Crackly pots

designerseye88

I have an old guitar which has some pretty crackly pots at the moment, Id ideally like to keep them in the guitar. Does anyone know someone who could potentially restore them? 

Thanks

Roland

Have you tried spraying the inside with switch cleaner? Not WD40 or any oil because that won’t clean it, but will attract dust. Proper switch cleaner should rinse particles off the carbon track, and then evaporate, leaving the particles elsewhere.

designerseye88

Roland said:

Have you tried spraying the inside with switch cleaner? Not WD40 or any oil because that won’t clean it, but will attract dust. Proper switch cleaner should rinse particles off the carbon track, and then evaporate, leaving the particles elsewhere.

Thanks, The pots are currently still in the guitar and Ideally id not take them out. Is there spray in the switch cleaner with the pots in situ? 

Roland

Most pots have an opening below (above) the connectors. Switch cleaner spray is made for this situation, and comes with a narrow bore tube which you can direct into the opening without removing the pot from the guitar.

BillDL

I have always used Servisol Super 10 switch cleaner and lubricant.  It's been an industry standard for a long time.  It comes in 200ml cans with a thin (easily lost) tube and is readily available from just about any electrical supplies wholesaler for anywhere between £4.50 and £6, or from other online retailers.  Some guitar shops sell it but they boost the price to over £7.  During the lockdown period it was out of stock everywhere, so I bought the Specialist FAST DRYING Contact cleaner made by WD-40.  That is double the size of the Servisol cans and cost about £7.50.  It has the flip-out tube design as shown in the photo by Roland.  I have seen some people complaining that this mechanism is prone to breaking or just failing to work, but I've used my can a lot and it's still working fine. The tricky bit with switch cleaner aerosol cans is keeping the can upright while directing the nozzle to where it needs to be.

NOTE: The WD-40 FAST DRYING contact cleaner I bought from Screwfix had a YELLOW top, YELLOW tube, and the WD-40 was in blue lettering on a yellow background exactly as shown in their official video about the product, and I think that's what Roland's photo shows.  They have changed the colours on their cans in the "specialist" range and they now have a RED top and RED nozzle.  Their Specialist Contact Cleaner is now minus the "Fast Drying" wording on the can:

https://wd40.co.uk/product/fast-drying-contact-cleaner/

It wouldn't surprise me if they have modified the compound to be less environmentally damaging, and is now not-so-fast drying.  It probably won't make much difference though.

Watch out for the can sizes.  Halfords and other car spares places sell 250ml cans for not much less than electrical wholesalers sell the 400ml can for.

Servisol leaves a very fine lubricant on the cleaned surfaces whereas the WD-40 electrical cleaner is just a cleaner and leaves little or no residue of anything after it evaporates.  Bear in mind that these solvent cleaners are flammable while they are wet.

The secret to getting results is doing full rotations of the knob for a while after spraying.  For particularly crackly pots that still crackle after spraying through the aperture in the body of the pot I have had good results by getting the solvent down the shaft side also.  To do this I found some clear plastic tubing (formerly used for home brewing) that could push down tightly over the outside threads of the pot that come through the guitar body.  Obviously this means you need to remove the knob from the shaft.  I fit a short section of the tubing over the threads, wrap a cloth around the area just in case any leaks out or sprays onto the finish, and spray a bit of the solvent down into the tube.  It should travel down through the gap between the threaded shaft and the spindle and you can use the tube as the knob to do your rotations.

designerseye88

Thanks gents, Very helpful