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Overtightened a pot, did I break it?

Isaac_James

Isaac_James

May 20, 2021
2,745
5,950
Eugene, OR
#1
I spent a good portion of this morning working on a wiring job. For my first time it went pretty well... up until I went to tighten down the nuts on all the pot shafts, and I overtightened one. The pot moves now, and it works along the full range of the sweeper, but it doesn't move very smoothly. Loosening the nut doesn't seem to help.

I am guessing this is just busted and I'll need to replace it, but I figured I'd ask here and see if there's a potential fix that's easy enough to make it worthwhile. Would contact cleaner fix this?
 
#2
You probably snapped and separated the threads from the pots body. I did this when I was first starting out modding my basses years ago. Do it once and you'll never do it again. I was able to salvage the pot temporarily with J.B. Weld and a tooth pick, but eventually had to replace it.

It can be easy to do if you have a short shaft potentiometer going through a bass body. Harder to break them on a jazz plate or pick guard.

My suggestion would be to remove the pot and see if you can turn/twist the threads to find a separation of the threads against the pots body.

Over tightening a nut can be pretty common. If you're unsure, just replace the pot with a quality one. They are generally affordable enough. Might as well order a couple for your stash while you're at it.
 
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#3
Jett Litt said:
You probably snapped and separated the threads from the pots body. I did this when I was first starting out modding my basses years ago. Do it once and you'll never do it again. I was able to salvage the pot temporarily with J.B. Weld and a tooth pick, but eventually had to replace it.

It can be easy to do if you have a short shaft potentiometer going through a bass body. Harder to break them on a jazz plate or pick guard.

My suggestion would be to remove the pot and see if you can turn/twist the threads to find a separation of the threads against the pots body.

Over tightening a nut can be pretty common. If you're unsure, just replace the pot with a quality one. They are generally affordable enough. Might as well order a couple for your stash while you're at it.
Click to expand...

Finding the right pots for this particular project was hard, they need to be narrow in the shaft and also long enough to go through the body of the bass (it's a rear cavity route). I can get another and replace it if I have to, but I'll look for what you suggested.

And yes I definitely learned my lesson. Wouldn't be a first time project without at least one boneheaded mistake, would it?

If the threads had snapped off the body entirely, would the I still be able to sweep the pot? Seems like it would just spin loosely. This one does actually work, it's just harder to move than it was before I overtightened it.
 
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#4
Yes the shaft will still turn if separated because the shaft is still intact, the body inside of the cavity can only turn so far depending on how tight the wires are.

You could use glue or possibly double sided tape to secure the top of the body to the inside of the cavity to stop it from spinning when turning the shaft. Just be sure not to let glue get inside of the pot.

Any way you can come up with to keep the body secure, and also stop it from being pushed down into the cavity would work.

You can test this by taking the back cover off and watching the pot while you turn the knob. Then grab the pots body with your fingers and you should feel the knob turn as normal.
 
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#5
Jett Litt said:
Yes the shaft will still turn if separated because the shaft is still intact, the body inside of the cavity can only turn so far depending on how tight the wires are.

You could use glue or possibly double sided tape to secure the top of the body to the inside of the cavity to stop it from spinning when turning the shaft. Just be sure not to let glue get inside of the pot.

Any way you can come up with to keep the body secure, and also stop it from being pushed down into the cavity would work.

You can test this by taking the back cover off and watching the pot while you turn the knob. Then grab the pots body with your fingers and you should feel the knob turn as normal.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll try this out. I have a bit of super glue, if it looks easy enough to fix I'll give it a try but in any event I'm probably going to replace it in the near future.
 
#6
If you find that the threads did in fact separate from the body and you're going to throw it away. You could try to solder it back in place at the point where the separation occurred (with plenty of flux). But it would be a big risk of damaging the components inside with the heat. I have used copper clips and a heatsink attached to the pot for this kind of thing before to keep the heat away from the potentiometer itself.
 
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#7
Jett Litt said:
It can be easy to do if you have a short shaft...
Click to expand...

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#14
Using the properly sized 1/4 inch drive deep socket, use only your thumb and fore finger to tighten them. Plenty tight and you will never break another one.
Why a 1/4 inch drive if you are only using your fingers? Typically a 1/4 inch drive socket has a smaller outside diameter than a 3/8 or 1/2 inch drive of the same size and less torque can be applied using hand strenght.
 
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#15
Ken R said:
Using the properly sized 1/4 inch drive deep socket, use only your thumb and fore finger to tighten them. Plenty tight and you will never break another one.
Why a 1/4 inch drive if you are only using your fingers? Typically a 1/4 inch drive socket has a smaller outside diameter than a 3/8 or 1/2 inch drive of the same size and less torque can be applied using hand strenght.
Click to expand...

These are 10mm nuts and I did use my sockets, my mistake was attaching the wrench to the socket heads. Too much torque indeed. I'm treating it as a learning experience, and I'm grateful it's one that I know how to fix now on my own.

A month ago I would have been totally intimidated by doing anything with the wiring in my bass. I'm glad I took the time to learn how it works and how to put it all together.
 
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#17
Isaac_James said:
Finding the right pots for this particular project was hard, they need to be narrow in the shaft and also long enough to go through the body of the bass (it's a rear cavity route). I can get another and replace it if I have to, but I'll look for what you suggested.
Click to expand...

Unless it's something exotic you just need to know where to look.

Mouser, Digi-Key, Tayda, LoveMySwitches, Small Bear Electronics...

Until I started building stuff like this my potentiometer experience was limited to Radio Shack... now that I've discovered the internet the number of options available boggle the mind.

Once you learn to read the data sheets, the exact pot you want is a simple 24 digit search away. Then you realize they're all out of stock so then the pot that'll work for now is a slightly more frustrating 24 digit search away.

Good luck!
 
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