Pots won't turn smoothly anymore...

purpletornado · #1 03-16-2010, 09:31 PM

Long story short I left my Fender J at a buddy's house. He had a head injury and the Drs thought that working with an instrument would help rehab him. He played for a whiel, then didn't and his brother, who plays bass, took my bass over to his house and had it for a while in his damp basement.

Now I've got little spots of corrosion on my case latches, strings and other metal parts.

I noticed tonight that when I turn my pots there's a kind of grittiness to them. They no longer rotate smoothly. Almost like if you had sand in you wheel bearings or something. Is there any way I can fix/clean these or will I have to go ahead and have them replaced?

Don't even get me started about what he did to the finish.

purpletornado · #2 03-17-2010, 09:51 AM

Mods, thanks for moving my thread to the appropriate venue. I apologize for my noobness.

Lo-E · #3 03-17-2010, 09:56 AM

You can try using some electronic contact cleaner first. There are some that have a lubricant added - sometimes referred to as "tuner" cleaner. That would be a good bet.

If that doesn't work, you should replace the pots.

It's true what they say: no good deed goes unpunished!

joshmickelson · #4 03-17-2010, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lo-E

You can try using some electronic contact cleaner first. There are some that have a lubricant added - sometimes referred to as "tuner" cleaner. That would be a good bet.

If that doesn't work, you should replace the pots.

It's true what they say: no good deed goes unpunished!

this.

I had a scratchy pot on my pbass, applied some contact cleaner and it fixed it immediately. New pots are overly expensive either, if it comes to that.

John D · #5 03-17-2010, 10:23 AM

Simply spraying contact cleaner in the pots will probably not correct the problem. First, plug your bass into an amp and set the amp for a relatively low volume. Then, spray a liberal amount of contact cleaner into the pot and vigorously rotate the pot shaft from stop to stop. When the scratchy distortion goes away, your problem will be solved. I have repaired numerous amps this way.

purpletornado · #6 03-17-2010, 11:10 AM

It's not a distortion problem. It's a gritty feeling in the turning of the pots themselves.

Lo-E · #7 03-17-2010, 11:18 AM

The cleaner should work.

As John D suggests, rotate the pot in both directions a bunch of times after spraying or dropping the cleaner in. It doesn't need to be plugged in to do this.

purpletornado · #8 03-17-2010, 11:39 AM

Thanks for the information everyone!