Shadow SH124-500 Kill Pot

The concept of combining a kill switch with the volume pot is genius, but unfortunately the execution leaves a lot to be desired. The quality of the pot itself is fairly low - feeling relatively cheap and the volume roll-off seems to be somewhat lacking.

There's a distinct lack of viable instructions with the pot itself. All that is provided is a simple labelled diagram for using this as a volume or a tone pot, but there's no detailed instructions on optimal wiring set-ups or example diagrams - which would have went a long way in terms of ease-of-accessibility for first-time guitar modders. Furthermore, there's shockingly little online regarding installation of this pot - no videos from the company themselves or amateur/pro media coverage.

The killswitch function works relatively well. The feedback from clicking it in is a little lacking, but enough to work with. Thankfully mine has not died yet as this seems to be a somewhat common issue among other users. The volume roll-off, as explained before, isn't as smooth as one would expect - however, there is a nice touch to the pot wherein when it is fully turned up, there is a slight magnetic latch that locks it in place so you don't accidentally roll down the volume when using the killswitch. This is especially useful to anyone who is intending to use this as a faux-tremolo effect or the likes.

All in all; a fun addition to the guitar, but in the future I would instead install a dedicated killswitch instead of this. Would recommend it if you're toying around with DIY Guitar Kits for the first time, but not to anyone who frequently does guitar mods as the payoff is not worth it.

1: No physical wiring diagrams given with the product. The official diagram in Shadow Electronic's website is super unclear.

2: Bad design. It's difficult to solder everything clean for this particular pot because of its tiny spacing between lugs, especially when you got a giant tone cap soldered on it.

3: Quite fragile. when i finally made the wiring right and tighten it up on my Les Paul, the pot just suddenly *pops* and the controlling pin just detached from the pot, but this ddin't happen to my other pots while i applied the same tension on them. Luckily it still holds together when i tried to put the pin back to the pot (with the use of a washer and nut).

Bottom Line: On function, it works great. On quality or design, not so. Would not be a big problem if you're a soldering expert; May ruin your day if it's your first time to solder (like me).