Potentiometer Sizes

NedPowell

Hey all,
So I am currently in the middle of repainting and retrofitting a squier strat with nicer gear. I've bought all new electrics - pickups, pots, switch, wire - and I was about to install the pots when I realised they didn't fit in my pickguard. The holes were too small, and I discovered that the stock pots were a smaller diameter than the CTS pots I was installing. I found out that the new CTS ones were 9.5mm but I don't have any .5mm drill bits to widen the existing holes. Would a 10mm bit work, or would that open the hole too much? 

TTony

A reamer would do the job - and keep the hole centres more or less in the right places too.  Simple hand tool job.

If the pot shafts are 9.5mm diameter, the washers and nuts should be plenty big enough to mask a hole thats 0.5mm oversize, but doing that with a drill would be difficult to keep the centres spot on.

m_c

The CTS ones would be designed to fit a 3/8" (9.525mm) hole.
Reamer would be the safest option, as opening up a holes in flat plate with drills by fractional sizes is likely to lead to tears.
Other options is some patience, a vice, and a round file.

ICBM

The original holes will be 8mm, this is standard for far-east pots. US-made pots are 3/8”.

As already said the right tool for this is a taper reamer - they aren’t very expensive and are useful for several jobs you’re likely to come across when you work on guitars, so worth having.

(They’re especially useful for a trick method of tightening the jack on something like a 335!)

streethawk

As an aside, a cheapo set of imperial drill bits for future guitar work might be a good idea. 

thegummy

Reamers are so cheap on eBay and work perfectly. I enlarged a hole on the body of one of my guitars and it took about 10 secs.