I have an American Std Strat , loving workhorse, but I haven't played it through an amp in ages and have, um, kinda neglected it somewhat. Today, I was putting my new electrostick through its paces on ym Marshall and had to crack out the strat for a bit of fun as well. then I noticed it........
the lowest tone pot is very crackly, and there's some crackle on the other tone pot as well. the volum pot is working as was, but I was thinking of changing the volume pot anyway, since it increases the volume inconsistently. like, 1-3=same voulme, then a big jump from there to 4, then no real increase between about 4-7, then another big jump from there and consistent volume through to 10.
the guitar is as shop bought - no mods.
so, what do I need to do? I want a new volume pot with consistent gains, and I want tone pots which don't crackle. can I just clean the tone pots? will that work (and if so, how would I go about doing this safely?)? (this is a new problem). Or will I deffo have to change them? in which case, can anyone recommend some volume and tone pots that will satisfy my needs?
with all my talk/glee about new guitar purchases, this predicament has left me feeling horribly like I've betrayed a lover, neglecting my strats hard work for me over the years in the excitement over fresh knobs to twiddle and pristine G strings. :oops: :cry:
oh, and any brits (or nonbrits with requisite info) know where I can acquire said items in the UK and roughly how much this will cost? I might admit defeat and send it off to a guitar tech, but if I can do it cheaply myself, I'll take that option. thanks to everyone who posts in advance.
For cleaning pots: Deoxit, or some other similar electrical contact cleaner:
http://elderly.com/accessories/items/CD005.htm
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
Yep, new pots is all it will take. For a strat it's 250k Log (sometimes called 250k A or 250k Audio), they'll cost about a quid or so, and you should be able to get them from anywhere that sells electric components, Maplin etc.
Edit: http://www.maplin.co.uk has a store locator, there should be at least one in Liverpool.
cheers both of ou - yep misanthrope I have been meaning to hit Maplin anyway for a soldering iron (I'm gonna need for it my future fretless guitar project), thanks for the details on which one to get.
what about the volume pot? is that the same thing? I'm guessing not, but I'm not sure - I really want to have consistent volume increases, instead of this jumpy thing I have now. It's been like that pretty much from shop and I meant to get it switched for something a bit more consistent, but my feeling has realy required it until now.
and while we're on the topic - has anyone tried the graphtech nuts and saddles? I was considering switching to these as I use my whammy bar a fair bit, and whammy bar use will increase over the coming months, so I'm gonna need as much help in the tuning-stability dept. as possible.
serious props for the swift responses, with any luck I'll be able to hit Maplin tomorrow. 8)
No, the volume pot is the same type. The log bit is what's important for the volume if you want your control back - you've got a linear one in there and that's why it's doing what it's doing.
Can't advice on anything remotely whammy related I'm afraid, except maybe blocking them up - I hate the things ;)
No probs - hopefully someone else will.
Many thanks for explaining how to fix the pot problems though - I'll hopefully have it sorted completely by the weekend. Sure felt good cranking my Marshall up and riffing though. It took a little while getting used to the hum, and the lack of reverb (mental note - reverb pedal desperately needed), but once I got going, I rediscovered the true joysof that amp. And the Ibanez acoustic sounds great, even when cranking the amp into slight distortion. :evil:
Points on cleanign also duly noted. My 'baby' has my full attention now, the guilt of neglect is terrible. :oops:
