Les Paul tone knobs

gearaddict

I noticed on my newly acquired 2014 LP Std that the tone knobs seem to be slightly squint on the spindles - they 'wobble' as you turn them. Not a biggie but I am an OCD mentalist and it is annoying me now I have noticed it.

All of the knobs on the 2014 Std are push-pull but the tone ones have thinner spindles than the volume ones (I guess they pull up the inside of the pot rather than the outside, if that makes sense). I'm thinking that they just aren't properly fitted into the knob. Anyone know if these can just be pulled off and re-seated like normal LP control knobs? I wouldn't want to damage anything by yanking away at the knob inappropriately...a principle I try to adhere to in life, generally.

ICBM

If you deliberately wobble them as you pull them they should come off fairly easily. But be careful, because it is possible to break the switch, as you have realised.

You can then fold some masking tape over the shaft to widen it a bit and make it grip the knob better. It does need to go over the top or pushing the knob on will simply push it down the shaft.

(I know, too much innuendo potential in there but it's just to hard not to, so go ahead and laugh .)

Rox

@gearaddict

Are you really asking if you can pull off your knob safely?  On THIS forum?

I see @ICBM can't even do a serious post without using the word shaft.

This was just to test us, wasn't it?!

RaymondLin

what about the shoe laces trick, use 2 laces, wrap round under and pull so you put equal forces either side to pull straight up.

Careful it might fly up and hit you in the eye.

ICBM

No, pulling straight up is exactly what you don't want to do. You need to 'work' the knob off the shaft slowly, so you don't put a lot of pulling force on it.

gearaddict

The last time I tugged too persistently at a knob, I did get hit in the eye, so I'll be careful.

I need to decide if I'm keeping the guitar first, before I break it.

@ICBM - just to be clear...it's not that the knob is loose...it's on the shaft really tightly - it's just squint. I'm wondering if they use some kind of insert or filler of some kind to make normal knobs fit on the the thinner shafts.

Maynehead

Just take a firm grip of the knob end and yank it a few times... it should soon pop off.

ICBM

gearaddict said:

@ICBM - just to be clear...it's not that the knob is loose...it's on the shaft really tightly - it's just squint. I'm wondering if they use some kind of insert or filler of some kind to make normal knobs fit on the the thinner shafts.

Ah… that's more of a problem. Don't know without seeing it, sorry.

I understand your dilemma, I am OCD too .

Maynehead

@ICBM - just to be clear...it's not that the knob is loose...it's on the shaft really tightly - it's just squint. I'm wondering if they use some kind of insert or filler of some kind to make normal knobs fit on the the thinner shafts.

It could be that it was pulled too hard and the shaft got bent. In that case you can try pulling it with the other hand for a while...

RaymondLin

ICBM said:

No, pulling straight up is exactly what you don't want to do. You need to 'work' the knob off the shaft slowly, so you don't put a lot of pulling force on it.

I see !

gearaddict

ICBM said:

gearaddict said:

@ICBM - just to be clear...it's not that the knob is loose...it's on the shaft really tightly - it's just squint. I'm wondering if they use some kind of insert or filler of some kind to make normal knobs fit on the the thinner shafts.

Ah… that's more of a problem. Don't know without seeing it, sorry.

I understand your dilemma, I am OCD too .

It might actually be that the shaft is bent tbh. Hard to tell.

Bogwhoppit

The knob requires some fluffing...

gearaddict

gearaddict said:

ICBM said:

gearaddict said:

@ICBM - just to be clear...it's not that the knob is loose...it's on the shaft really tightly - it's just squint. I'm wondering if they use some kind of insert or filler of some kind to make normal knobs fit on the the thinner shafts.

Ah… that's more of a problem. Don't know without seeing it, sorry.

I understand your dilemma, I am OCD too .

It might actually be that the shaft is bent tbh. Hard to tell.

It's just because it's both tone knobs it makes me think it's more to do with the way the knobs are seated.

Neil

If they are wobbling it may be that they are just not fully seated?

gearaddict

They're not wobbling as such - they are firmly mounted to the shaft. They are just squint. So when you turn them they look like they are wobbling. You know, like a hub cap that's not fitted correctly.

I don't know what to do now - I had pretty much decided to keep the guitar but to get these knobs looked at I will have to send it back to Thomann I guess. Unless I ask them for some money off or something. Plus will they say I could have damaged them or something?

Frustrating.

not_the_dj

If you're keeping it I'd go down the money off route.

Worth a shot.

Neil

gearaddict said:

They're not wobbling as such - they are firmly mounted to the shaft. They are just squint. So when you turn them they look like they are wobbling. You know, like a hub cap that's not fitted correctly.

I understand what you mean, I simply thought that if they are on at a slight angle  (squint) it could because they just need pushing fully down i.e one side is slightly higher than the other.

Maynehead

Joking aside, you should just be able to pull them off and check what's going on. They are designed to be pulled off so you won't to any damage if you're careful.

I bet it's just because the shaft is thinner than the volume ones whereas the knobs are designed for the thicker shafts, so they had to put some padding in there but did a slap dash job of it. You should be able to wrap some masking tape around the pot shaft to secure it on properly.

If you can get money off then by all means, but if you're happy with the guitar otherwise, I wouldn't suggest sending it back as you may get a duffer.

terada

I really wouldn't send it back over this, I've tried many les pauls that have controls that do exactly what you say yours does.

In general, Gibson doesn't pay an amazing amount of attention to shaft diameter being perfectly compatible with certain knobs. For example, on the Trad Pro IIs they had shafts that were slightly too large for the knobs, causing them to crack in the long run.

If it were me I would either just forget about it and get back to playing, or gently wiggle them off and try to reseat them.

Either way if you were to do a return I reckon the next one would be the same again.

gearaddict

Yeah...popped one off. Can't see anything wrong...maybe just a slight variation in the knob? It will be good for my soul to just get over it.

FelineGuitars

The problem you may be facing is the number and size of splines on push pulls often differs from the normal CTS pots but standard knobs have been used so they don't always sit straight . If this is the case the solution can be to find some oriental fit knobs just for the tone controls that match in terms of number of splines on the pot shaft and the size of splines.