Volume knob grinding and tight

[Mister CCJ]

On my RG, just happened. Tried loosening and retightening knob, same thing. Ideas?

[Satchriossi]

my RGs volume pot once went weird - felt like grit had gotten inside it, but before i ordered a fresh one it cleared itself up with use.

Give it some more use before buying a fresh one.

[Dee]

There is a huge batch of dodgy pots floating around. Doesn't matter if your guitar is a RG20th, JEM, Prestige, 7-string, whatever -- they all suffer.

Be ready for that sucker dying on you. Consider buying a new one. You need some soldering skills and a 500k pot. CTS make direct replacements. Some pots don't fit, they are wider, meaning you have to bore out the hole a bit.

[sniperfrommars1]

Make sure youve cleared the face of the guitar! Theirs often enough room on the pots so that the knob can sit flush agains the guitar body. Loosen the set screw, raise it 1mm or so, and then tighten up. See if that solves the problem. But like dee said alot of dodgy pots have been floating around.

[Mister CCJ]

Yea I did raise it as that was the problem last time but this time it didn't help. I actually saw shavings in the knob when I took it off, but maybe that was nothing. I played with the knob a lot back and forth and the grinding seemed to go away for the most part. Sounds the same through the amp. My volume was always tighter than my tone. Is that normal?

[sniperfrommars1]

Well it happens but usually two of the same companys pot are pretty close in feel. My volume knob feels way looser than my tone. Youll find a pretty heavy difference in the taper of pots, as well as their rated value. Its gotten better than the 50's at least some old gibson pots come in at 1meg.

[ibanezking]

REPLACE IT......

Pots are not serviceable items - other than a spray of switch cleaner if it crackles......
$5 will buy you a decent pot in the US
I would recommend changing your Vol pot every couple of years anyway dependant upon use.
As its the one that gets used all the time it'll go slack...even quality ones.....

Did mine on my main gigger a month ago......

You'll find it'll gradually move on its own during a song, or if you knock it slightly when going for the switch, it'll move so much more easily........ then you'll get that earie "i can't hear what i'm playing" scenario...... you start to sweat....... your other guitarist gives you a look that equals "i just found you perving on my mum"........ in a mad panic you turn your amp up......... and you look a twat

All for the sake of 5 of your "bucks"

If you play in a band, and have a few guitars, you should really have a few about as spares......

If pots were condoms, you wouldn't wait till you have a hot bird laid naked on your bed, gagging for it, then say, i'll just go buy some Johns or log onto a se* forum to see what the other members suggest........

Max

[Dee]

LOL!

Err yeah. Max was the guy who sold me the Dimarzio pot I had to replace my crap Ibanez one with on the RG20th. Cheers Max. The Dimarzio ones are very nice, but as I said, they are not the usual size and you need to bore the hole out by a few mm's. This is fine if the guitar has a pickguard, I used a pair of scissors and it took seconds, but if it doesn't have a pickguard it's not such a great idea. Buy CTS pots.

BTW, Max is right -- replace it. Mine broke right in the middle of a recording session.

[FloridaNative]

Originally Posted by ibanezking

If pots were condoms, you wouldn't wait till you have a hot bird laid naked on your bed, gagging for it, then say, i'll just go buy some Johns or log onto a se* forum to see what the other members suggest........

Max

You have such a way with words! hehehehe

[sleepyone]

Originally Posted by Dee

LOL!

Err yeah. Max was the guy who sold me the Dimarzio pot I had to replace my crap Ibanez one with on the RG20th. Cheers Max. The Dimarzio ones are very nice, but as I said, they are not the usual size and you need to bore the hole out by a few mm's. This is fine if the guitar has a pickguard, I used a pair of scissors and it took seconds, but if it doesn't have a pickguard it's not such a great idea. Buy CTS pots.

BTW, Max is right -- replace it. Mine broke right in the middle of a recording session.

I'm going to change the tone and volume pots on my s470...if I understand correctly the dimarzio ones won't fit the hole in the body?!?!??! I would really appreciate your help, in my country the only good pots you can buy are dimarzios..

[Mister CCJ]

So what is the CTS one? Is that the stock pot? Or how about getting a stock one? I'm really not too worried right now because it seems prefectly fine now and doesn't seem any different than it did before. The guitar is also only been played for a year now; I bought it brand new (its an '05). You can mark my words if it does die tomorrow though haha.