter than the stock tone pot.