Members Virgman Posted November 3, 2014 Members Share Posted November 3, 2014 I had success in loosening a really stiff volume pot in this way. This particular guitar has a back access panel to get to the volume pot. I took the knob off, loosened the nut and gently lifted out the pot. Sprayed contact cleaner into the opening on the back of the pot where you can see the inside turning. Worked the pot back and forth. I sprayed/worked the pot about 4-5 times and it loosened up just like I wanted it. It didn't loosen up until I did this about 4 times so don't give up if your pot doesn't loosen up immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted November 3, 2014 Members Share Posted November 3, 2014 I agree ,this will work but I prefer to use Tuner Cleaner or better yet Deoxit. They not only clean but also lubricate . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted November 3, 2014 Members Share Posted November 3, 2014 I usually like stiffer turning pots, particularly on a strat, where the volume pot is easily bumped. CTS and Alpha have more turning resistance. Bourns have very little resistance, I usually just install the pot with the characteristic I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted November 3, 2014 Members Share Posted November 3, 2014 Cleaning can excelerate wear if its not needed. If a pot isn't dirty and scratchy I usually leave them alone. Of course if its something vintage and frozen that's another matter. You don't have to spray the entire interior to free up a pot that's hard to turn. Its usually just the shaft that's sticky. If you remove the knob and just wick a drop of thin machine oil between the shaft and collar that's usually enough to make it spin freely. Some pots are filled with conductive grease to give them that slow plush feel that has resistance. These are usually used on Hi Fi gear, not guitars. They work ok but they are hard to turn on a guitar. Spraying them with contact cleaner and not repacking them with contact grease can cause them to fail. They aren't supposed to be exposed to the oxygen and getting all the grease out of them usually results in them sticking and freezing up badly. You actually have to take the pot apart and remove the shaft, Degrease them with a non alcohol cleaner, then re-grease them manually. The cleaner needs to be petroleum based to remove all of the old grease. Guitar pots are normally dry and have very little turn resistance. You use a cleaner that uses mineral oil which is safe on plastics. You don't want to over do it cleaning and you want to remove all excess cleaner so the oil doesn't creep into the wood and cause issues. Cleaning does accelerate the pot to wear out. Once you do it you wind up having to do it again more often because the lubricant attracts dust. Some pots will get really loose and feel like they're all beat up. This is because the shaft lubricant which is grease gets washed away and its just bare plastic against metal. A drop of machine oil will re-liquify this shaft grease and make the pot spin freely again without dousing the contacts inside. Of course you can bend the tabs back and open it, but I recommend doing this on a few bad pots first so you know what's involved. Its easy to get one put back together where the contacts are 180 degrees upside down and damage it if you aren't careful. Other than that they are delicate but super simple to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 4, 2014 Moderators Share Posted November 4, 2014 Dude are you getting stiffness in your Johnson? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Virgman Posted November 4, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 Dude are you getting stiffness in your Johnson? No, the Johnson stays loose from all the use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chordite Posted November 4, 2014 Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 It's the shaft that sticks, spraying the track is only effective as far as some of the lube gets to the bottom of the shaft spindle and probably detremental to the track environment. Better to pull your knob off and lube the shaft from the top. (I know this choice of words is asking for trouble ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Virgman Posted November 4, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2014 It's the shaft that sticks, spraying the track is only effective as far as some of the lube gets to the bottom of the shaft spindle and probably detremental to the track environment. Better to pull your knob off and lube the shaft from the top. (I know this choice of words is asking for trouble ) Hear that boys and girls! Lube your shaft for smooth action. And remember to yank your knob too. Uh, do we yank the knob before or after lubing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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