Afternoon all,
I've got a Behringer i-Axe Metalien model 629 electric guitar with a bad pot. Now, I'm a not a very experienced player, let alone guitar repairman, but so far as I can tell, it uses a 500k pot. I took it into the Best Buy I bought it from (yes, they sell and repair instruments), but was told they didn't have a small enough pot to fit it properly.
I ventured inside the body myself and sure enough, the pots are tiny compared to the 4 dollar Fender pot I can pick up anywhere. Are there other, specific sizes I need to be looking for? I'm not confident enough in my wiring/soldering skills to try the repair myself, but if I can find the correct pot size, the repair guys will do it for me.
I tried looking for the specs on the guitar, but there is NO information on the thing, other than what's in the basic manual. I get the feeling if I take it to an official Behringer repair place I'm gonna get charged up the wazoo, so I'd rather pay 5 bucks for the part and maybe 15 for the labor at Best Buy or Guitar Center.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
You've probably got mini pots with a metric sized bushing. The hole diameter is going to be for a 9mm bushing and the Fender one is a full sized pot with an Imperial sized bushing - 9.53mm or 3/8". You'll need to get a pot with the right sized threaded bushing or ream out the hole. Whether you need to use a mini pot (16mm body) or a full sized pot (24mm body) will depend on the room inside the guitar's control cavity.
There are high and low quality pots available in metric and Imperial bushing size and large and small body but on the cheaper guitars there are invariably cheaper quality pots.
Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson
Thanks Hyperborea. Just a visual comparison of a standard pot in the bag on the shelf and the one in my guitar's guts, I'm assuming its a mini. I know that its a 500k by the markings on it, but I wasn't sure if there was any other size, wire connections or other technical spec I needed to know (other than split) I should be looking for before buying a part myself.
All that said, I talked to another Guitar Center rep today who said the part wouldn't be a big deal to get after all, though 30 bucks for labor seems a tad high, it might be worth it just to not mess up on my own and force me to buy another one.
