Source for bass collection guitar pots.. Thanks

musicalstash

Any ideas where I can source a couple of pots for a Japanese bass collection bass..  

Two of the tone controls need replacing but I cannot find anything similar online ..  they are monuted onto a circuit board and are the indented active  type.  .  

Any help would be appreciated 

https://imgur.com/a/AVpgzqD

ICBM

They are going to be very difficult to find. Do they definitely need replacing? If you've tried contact cleaner already and it's failed, try WD-40 - as little as possible, don't flood the board with it - it can often work as a last resort.

musicalstash

Thanks..  they do need replacing as when turned there is a grinding clicking noise,  I had a look inside the pot and it looks as though the metal legs which run over the track are bent / broken..   


S 

ICBM

In that case you're probably better using conventional body-mounted pots with long bushings, and connecting them to the board with wires. You'll still need to find some with a centre detent though, if you want it to be as close to original as possible. What value are the pots?

musicalstash

The pots are stamped b100k followed by what looks like an ohm sign.  

Thanks again.  

ICBM

100K Linear. That might make things easier, it's a common value and should be available with a centre detent... how thick is the wood where the shafts go through, and what diameter are the holes?

musicalstash

The holes are approximately 7mm in diameter , the wood is not too deep at around about 10mm   ...

ICBM

musicalstash said:

The holes are approximately 7mm in diameter , the wood is not too deep at around about 10mm   ...

Hmmm... the problem is the diameter, you'll need to ream them out to even get far-east 8mm pots through.

I would still do it though - it's a very poor design as it is now, the length of unsupported shaft puts a huge amount of strain on the pot if the knob is pushed sideways even slightly, which is probably why they've failed.

Even then something that will fit is very difficult to find - the best I can come up with is these:

https://www.blore-ed.com/product-page/r161-32nox-bv1-100k-linear-centre-detent

They will need fitting on the other side of the board with the legs extended with some pieces of solid wire soldered on, and even then I'm not certain the bushings are long enough to go through the body wood without some work on the inside.

Working on stuff like this is always a massive pain, and difficult to charge enough for given the amount of time and fiddling, so I'm quite pleased not to be doing this one personally .

prowla

Yep - that length of shaft unsupported was just waiting to fail.

Here's a couple of possibilities at Farnell.

• https://uk.farnell.com/citec-te-connectivity/23esa104mmf50nf/potentiometer-lin-100k-20-400mw/dp/350102
• https://uk.farnell.com/citec-te-connectivity/27esa104mmf50n/pot-100k-0-4w-linear/dp/3133561
  

musicalstash

Thanks for the links.  

Would it better to install a full set of pots?   as if I change a couple there will be very little support for circuit board/ remaining controls ?