Danelectro Longhorn baritone wiring

[dannyhill]

Hi,

Some Longhorn baritones come with two concentric pots (100kOhm volume and 1MOhm tone I'm guessing, for a 0.1uF cap), one for each pickup, whilst others, like mine come with a 3 way and one 500KOHm linear pot for tone and one 500KOhm log pot for tone (0.1uF cap).
The wiring is evidently different for both, something like a Fender Jazz bass, but in series for the no switch version, and a standard two pup in series with 1SP3T for the second.

But are the pickups different so that they have the same 'voice' for different wiring/pot values? Or are the pickups the same for a different voice for the guitar?
Personally I would have thought a 250KOhm volume with a 500KOhm tone would be closer to the 100KOhm/1MOhm concentrics!?! In my 12 string, with its 1MOhm tone pot it was virtually an on-off tone switch so I swapped it for a 250/500 concentric pot with a treble bleed, much more useable tone range now.

Anybody?
Cheers,

Danny

[newey]

I have no idea whether Dano uses a "matched set" of pickups on their reissues, or whether they are all the same. On the classic Danos from the '50s and 60's, all the pickups were identical. However, the vintage ones with the dual concentric V and T used different caps values for each pickup, .01µ for the neck and .047 for the bridge IIRC. Not sure of the values on the reissues. Of course, the cap values only come into play as the knob is turned down.

You are correct that a 500K and a 250K will be closer in total resistance to the classic Dano 1M/100K pot values (approx 166K and 90K, respectively). But as far as tone goes, the pickup's position along the string is a greater factor than the pot values.

[dannyhill]

Well, the positioning of the pickups should be the same across all reissues, I think.
It is known for having a non-insignificant mid-range, hence the larger pots, to not lose too many highs and leave it muddy?

D

[newey]

Well, one is larger and the other is smaller. It is the combined resistance of the 2 that matters (assuming neither is a no-load pot).

As I noted, in a parallel combination, the overall resistance of 1M+100K will be about 90KΩ. If the difference is even audible at all, it should be a minor difference. A Spice analysis would, I think, illustrate this nicely.

[dannyhill]

Quite, so why has Dano used a 500k and a 500k and not a 250K and a 500K?
To add more brightness than the 100k/1M setups?

D

[dannyhill]

Bear in mind that on the other Longhorn Baritones, they have 2 volume and 2 tone pots for the 4k pickups.

[newey]

why has Dano used a 500k and a 500k and not a 250K and a 500K?

This is an inexpensive guitar. I suspect they got a deal on 500K pots. Also. if a 250K is used, that's an extra part number to keep stocked and inventoried, which adds cost.

The way you make a guitar inexpensive, or any other item inexpensive, is to chisel away at those costs. It may amount to only fractions of a cent per guitar, but over the length of a production run, it all adds up.

Although we're speaking of the reissues here, this philosophy goes back to the very beginnings of Dano guitars, where parts like pots and caps changed often, based on what was available at a good price. Leo Fender sourced his parts in much the same way.

[dannyhill]

:-)

Why on earth did they use 100KOhm vol, 1MOhm concentric pots?
100KOhm lets through few highs, and the 1MOhm is pretty useless until it gets down to 2-3, virtually a step change in tone.