Micro Pots!?

[Meegs666]

ive never heard of micro pots. my friend said i should use them since space in my cavity is cramped. ive noticed that the pots in my strat are a considerable amount bigger than the tiny pots that i found to replace the pots in my gretsch jet. they are just about the size of a dime i think. are these micro pots. if so where can i buy them?

[Steve Vai]

http://www.stewmac.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?a...atalog/sku.html

Mini pots

[lovekraft]

Mouser and Digi-Key both carry pots as small as 9mm - I think the ones you're looking for are the 16mm pots. I've never heard them called micropots, but they're about the size of a dime.

[Kyle Cavanaugh]

http://www.bourns.com/pdfs/3306.pdf

This would be considered micro, also known as trimpots. Their intended for use in circuit boards for fine tuning of resistance (used as a variable resistor, 2 legs) or for voltage division (potentiometer). You normally need a screwdriver to adjust them. I wouldn't recommend going with these for like volumeor tone control being mounted in a cavity to be adjusted by the hand, those would be panel mount pots. I've seen those as small as 1/4" diameter. If it's really packed in there, they're options.

[Brian]

I just call them mini's and there really cheap in price

[Dugz Ink]

Your friend is probably using mini pots, not micro pots.

I know... there's only a slight difference in the name, but it makes a huge difference.

As mentioned before, micro pots tend to be setup on circuit boards, and they're usually adjusted with a screwdriver. Since they're designed for low voltage/amperage applications, they would work on your guitar... but you probably wouldn't be able to adjust them while you played.

I've heard people say that the mini pots are less robust, or that they don't respond as well to adjustment... but I think that has more to do with the manufacturing quality of the brand of mini pots, not the size. There are some super-cheap minis out there.

Check out the pots they have at Stew-mac. You should be happy with those.

D~s

[daniboy]

mini pots are less sensitive to changes as do normal size pots. i would suggest going for good quality normal size audio taper pots like cts for guitars. i believe your guitar's control cavity is routed to fit normal-sized pots since they are the industry standard.

dani

[Meegs666]

actually my guitar is routed for the mini pots as im too lazy to widen the cavity. its for the one im building. i think im gonna go with the regular pots and widen the cavity.