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Removing volume/tone knobs and pickguard on a squire p-bass

N

Neel

Jan 1, 2007
55
0
#1
Hey guys, an artistic friend of mine (who knows what to do in order to get a good finish on this sort of surface) has agreed to do some painting on my pickguard for me, but I don't know how to remove it. The unscrewing part seems straight forward enough (unless there is something I can't see yet), but I don't know how to remove the knobs. I also don't know if I need to remove the little jack hole dealie. After that I am assuming that I will be able to slip it out of there without removing the strings, but if not, that is another problem (I haven't done any restringing yet and I don't know how to go about it).

Thanks for the help.
 
#3
I guess I should have been more specific. How do I remove the knobs? I don't know if there is some special way of doing it, and if there is, I don't want to find out how that special way is done by doing it the wrong way and breaking something.
 
#4
Neel said:
I guess I should have been more specific. How do I remove the knobs? I don't know if there is some special way of doing it, and if there is, I don't want to find out how that special way is done by doing it the wrong way and breaking something.
Click to expand...

If they dont pull off easy (like mine), I slide a butter knife under it, turn the knife a bit to raise knob a few millimeters, quarter turn repeat, quarter turn repeat, until it comes off

Just be careful, it will work
 
#5
Ah, worked like a charm. I'm just glad that they have a tight grip.

I now realize that the knobs and such are attached to the pick guard. Is there anything I should keep in mind when temporarily removing them, or will it be as simple as undoing the bold and putting it back on? Thanks for the help.

I was also hoping to be able to play the bass while she was working on it, but if there is a gaping hole in there and a bunch of exposed electronics, I guess I won't be able to (not plugged in, anyways.
 
#10
sheepskin: some knobs have a set screw that needs to be loosened before removal, so if you yanked your knobs off and didnt notice the screw, that may be why they wont go back on. to get them back on check the knob all the way round and if there is a set screw, unscrew it if there is one, then push the knob on and tighten the screw back up.
 
#12
PRECISIONFUNK said:
There are small flat head screws in my precision tone knobs...the bastards will not loosen no matter how much I try...will this butter knife trick remove them OK with no damage? I am simply changing the pick guard from white to black. Thanks
Click to expand...

I would drip some WD-40 onto the screws and wait a little bit (it should wick into the threads). Then try to loosen the screws. If that doesn't work, you may have to try prying them off using a method like the knife trick.
 
#13
If and make sure you check and recheck there are NO set screws on the side of knob..
I have used this trick to remove knobs ...
Use a clean soft cloth or rag ..slide the center of I e edge of the cloth u set the base of the knob , now work the cloth around the base of the the knob ..the idea is to get the most GRAB. now twist cloth up into a role like handle and pull straight up with even gentle pull..DO NOT YANK THE CLOTH.
this has worked for me .
Good luck
 
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