Since I was the one who started the rant I thought it a good idea to shed some more light on this pot business and entertain you with some pictures by way of my personal opinions.
CTS Pots - Notice how loosely the lugs have been fitted. If you try to crimp them a bit tighter with a pair of pliers you are more likely to crack and break the board. And the shaft goes all the way through the shielding cover. It is easy for a resistance to creep in between the lug and the carbon track causing you to loose clarity and high frequencies.
Bourns Pot - Notice the well connected and crimped lugs - never to come loose! I like this type of pot big time! Brass shaft, sturdy, will last for years! Similar to the Jap pots at the bottom, you can put a bigger washer onto the shaft and pull it tight onto a scratchplate or through a guitar's body with the nut. The force of the tightened nut ends at the collar at the end of the brass shaft, putting absolutely no force onto the operating mechanism or the pot itself! Capiche?
EVH Pots - also by Bourns. You can see that the shielding cover does just that - shield!
My personal favourites. Standard aluminium-shaft pots, long or short taper knurled shafts, lug tightly crimped through carbon track, and with a nice solid aluminium collar at the end of the shaft to jam a washer onto and tighten with a nut without putting force on the pot itself. Available from Japan, China, Taiwan, and many other places, locally too! (just visit your favourite electronics shop or ask them to point you in the right direction!
