The Art Of Tone CTS TAOT Custom 500K SHORT Split Shaft Audio Taper Pots - Set Four (4X) - 10% Tolerance - 450G

Don’t waste your time or money on these CTS pots I bought 4 of them and they are all under 500k ,I think they are taking the highest value pots and selling them for more money and selling the lower value pots to people who don’t check the value, the value of the pots that I bought, the highest value was 480 and the lowest was 430, witch is under the 10 percent, I wish I would have read the other articles on these pots I wouldn’t have bought them and to send them back would of cost more more than the pots are worth.

So, I've always heard of how glorious CTS pots are, so I have them in a bunch of my guitars. Usually just when the stock pot goes bad. But recently I had a guitar rewired. Bought these 4 CTS pots to replace the crappy stock ones. I kinda wish I'd left the cheap Korean made ones in because these kinda suck. They're either on or off. You don't get that nice taper like old pots. Full Volume from about 10-8. Then when you get around 7-5 the volume lowers drastically, then 4-0 it's off... Cool! As someone who uses the tone knob and volume knobs a lot, I was really bummed out. It was a waste of money. I'll be replacing ASAP. This isn't a one time thing either, every CTS I've used in the past 10 years have been the same.

I've played and built electric guitars for more than 35 years. These are the only control pots I trust. They last and don't get dirty. Great, solid, smooth sweep and feel. All my guitars have these, and when fixing other people's instruments, this is all I use. I have never had one go bad or get dirty after years of stage use. I've had pickups go bad, switches, but never a CTS control pot.Picture shows the size difference in a "stock pot" (on the right) that came out of and old Kramer guitar that's a 500k pot. The pot on the left is the CTS 500k pot ready for install to replace the stock pot.

I've been using CTS pots for my guitar builds and they are great quality. These actually replaced a set that actually failed due to a loose lug which cased a nasty crackle/scratchy sound. That was my error as I accidentally broke it loose from the base. As I was looking for a replacement, I happened on this and liked the 10% tolerance (meaning how close to 500K it gets to because POTS can vary) and this were actually in a 5% range so they exceeded my expectations. Granted I probably got a REALLY good batch of 4 probably made at the same time off the machine. Even so, if you get one that is in the 10% tolerance range, you still have an excellent POT. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY

the pots I received were definitely not short shaft as advertised. these pots are way too long to mount on a pick guard, so I'm not sure if these were mislabeled at the warehouse or if the listing is incorrect. the metal housing also seemed a bit corroded or oxidized. I'm not able to use them but I gave them 3 stars based on the fact that they seem well constructed and the sweep is smooth and easy. They also tested at right around 500k. Amazon was very helpful in rectifying the issue also.