Lago: 
Thanks for the suggestion. That's something that I think a lot of people have a hard time with. My solution is to just use linear pots for EVERYTHING. It hasn't been a problem yet :-) I get most of my pots from futurlec:
http://www.futurlec.com/PotRot.shtml
$.55 a piece for surprisingly good quality pots. these are alpha brand 16mm pots. The same model sells on Mouser for $1.20 or so.