->> not to mention that the common ones are audio taper and not linear taper

 DW> I have always seen the non-linear one called "logarithmic".

i guess i've seen it as audio taper due to them being used as volume
controls on radio equipment...

->> linear is much harder to manufacture...

 DW> Really? Why? The prices are about the same, so there can't be
 DW> a huge difference in the manufacturing cost.

its been a while since i went looking for linear taper... back then, they
were getting hard to find... the explanation to me was that they were hard
to make because of having to get the resistance to rise at the same slope
across the whole surface...

)\/(ark