dude thanks so much! I ordered 12 knobes in different colors and I liked them all, wanted to replace knobs in 3 guitars where I have CTS... none of them fited of course. I was about to send them back and at the same time looking for new ones until I saw this video, now I modifed a guitar and looks amazing with the ones. Thanks a lot!
Oh wow, I came here looking for information about smooth shaft vs knurled shaft, only to discover that there's more than one kind of knurled shaft. I think I'll stick to the smooth shafts, thanks.
Good video, I just tried to push a Japanese knob on a CTS shaft and it pushed the shaft into the pot; toast… I’ve never managed to do this before but I wish I’d found your video before I did this..
Great tip! I am installing CTS pots in my Harley Benton that I got as a mod project. I tried to test fit the stock knob and it was too tight and didn’t want to keep forcing it on. I have a set of jewelers files with flat ones like yours. Hopefully they are the correct width.
This works thanks!. I didn't have any files but I did have a drill index. Picked the first one that was too big to slide in (sized by 64ths) and turned it in by hand! Viola! Brand new sharp bit though, your milage might vary.
If your reason for changing the knob was because it was scratchy sounding, you may be able to spray some deoxit in the little hole to clean the oxidation off and keep the original potentiometer installed.
You're are right l runned in to a similar situation (with the need to use the same knobs)....because one of the pots was scratchy l wanted to fix it and prevent future issues with the cheap pots by replacing the whole electronics harness this was on a Tommy Trayer Les Paul those comes with BLUE Les Paul knobs! and being that they are Epiphones made in China those are metric size knobs....and there is no way l would have found Imperial size blue Les Paul knobs!!! So l just end up giving up on the idea and just sprayed contact cleaner on the pot and call it the day!But l know l may have future problems l probably would find a good tech that build me a good quality harness with metric pots still l would have prefer Bourns pots l have those in all my guitars but the blue metric pots will prevent me from doing so l could try your method which is really good but not in these knobs if l ruin any other knob l probably can found it but as l said l never seen blue speed knobs before!
kinda funny... as I had just did this little trick prior (in the day) to watching this video! except I used a drill with a bit the size of the knob indention... eh! prob not the best method but way faster... oh ya and held it with a vise grip FYI. oh ya! AND there's tons of reasons why this is applicable! I understand just buy another one argument.. you can even buy a single on reverb, but sometimes when you're mod'ing guitars a lot! or swaping out pots alot you just need something fast... boom! or! like Im about to do now... I have the soft grip ones from the whatever USA strat series... I wanna keep those soft grips but change my pots... etc etc
They will break for the most part if you go in like right away instead of taking the time to apply light pressure and even then what can go wrong can eventually go wrong... it's always good to have a backup of pot just in case.
@@NathanSink , usually the slotted/split shafts break when spreading the halves *outward*, especially if they've previously been squeezed together with pliers or by use of the wrong, undersized knob. A brass shaft is more malleable and less likely to break, but aluminum, or gray pot-metal (zinc alloy?) shafts will break if you even look at them funny. I strongly advise against squeezing the halves together or forcing an undersized knob onto them. If the knob fits too loosely, a piece of thick rubber band in the notched shaft often helps snug the fit. Somebody mentioned wrapping the shaft withTeflon tape, in another comment thread here, and for anyone who doesn't know what that stuff is, it's non-adhesive and is found in the plumbing section of the hardware store.
I understand it’s not the optimal way, but for the examples that I gave (matching color of other knobs/parts, etc) & for a quick solution, it works just fine.
@@NathanSink Hi Nathan, I appreciate the response. I think there are better options than what you did to fix the Jazzmaster. You mentioned the pot was scratchy, but did you try to clean it before changing it out? It is pretty rare that the pots will actually fail. If they get scratchy, a shot with some Deoxit usually does the trick. The CTS pot you installed is US Spec, so it won't fit. I didn't see you mention it in the video, but you usually need to drill out the hole in the pickguard to fit a CTS pot since they are a tiny bit larger in diameter than the stock 6mm pot. The majority of metric pots with a 6mm shaft would fit though. If you don't like Alpha pots, Bourns also sells pots that will fit. Now that the original knob is modified, you can never go back to stock. Over time the knob will begin to slip on the shaft and eventually fall off. Since you've already gone as far as switching out the one pot with CTS, the other one should be changed out too. I wouldn't be too concerned about matching the colors. If you buy a set of knobs, and new pickup covers it will all match perfectly.
@@JasonTHutchinson I did try some electrical contact cleaner before replacing the pot. I documented that in a separate video: th-cam.com/video/RKxfGb58ubk/w-d-xo.html Also, I didn’t need to drill out the pickguard: the new pot fit with no issues. Regarding slippage, I don’t think I’ll have any issues. I essentially made the knob into a “universal” knob that Fender makes & I talk about at @6:40 in the video. I do agree that Fender brand colors SHOULD match (but it’s not always the case). However after market brand plastic colors are all over the place. Thanks for the comments. 👍🏻
dude thanks so much! I ordered 12 knobes in different colors and I liked them all, wanted to replace knobs in 3 guitars where I have CTS... none of them fited of course. I was about to send them back and at the same time looking for new ones until I saw this video, now I modifed a guitar and looks amazing with the ones.
Thanks a lot!
Glad it worked out for you! Happy to help. 😊
Oh wow, I came here looking for information about smooth shaft vs knurled shaft, only to discover that there's more than one kind of knurled shaft. I think I'll stick to the smooth shafts, thanks.
I just learned the aged knobs for my strat (the universal kid) don’t fit my powerhouse strat pots . So I help this works.
Good video, I just tried to push a Japanese knob on a CTS shaft and it pushed the shaft into the pot; toast…
I’ve never managed to do this before but I wish I’d found your video before I did this..
Thanks! Glad to help.
Great tip! I am installing CTS pots in my Harley Benton that I got as a mod project. I tried to test fit the stock knob and it was too tight and didn’t want to keep forcing it on. I have a set of jewelers files with flat ones like yours. Hopefully they are the correct width.
EDIT - I used the flat files yesterday and this worked like a charm, thanks!
Thanks for this man, saved me a few quid.
Glad to help!
This works thanks!. I didn't have any files but I did have a drill index. Picked the first one that was too big to slide in (sized by 64ths) and turned it in by hand! Viola! Brand new sharp bit though, your milage might vary.
Nice! Thanks for sharing.
I just use a Dremel. You have to be careful, but it's a lot faster. When a knob is too large-Teflon tape on the shaft.
jltrem excellent tips. 👍🏻
nice video,straight to the point.You got a sub
Thank you!
Great video! I just replaced my pots and loved the old alpha knobs. This will do the trick. Thanks!
Awesome! Glad to help.
Great stuff as always
Dani West thanks!
If your reason for changing the knob was because it was scratchy sounding, you may be able to spray some deoxit in the little hole to clean the oxidation off and keep the original potentiometer installed.
Thanks for the comment. I did try some electrical component cleaner/spray first, but it didn’t help. But you’re right, sometimes it does the trick. 👍🏻
thanks!
Back in the days, I bought my new Squier Deluxe Strat in a sun-worn, faded state. Buying a new cap would change the character a bit.
Heat the knob in boiling water and heat the shaft with a soldering iron then push the knob down onto the shaft.
Nice tip! Any chance of damaging the pot if you heat it too long?
@@NathanSink
I guess it's possible if you were to get it too hot.
Great tip! Thanks!👍😎🎸🎶
74dart man you got it! 👍🏻
You're are right l runned in to a similar situation (with the need to use the same knobs)....because one of the pots was scratchy l wanted to fix it and prevent future issues with the cheap pots by replacing the whole electronics harness this was on a Tommy Trayer Les Paul those comes with BLUE Les Paul knobs! and being that they are Epiphones made in China those are metric size knobs....and there is no way l would have found Imperial size blue Les Paul knobs!!! So l just end up giving up on the idea and just sprayed contact cleaner on the pot and call it the day!But l know l may have future problems l probably would find a good tech that build me a good quality harness with metric pots still l would have prefer Bourns pots l have those in all my guitars but the blue metric pots will prevent me from doing so l could try your method which is really good but not in these knobs if l ruin any other knob l probably can found it but as l said l never seen blue speed knobs before!
Oh man, yeah sounds like those knobs would be hard to replace! Hope it works out well for you. 👍🏻
What's the height of these CTS pots?
0.935” I believe: toneshapers.com/products/cts-1-meg-linear-mini-pot
@@NathanSink thank you for the response, are you using linear on the volume and log on the tone?
@@leovfl yep. Check out this video I made about the pot swap: th-cam.com/video/RKxfGb58ubk/w-d-xo.html
@@NathanSink did you notice a difference with these CTS pots? It's worthy the upgrade?
@@leovfl if my old pot hadn’t gone out I probably wouldn’t have changed it.
I used to turn the knob on the tip of a sharp pocket knife.
soulagent79 that works too!
Alpha pots are high quality.
I don't disagree, but I think there is a stigma on them in the guitar community that they are sub-par.
@@NathanSink I agree there is an undeserved stigma
Im running 2 totally different pots. Good luck finding a set of knobs that are differently splined lol
That's the truth! 😆
Such a pain they really couldve made them all the same.. lol
kinda funny... as I had just did this little trick prior (in the day) to watching this video! except I used a drill with a bit the size of the knob indention... eh! prob not the best method but way faster... oh ya and held it with a vise grip FYI.
oh ya! AND there's tons of reasons why this is applicable! I understand just buy another one argument.. you can even buy a single on reverb, but sometimes when you're mod'ing guitars a lot! or swaping out pots alot you just need something fast... boom! or! like Im about to do now... I have the soft grip ones from the whatever USA strat series... I wanna keep those soft grips but change my pots... etc etc
Or you can squeeze the split shaft with a pair of pliers... that worked for me!
B. Rod Clark I've heard that too. But I've also heard stories of the shaft breaking. 😬 But if it works, it works! 👍🏻 Thanks for the comment.
@@NathanSink Yup. I once broke a shaft on the circuit board of my Gibson SG, which means I had to replace the whole thing.
soulagent79 ouch.
They will break for the most part if you go in like right away instead of taking the time to apply light pressure and even then what can go wrong can eventually go wrong... it's always good to have a backup of pot just in case.
@@NathanSink , usually the slotted/split shafts break when spreading the halves *outward*, especially if they've previously been squeezed together with pliers or by use of the wrong, undersized knob. A brass shaft is more malleable and less likely to break, but aluminum, or gray pot-metal (zinc alloy?) shafts will break if you even look at them funny. I strongly advise against squeezing the halves together or forcing an undersized knob onto them. If the knob fits too loosely, a piece of thick rubber band in the notched shaft often helps snug the fit. Somebody mentioned wrapping the shaft withTeflon tape, in another comment thread here, and for anyone who doesn't know what that stuff is, it's non-adhesive and is found in the plumbing section of the hardware store.
damn bra! should put minute links to get to the point!! like Darrel guy
They are in the video description.
Buy knobs for cts pots
@1:31
@3:09
If I brought a guitar into a shop and they did this instead of doing it the correct way, we would have words.
I understand it’s not the optimal way, but for the examples that I gave (matching color of other knobs/parts, etc) & for a quick solution, it works just fine.
@@NathanSink Hi Nathan, I appreciate the response. I think there are better options than what you did to fix the Jazzmaster. You mentioned the pot was scratchy, but did you try to clean it before changing it out? It is pretty rare that the pots will actually fail. If they get scratchy, a shot with some Deoxit usually does the trick. The CTS pot you installed is US Spec, so it won't fit. I didn't see you mention it in the video, but you usually need to drill out the hole in the pickguard to fit a CTS pot since they are a tiny bit larger in diameter than the stock 6mm pot. The majority of metric pots with a 6mm shaft would fit though. If you don't like Alpha pots, Bourns also sells pots that will fit. Now that the original knob is modified, you can never go back to stock. Over time the knob will begin to slip on the shaft and eventually fall off. Since you've already gone as far as switching out the one pot with CTS, the other one should be changed out too. I wouldn't be too concerned about matching the colors. If you buy a set of knobs, and new pickup covers it will all match perfectly.
@@JasonTHutchinson I did try some electrical contact cleaner before replacing the pot. I documented that in a separate video: th-cam.com/video/RKxfGb58ubk/w-d-xo.html Also, I didn’t need to drill out the pickguard: the new pot fit with no issues. Regarding slippage, I don’t think I’ll have any issues. I essentially made the knob into a “universal” knob that Fender makes & I talk about at @6:40 in the video.
I do agree that Fender brand colors SHOULD match (but it’s not always the case). However after market brand plastic colors are all over the place.
Thanks for the comments. 👍🏻