Does Fender use different pots in different basses

If your current pots are in good shape and are the same specs (resistance and taper) there is no "upgrade" really possible.

Let me edit to add - what would you hope to gain by changing them?

 

Yeah, for cleaning up sloppy soldering or wiring, a prewired harness can be an easy solution. As long as you're getting correct value parts, put together correctly, and not ultra cheap generic junk, there's really not going to be much difference or "upgrade" between brands/vendors. Stewmac's stuff is fine, but you can probably spend less (or more!) for the same end result if you shop around.

 

Why not get some de-solder wick and clean it up?

 

Or a solder bulb to suck it up. Just make sure as you re-heat the joint you don't melt or scorch anything and don't let any solder flow into the pot.

 

Solder wick is flat braided plain copper mesh that's treated with flux.



It's used to remove old solder when desoldering components. You place the end of the wick against the unwanted solder and heat it with a soldering iron, and the solder wicks up into the braided copper via capillary action. Then you snip off the solder-filled end of the wick to expose a new raw end which can be used again.

Wick can be helpful when cleaning up old joints since it gets the old and contaminated solder out of the way. This can be especially useful if you're reworking a recent mass-market bass, since most of them were wired with lead free solder, which can be hard to rework (it flows out at a higher temp and doesn't wet as well.)

A solder sucker is another good tool to have.



The plunger gets depressed and locks in the down position via the little black button. Then you heat the unwanted solder until it melts, and while keeping it hot, you position the white nozzle near it, then press the black button to release the plunger. It works like a reverse air pump and sucks in a burst of air, and brings the unwanted liquified solder with it.

Getting the old solder off is only really half the battle. You need to have good technique to rework soldered components, since they're typically not in great shape (covered with old solder, old flux, and a film of corrosion.) Make sure you're tinning your parts and wire, keeping your iron tinned and clean, getting enough heat into the joint quickly, and keeping everything neat. If there's a lot of corrosion (really, ANY visible corrosion or contamination), or any visible old flux, clean it off before doing anything else.

 

I used the copper wick primarily for years up until a couple of months ago and then I got a few of those suckers off Amazon for pretty cheap.

I've got to say that I much prefer the plunger sucker over the wick in most cases. The wick is good for getting little leftover stuff though, so I keep both around. I do wish that the sucker had a metal tip, though. It didn't give me any real trouble, but having a plastic tip just seems a little odd given what it's used for, and I just assumed it's why they were selling them three at a time.


joe