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Author	Topic: Changing Original Pots
Derrick Mau Member From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA	posted 03 March 2005 01:50 AM profile send email edit Does changing original pots on a non-pedal steel alter the tone for the worst? What's your opinion/experiences?
Rick Aiello Member From: Berryville, VA USA	posted 03 March 2005 05:00 AM profile send email edit I yank them out ... faster than Dr. Akuna pulls a bad molar ... Potentiometers are just variable resistors ... and the tracks get worn, scratchy, etc. I "liken" it to recharging magnets ... I want the sound that these rascals made when they were "new" ... I do keep them and the caps in ziplocks ... just cause they are cool lookin' and historical ... Just my way ... PS: Rickys ... in particular ... used so many different combinations ... 100K, 250K, 500K ... .02 mfd, .03 mfd, .05 mfd. ... Seemed random too ... whatever they had on hand at the time ... So if you wanna keep a certain vintage steel sounding like it did comin' outta the factory ... throw in the same "values" ... and you are good to go. ------------------ Aiello's House of Gauss My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield [This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 03 March 2005 at 05:05 AM.]
John Bushouse Member From:	posted 03 March 2005 08:45 AM profile send email edit I hope it doesn't adversely affect the guitar, because I'm taking my 1937 National to get the pots replaced tomorrow. To many scratches, pops, and sudden volume drops when inadvertantly bumping the knob. I've tried pot cleaner, as has someone who knows what he's doing. I'll keep the originals in a little baggie, for posterity's sake. By the way, Rick, I'd like to recharge my magnets but it is an absolute pain in the a** to get to all of them (one big pickup at the bridge, two in the middle position (one treble, one bass), two in the neck position (one treble, one bass), both middle and neck sets are hidden underneath the fretboard). Is it possible to recharge the magnets without removing the pickups?
Rick Aiello Member From: Berryville, VA USA	posted 03 March 2005 09:22 AM profile send email edit People use neodymium-iron-boron (NIB) magnets to charge Alnico, Cunife and Ferrite (ceramic) magnets in pickups ... I have myself .. on ones whose magnets were encased in the unit ... Jason said pullin' the covers may short the coil ... But a BIG Beware ... Just waving a NIB over an existing pickup ... will probably do more harm than good. NIB's are soooo strong ... that even with the utmost care and preparation ... they can align the domains in the magnet they are charging ... in very "funky" ... un-usable ways. If say an alnico pole piece is to be charged and you don't have two NIBs working in tandem ... one NIB (N) pole for the pole pieces (S) pole ... and visa versa ... You can create a pole piece ... that may have multiple poles on a single pole surface. Even with the correct "set-up" ... if the piece being magnetized becomes attached to a NIB itself ... The pull can be so strong ... that the magnetized unit must be "slid" across the face of the NIB ... and that again can lead to "funky" domain alignment. Thats why I ... and most others who do this kinda stuff ... rely on electromagnets. Put the piece in ... hit the switch ... 0.03 seconds later ... fully magged. Kill the juice ... lift out the piece ... perfect alignment. I have recieved many pickups from folks (usually electric guitars) ... where they bought NIBs from Stewart McDonald ... tried to remag them via instruction that came with 'em ... and screwed up the domains so bad ... the signal was gone. Simple strat style pickups ... no problem ... But pickups whose magnets are sealed in a case ... you really have to "study" the orientations ... with a gaussmeter ... to see where the magnets are ... and how they align. I did a set of Nationals for a forum member once ... encased ... It had 4 seperate bar magnets ... each lying adjacent to the coil ... all feeding their (N) poles to the steel screw pole pieces... I spent a couple hours mapping them out ... then had to create/build a NIB array ... to get the job done ... Actually used NIBs and the electromagnet on that one ... I was sweatin' bullets the whole time ... but it worked .... phewww Sorry I don't have better news for you ... ------------------ Aiello's House of Gauss My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield [This message was edited by Rick Aiello on 03 March 2005 at 09:27 AM.]
Bill Blacklock Member From: Powell River, British Columbia, Canada	posted 03 March 2005 09:50 AM profile send email edit Rick, The pots in my Ricky are scratchy and pop. I ordered a couple of new 1 meg pots from Torres as you recomended in an past thread, but I'm not to sure about the cap. I ordered two syles from Torres, a .02G (gibson guitar) and .022 Orange drop (For amps). Neither look at all like the original and are a lot smaller in size, will that matter? Sorry about the delay in sending the pickup to you, I can't seem to find the courage to start yanking the little fella apart. Thanks / Bill
Rick Aiello Member From: Berryville, VA USA	posted 03 March 2005 10:24 AM profile send email edit Those old "sausage" capacitors in Rickys ... Sprague and Tigers ... funny lookin' ain't they You can buy NOS and have them look the same ... but it doesn't matter ... This really isn't my "field" ... but from what I've read ... film caps, ceramic caps, etc ... doesn't really matter much in guitar tone controls. They just "dump" to ground. In amps ... its a different story ... Someone over in the Electronics section could easily explain the amp vs guitar uses of capacitors. Either of those two from Torres will be fine ... My personal opinion is ... Let as much of the signal from the pickup get to the amp as possible ... then let the amps EQ system do the rest. Thats why I recommend 1 meg pots and 0.022 mfd caps ... You can always roll off highs at the amp ... but once you choke off the high end at the guitar itself ... you can't get it back. ------------------ Aiello's House of Gauss My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield
Derrick Mau Member From: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA	posted 03 March 2005 12:09 PM profile send email edit quote: Rickys...in particular...used so many different combinations. You're telling me ... it's seems like toward the end of the Rickenbacker years, they started throwing whatever parts they had left onto their guitars. Here's a pic of my 7 string Bakelite headstock in which they used the Rickenbacker logo that normally was suppose to go on their console model. Anyone have a bakelite with this type of logo on?? [This message was edited by Derrick Mau on 05 March 2005 at 05:47 PM.]
John Bushouse Member From:	posted 03 March 2005 12:18 PM profile send email edit Rick and anyone else, My amp only has one knob - volume. My guitar has four volume knobs - no tone controls at all. If I drop in 1 Meg pots for all my volume controls, is there any risk I'd end up with a guitar that's too bright? Rick, I added a remag question my rehabilitation thread. http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/006631.html

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