Bourns Pro Audio Testimonials

Installing a middle pickup [...] The low-cut / strangle switch was moved to a Bourns 1 meg push-pull pot that replaced the stock tone pot. [...] This setup sounds incredible.  Wow. See the full description here.
Kevin A. Chubbuck

I would NEVER recommend nor use any thing else but Bourns ...period. I've personally introduced such well known artists as Joe Bonamassa, John Oates, Nancy Wilson, Greg Martin, Doug Phelps, Johnny Hiland, Ryan Tedder, Steve Winwood, Hershel Yatovitz, Robbie Calvo, Rick Vito and many others to Bourns. Your pots are in guitars all over the world, on stages and in recording studios world-wide as a result... I'm proud to be associated with your company in some small way.
Will

Bourns to run...

The Gibson Explorer has always been my dream guitar ever since my good friend Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd bought one from George Gruhen in 1974 (he paid $4000!). Little did I know at the time that I would own a one off custom-made example which has become a somewhat iconic instrument that I have been associated with over the years.

In 1975, I asked Jay Rhyne, a luthier from Atlanta to build me an Explorer replica for me. There was no way I could afford an original so I figured I would settle for a copy. Allen was gracious enough to allow me to trace his Gibson so that Jay would have a template to work with. Six months later, I was playing a beautiful maple Explorer equipped with early DiMarzio pickups. After a few years of touring and recording with 38 Special I experienced a failure with the volume pot for the bridge pickup. A luthier in Jacksonville, Florida by the name of Allen Chester made the repair and proudly informed me that he had installed a Bourns pot. It didn't mean that much to me at the time as long as my guitar worked. I soon discovered that not only was the new pot extremely smooth but it also enhanced the tonal characteristics of the instrument. I was a happy camper. I asked Allen what the story was on my new found magic knob and he explained that it was manufactured by a company that made "high-tech" gear for scientific purposes. Whatever!?!?

Fast forward 12 years and Allen replaces my pot with his last Bourns potentiometer and explains to me that he doesn't know if the company is still in business or how to contact them if in fact they still exist. These were the days prior to the Internet. Not to worry….all's well and I'm up and running once again.

Fast forward 20 more years and I'm at Summer NAMM 2008 talking to my friend Tommy B, who owns Fat Tone Pickups. He's asking me questions about my Rhyne Explorer all the way down to the pickups and wiring. I tell him about the Bourns pot and asked him not only if he had ever heard of them, but also if he knew of their whereabouts. He casually pointed over a couple of aisles and said….." They're down their on the right". What!?!?! I exclaimed. I took off at top speed, rounded the corner and there it was; the Holy Grail glowing like a beacon in the night. I introduced myself to Jim Lawson and told him my story. After he gave me a brief history of the Bourns Company and gave me some samples, we discussed the best way to determine what my guitar was equipped with. I headed home, removed the back plate of my Explorer and determined that my potentiometer was a 500K audio taper model 82.

Fast forward to 2010. I now have all my guitars equipped with Bourns products. My thanks to all at Bourns for preserving my tone.

Jeff Carlisi

Back in 2011, I started my company Breen Guitars to create innovative, cutting-edge, and high quality guitars that look great, play amazing, and inspire creativity. I believe that a guitar should be as unique as the artist. I specifically sought out Bourns Pro Audio's superior potentiometers after seeing them advertised as a feature on the EVH Wolfgang guitar in Musician's Friend. When it comes to guitar advertisement, the pots are rarely mentioned, let alone who makes them. Ever since using them in my first prototype, every guitar I own and build, features Bourns low-friction pots. I've had great experience with Bourns and highly recommend the use of their products.

Thanks,
Sean

Everybody's been talking about your products and the guitar players come to me, "What do you think?" I say, "You can't beat it." As you know, my number one, I call it a Tele-Gib, I made two of them. I made one for Jeff Beck, which he used on Blow by Blow, and I made one for myself which I've been using for many, many years. Jeff's used it, the Ventures have used it, Ted Nugent's played it, I mean so many people have played this instrument, but I've been using Bourns pots since probably 19, oh it had to be like 76-77, I mean a long time, and It's still a perfect pot. I've been using it, I do all the volume swells and tone controls, and it has never, they have never let me down.

Excerpt from Interview with Seymour Duncan at Winter NAMM 2010

I did a guitar interview with Michael from Gitarre & Bass Magazine, which is a leading German guitar player's magazine... The Germans are really thorough in their tests and stuff, and he gave the guitar a I think a 10-, or something, out of 10. So, I asked him, "Well what is the minus about?" You know, I was curious. He said, well it would be just an extra little hit if you guys put a Bourns pot meter in there. There was a bell ringing in my head, I thought. I thought I was always using those. You know, I'm not a guy who sits there with a solder iron in the back of his guitars anymore. Usually, I have a tech for that. I talked to my former tech a couple of days later on the phone out of coincidence. I said, "We were always using Bourns stuff." "Yeah, yeah right." So, I called the guys at Aristides and said we got a 10- and we've got to change that cause we want the best of the best.

Excerpt from Interview with Adrian Vandenberg at Winter NAMM 2010

Being a custom guitar builder for over three decades, I learned early on that the electronics that go into my creations play a major part, like the carefully selected fine woods I use in creating the perfect guitar for each of my clients. This is why I choose Bourns high quality potentiometers. Unlike competitor pots, only Bourns offers potentiometers with three levels of torque. My customers enjoy the fact that I can give them that choice, while designing their guitars. Also, Bourns pots have an even graduation of taper, another important feature. I am not only a builder, I am also a well known guitar repairman and tech in Las Vegas, my reputation is always on the line. So when customers call on me with electrical problems on guitars that I did not manufacture, I replace their existing old or faulty pots with Bourns pots. Those customers then enjoy and notice the difference with the Bourns pots. There is no substitution for the best quality electrical components, so for me, it's only Bourns potentiometers!

I'm here today to tell you a few things. I discovered these guys, Bourns Audio, and they make the best guitar pots. You know you look at guitars, everyone buys expensive guitars. They pay a fortune for their guitars with the best pickups, the best wiring, the best inlay material, but the pots you know, they've never really changed. And through a buddy of mine in North Carolina who builds his own guitars, he turned me on to Bourns. I've met them and I'm here today to try to tell you a bit about their products. But they do have an amazing selection of electronics stuff but if you guys ever have trouble with scratchy pots or a pot that dies between 1 and 2, I'd highly recommend these guys. As far as doing the job, I don't think there is a better guitar pot out there than these. They are just so smooth. I would advise anyone who is upgrading or making their own guitar to start here and use Bourns.