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Desoldering and reusing pots?

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  • Desoldering and reusing pots?

    Hello all.

    I understand this thread might not be the correct place to post this, but I'm still a newbie, so feel free to move it as needed (admins)

    Anyway, a have a bunch of pots(alot of assorted CTS, some Alpha, some generic).

    I thought I'd desolder them, clean them up a bit, and have them available for spares, as needed.

    I don't know how well they were cared for while soldering, so I don't know if they were damaged at all. Some appear to have been soldered properly, with care, and some just look a mess. Who knows.

    Is there a good way to check them, short of installing them and use them, to see if they are still viable and usable? Do I just check them on a meter, or is there even a way to check to see if they have been overheated and/or damaged if the damage is not visibly obvious?

    Call me cheap, but, I just don't necessarily want to chuck them if the might be reasonably usable still.

    Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

  • #2
    Re: Desoldering and reusing pots?

    A meter would tell you how well they are working without installing. You could also use alligator clip wires to temporarily put them in a circuit and see how it sounds running audio signal through them.

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    • #3
      Re: Desoldering and reusing pots?

      Yep, like Beau said: multimeter is the way! Hook 'em up, see if the reading is in the ballpark. Don't freak out if it's not 500.00 kOhm. I just rewired one of my guitars cause it sounded a bitt dull. Turns out the pot had a whole 435 kOhm of resistance. I had some CTS lying around that read 476 kOhms. Popped that in redid all joints to the shiniest I could and needless to say the guitar came alive . Also, the Seymour Duncan branded ones I have in another guitar read 509 kOhms... So if its in the ballpark, you can remove the burnt flux with some rubbing alcohol and get rid of the solder blobs with a solder pump and/or wick and they should be good as new.

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      • #4
        Re: Desoldering and reusing pots?

        +1 to the multimeter. I'll take multiple measurements: across the outside lugs should read the pot value. I consider it fine if it's +/- 10% of its rated value. But then I'll also crank the dial to one side and measure from each outside lug to the wiper. You'll get full value on one outside lug and 0 on the other. Then turn the dial all the way the other way and repeat the process. I've reused plenty of pots - as long as they haven't been overheated, there's absolutely no reason they can't be used over and over again.
        Duncan Pickups in currently in use: '59 (rewound to PATB-3)/'59, Custom/AP2H, Tapped QP set for Tele, Crazy 8/Cool Rails, Screamin' Demon/Stra-Bro 90, Custom 5/Phat Cat, SP90-1/SP90-2, SMB-5D

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        • #5
          Re: Desoldering and reusing pots?

          You have two posts of the same subject.

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          • #6
            Re: Desoldering and reusing pots?

            Originally posted by ArtieToo View Post
            You have two posts of the same subject.
            Thanks for pointing that out.

            No harm intended.

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