Lower value pots allows JM pickups closer to strings?

[bipedal2]

Just thinking this through conceptually...

Some folks find JMs with stock 1meg pots to be a bit bright for their tastes and needs. One common setup recommendation (beyond using the Tone knob ) is to lower the pickups, which can mellow the top-end harshness, though it also slightly reduces the signal output, which can of course be compensated for through amp settings, signal boost in the pedal chain, and so forth.

Another approach to taming overly-crispy highs--warming / darkening tone without changing pickups, knob settings, etc.--is to install smaller-value pots, say 500k or 250k.

Might this then suggest that a JM with with 250K pots could have its pickups set closer to the strings compared to an-otherwise-the-same guitar with 1meg pots, giving just a tad more output while minimizing unwanted unpleasant high-end harshness?

[LeamanCrews]

You never got an answer on this, so I don’t know if you’ve still looking for one. But just in case:

I don’t see any real correlation here. If you generally play with volume and tone on 10, changing pot values will have no tangible effect. What you gain or lose by changing pot and cap values is how much tone rolls off as you dial down the tone knob, or how fast signal goes to ground with the volume knob.

How close the pickups can be to the strings is a whole other set of variables, influenced by the strength of the pickups’ magnets, your string gauge, and your setup (which influences how much your strings resonate and oscillate).

What I do, based on a post I read here long ago, in my JM is to keep the 1 Meg pots, with a .010 uf tone cap. At 10, I get full brightness, but tone rolls off in a nice and gradual way with that cap value. Keeping the tone at 10, but dialing the volume down also rolls off some brightness, but the 1 Meg pot keeps things from getting muddy too fast. And for what it’s worth, I also use a .010 cap in the rhythm circuit, to make it a tad brighter and more usable.

With this, I keep the bridge pickup pretty close to the strings, and the neck pickup is in a lower spot, balanced nicely for when both pickups are on.

[Axeman52]

IMO all you're doing by lowering the pot values is limiting the guitar's tonal range, and it's better to have that range of brightness available and not need it than it is to need it and not have it. Sometimes you might be surprised by how much treble you actually need in certain situations or environments.

In other words - if it's too bright with the pickups set at the desired height, just turn the tone down until it isn't too bright anymore. I tend to find that with a stock jazzmaster tone control, you get a good range of subtle rounding off of the "rasping" edges before you start to get that noticeably "filtered" effect from the tone capacitor.

[bipedal2]

Thanks to both for your replies -- all makes sense.

I was thinking of this as a (mostly!) hypothetical inquiry. Perhaps I had been re-reading that old Mystery of the '59 Jazzmaster Tone post a few too many times...

My sweet spot for my AVRI JM is typically volume knob 8-9ish, tone knob right in the middle.