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volume pot for Ibanez

Killed_by_Death

Killed_by_Death

Snaggletooth
Inactive
Jan 2, 2015
24,890
61,257
14 Megameters from Groong Tehp
#1
Not knowing how to leave well enough alone, I decided to do a little mod to my Ibanez.
Little did I know how difficult (impossible?) it is to find:

500K Ohm
linear taper
16mm body
6mm solid shaft

Anyone had any luck finding pots that match what's in there?

add:
solder lug terminations
10mm long, 7mm diameter bushing
20mm shaft
 
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#3
Didn't try with my Ibanez. Mine were junk from day one so I didn't really want more of the same. I just bought a cheap loaded Jazz control plate, disassembled it, and wired it up like a Jazz along with the knobs. New pots were much smaller. To fit the pots to the holes I sliced up a ballpoint pen body to slide over part of the stem to increase the diameter, and used the old pot washers which were bigger. Then since the new pot stems were too short for the bass, I took a Dremel tool and deepened the control cavity in the pot areas. Sounds a lot better now actually, and I'm playing it more.
 
#4
Killed_by_Death said:
Not knowing how to leave well enough alone, I decided to do a little mod to my Ibanez.
Little did I know how difficult (impossible?) it is to find:

500K Ohm
linear taper
16mm body
6mm solid shaft

Anyone had any luck finding pots that match what's in there?
Click to expand...

Plugging those criteria into mouser.com one of the results was Link Removed. Note that the picture shows a knurled shaft while the description shows smooth/slotted. Conductive plastic too so probably longer lasting than an old carbon pot.
 
#7
Killed_by_Death said:
Not knowing how to leave well enough alone, I decided to do a little mod to my Ibanez.
Little did I know how difficult (impossible?) it is to find:

500K Ohm
linear taper
16mm body
6mm solid shaft

Anyone had any luck finding pots that match what's in there?
Click to expand...

How long is the threaded bushing? I often find that to be the first bogey when trying to source instrument control pots.
 
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#8
I got 2 in the mail today with 1/4" shafts, knobs won't fit.
Click to expand...

Have you got some calipers? You need to measure your knobs or, if you still have it, the shaft of the pot you're replacing.

They are not common, but there are pots that have solid shafts, but are 6mm, not 1/4 inch. Perhaps your Ibanez knobs are designed for 6mm shafts.

Actually I repaired an old ibanez guitar pedal from the 70's the other day, and its original pot shafts were 6mm.

If that's the case, you are in luck because they'll fit fine on 6mm splined shafts, provided you orientate the grub screw so it doesn't crush the two halves of the shaft together. (I normally put a little piece of aluminium in the shaft slot so I can orientate the knob how I like.)
 
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#10
That's what I find when trying to order from Ibanez, they only have the whole module.
Starting to wonder if Ibanez hasn't used these strange pots on purpose, like they've done with their vibrato bridges. You can only get the vibrato arm from them, on the newer models..

I can find Bourns pots with the right diameter shaft, but they have the large bodies, which won't fit into the little countersunk holes for each pot in the controls cavity.
 
#12
Killed_by_Death said:
That's what I find when trying to order from Ibanez, they only have the whole module.
Starting to wonder if Ibanez hasn't used these strange pots on purpose, like they've done with their vibrato bridges. You can only get the vibrato arm from them, on the newer models..
Click to expand...

There's a lot of music gear out there that uses bespoke parts, and the reasons for doing so are often complex. I've encountered more than my share of frustration dealing with that over the years. Lately that's been centered on all the people building my OS preamp who just assume they/I can use mismatched values on concentric or other multisection pots, in a wide variety of size formats. Sure, no problem; just need to order 1000 and wait several months.
Or_wink.gif
 
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#13
Killed_by_Death said:
I can find Bourns pots with the right diameter shaft, but they have the large bodies, which won't fit into the little countersunk holes for each pot in the controls cavity.
Click to expand...

Sometimes if you download the data sheets from Mouser (or the Bourns, Alpha, CTS, etc. websites) you can concoct a parts number for the part you ideally want. Then plug that into Google, and occasionally you hit the jackpot, either at Mouser or possibly elsewhere. The mega-vendors' search engines let me down fairly often, even for parts I know I've bought there before. Sometimes you get a "non-stocked part" hit but can still do a special order, and if you're lucky, even for a single unit.
 
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#14
I had considered deconstructing a part number & even tried last night. Those Alpha pots are not well-documented.
I'll try again right now.

Just put my SRX back together after measuring the bushing diameter & length again. I did this last week, but then was too dumb to write it down.

It looks like a the busing is 7mm diameter & 10mm long. Total shaft length = 20mm.

The nut comes off with a 7/16" socket, but I think it's 11mm.

I dropped the nut & couldn't find it. Lots of loud cursing ensued, because I haven't got a replacement. All mine are for 3/8" bushings.
Finally found it in the corner where it had rolled o_O
 
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