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CTS pots

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HeadphonesHeadphones Frets: 984
in Making & Modding
Are they dodgy?

I have bought two new guitars recently, a PRS CE and a Gibson SG, both with what I understand to be CTS made pots (though the cases claim different...).  And five of the six pots have been crap.

The only good one's the push pull on the PRS - which is quite different to the others (not a CTS?).

The faults are consistent aross the five: the shaft is too small for the bushing.  This means that, not only do they turn really easily (too easily); they rattle - I can both feel and hear them.

Am I unlucky or are they really just crap?

I have bought CTS over the years as replacements and they've been fine.  I've just ordered the latest set (for the gibbo) and I am hoping this is an issue with those CTS badge for the builders.
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Comments

  • ICBMICBM Frets: 72246
    Modern CTS pots are unfortunately nowhere near the quality they once were. It wouldn't surprise me if they've downgraded them even further since the last lot I bought.

    This seems to be a real issue for some companies - always cheapening the product rather than just continuing to make them as well as they have and raising the price if necessary. I don't know why they do it, because for a fairly premium product like this the customer cares about the quality and not the price, or they'd just buy something much cheaper to begin with.

    It wouldn't surprise me if Gibson and PRS are using something else either, I don't think I've seen inside a very recent one.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein

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  • polotskapolotska Frets: 116
    edited June 2018
    The custom-spec CTS pots sold by a number of vendors (e.g. these) seem as good as ever and are well worth the price premium, though as ICBM says, the modern standard line CTS pots aren’t of the same quality by a longshot.

    The CTS push-pull pots originally specced by Mojotone USA that came on the market a few years ago are said to be quite good as well, though I haven’t tried them myself.
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  • IvisonGuitarsIvisonGuitars Frets: 6838
    tFB Trader
    I’ve had no issues with the TVT pots, in fact, I think thy are great, I can’t comment on the ‘normal’ ones though.
    http://www.ivisonguitars.com
    (formerly miserneil)
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  • Sham61Sham61 Frets: 26
    The tone pot on my PRS CE24 has also been rattly from new last year. The push/pull volume is fine same as on yours. I notice it all the time but not done anything about it yet.
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