F*#@!!!!!

ZoSo0789

ZoSo0789

New member
Advice/Tips NEEDED badly....... I'm such a dumbarse! I was finishing up my whole rewiring of my Les Paul, and only had to put the knobs on and re-string. I got some normal CTS pots, and Gibson Gold Tophat knobs (so, all USA stuff). The two volume knobs go on perfectly fine. The two tone knobs are a whole different story..... I could only get them on about halfway. I tried force.... didnt work; these things WOULD NOT budge for anything. So i finally wiggled one of the knobs off, and decided to stick it on a loose pot to see if I could 'wear in' the shaft of the knob to where maybe it'd press on easier. I even tried taking some pliers and slightly squeezing together the two halfs of the pot shaft (ya know, because it's a split shaft); still with both of those things, the knobs would only go halfway. I got frustrated and tried some real force, and broke the **** pot :eyecrazy:. Yeah I heard a nice snap, and now the pot spins 360 degree with only a little bit of physical resistance to turn in about 1/4 of the full rotation. Now I gotta order more pots and waste more money on shipping :banghead:

Why is it that putting on the **** knobs is the hardest thing for me for any kind of Gibson-style knob???? Anyone have any tips to putting knobs on? I have no idea what else to do...... btw, please excuse my stupidity and n00bness.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

Don't feel bad, I did the same thing a few years back. IIRC, I had to get either knobs with a bigger diameter or pots with a smaller shaft.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

yeah, some pots have an odd diameter. if they dont fit then they dont fit. forcing them on there will only result in bad things...as you discovered. match up the diameter of the pot shaft with the knob and you will be fine.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

I seriously wanna go Pete Townshend on a guitar now lol. It just frustrates me so much because I've been waiting 4 day for my last part to come in (came in today), and then this crap happens. But if they're both USA standard stuff, there shouldnt be a reason to half to go bigger/smaller of a post/hole right?
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

scottish said:
yeah, some pots have an odd diameter. if they dont fit then they dont fit. forcing them on there will only result in bad things...as you discovered. match up the diameter of the pot shaft with the knob and you will be fine.
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Well I thought I did...... CTS fits Gibson knobs to my knowledge... the volumes sure did. The only difference between the volume and tone pots are the taper. The different CTS taper has an indicator of the volume knobs have a silver shaft and the tones have a golden shaft.... but they should still be the same size right?
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

hang on a sec...you are saying you got 4 cts pots from the same dealer and 4 gibson knobs and two of them fit but 2 dont?
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

I got 4 CTS pots from Wymore Guitars, and 4 Gibson (actual Gibson USA stuff.... not knockoff) from another place. The audio taper CTS fit perfectly fine, but the linear taper (which I was using for tone) are having these problems....
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

i would have thought you would be fine. send wymore a PM. he will set you straight either way.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

scottish said:
i would have thought you would be fine. send wymore a PM. he will set you straight either way.
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought also. Good idea, I'll shoot him a PM.... I was just gonna place another order and spend more cash that I dont need to be spending lol, but I'll wait and see what he says about the matter; maybe he knows something I dont.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

ZoSo0789 said:
Thats what I thought also. Good idea, I'll shoot him a PM.... I was just gonna place another order and spend more cash that I dont need to be spending lol, but I'll wait and see what he says about the matter; maybe he knows something I dont.
Click to expand...

yeah. im not saying he will def reimburse you or anything but he should def be able to set you straight on what you need. if it turns out the pots were faulty/mis-sized then he should be able to help you out.

just out of curiosity though....do me a favor and measure the diameter of the tone and volume knob holes and see if they are the same.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

scottish said:
yeah. im not saying he will def reimburse you or anything but he should def be able to set you straight on what you need. if it turns out the pots were faulty/mis-sized then he should be able to help you out.

just out of curiosity though....do me a favor and measure the diameter of the tone and volume knob holes and see if they are the same.
Click to expand...

Yeah I dont expect an reimbursement or anything, I'm just hoping he can set me straight on what I need. What I screwed up is my problem, not his business's priority to have to accommodate me for that. I'll get those measurements shortly
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

Bummer Bro!
First, let me say kudos to you for your last post!! Ive worked alot of customer service, and it seems most people think that if they lose it, break it or whatever, the biz is supposed to fix it.. Slays me is people think they should be given a discount cuz they cant pay their bill. I was taught, if you cant afford it, you dont get it.. I also tried the latter once on my own and got into a huge pickle and now Im back to that..
2nd, post on the end result! I wanna cheer when you get her done and I am thinking of redoing a paul and worry about what pots to use..
Good luck with the project!!
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

This kinda thing is why i've pretty much given up on "DIY" guitar stuff.

It's just not worth the stress or headache. I'd rather hand a $20 to an experienced tech who's been there and done that.

Good luck with it man.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

I would probably just wire it up with three knobs for the time being. Maybe keep the tone for the bridge pickup and play with the knob half off. It's better than not playing.
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

You're not a dumbarse. You see, you know how to spell "dumbarse", which means you are either educated or British. Either way, you get points... :cool2:

Bad luck with the knobs. Sh!t happens...
 
Re: F*#@!!!!!

What you've done is pushed the shaft of the pot (and assuredly the disc inside) down into the casing.

However, it may be fixable, though the knob-not-fitting issue will remain.


Take the pot and see if you can pry up the 4 tabs that hold the top and casing together.
If you can, see if there's a recessed track near the top of the casing for the disc to sit in, and see if you can re-seat the disc there.
If it doesn't, then you may have chipped the disc, and the pot is now a nice bit of slingshot ammo or bare-foot trap.

I had a similar experience trying to push a pot out of a hole. I pushed on the top of the shaft until the whole thing finally popped out. Unfortunately it left the collar in the hole, attached to the casing cap plate. The 4 tabs bent themselves up and let go of the cap. Luckily I was able to put it back together.

It was a CTS as well.
 
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