What Is a Pickup Pan Pot?
The term "pot" in an electronic context typically refers to a potentiometer. Potentiometers govern the flow of current through a circuit. The most common application for a potentiometer is in a volume dial. Guitars have pickup pan pots used for pickup selection.
Other People Are Reading
-
Typical Use
-
A pickup pan pot directs current through the guitar's circuitry to enable certain pickup configurations. For example, toggling the switch changes the position of the pan pot and therefore changes the pickup that receives the current. The pickup receiving the current is the one that then carries the signal from the guitar to the amp.
Types
-
Guitars with two pickups typically have a three-way selector. The pan pot will have three terminals. The bottom terminal enables the bridge pickup, the central terminal enables both pickups and the top terminal enables the neck pickup. Guitars with three pickups typically have a five-way selector.
-
Configuration
-
Pickup pan pots vary from guitar to guitar. Most usually receive a wire from each pickup and have an outbound ground wire. The wires are fixed to the relevant terminals on the pan pot by a solder joint. The exposed section of a pan pot takes the form of a toggle or, in rare cases, a dial.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit electric guitar body image by Jeffrey Zalesny from Fotolia.com
