thin sissy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2006
- Messages
- 2,691
I have a 55 GT that had replacement pots in it when I bought it. The original (IRC, not Centralabs) came in a bag with the guitar. The original measure the following resistances in rising order:
670 kOhm
846 kOhm
1,48 MOhm
1,69 MOhm
I assumed they were switched out because of their high readings. So with nothing to lose, I opened up the one with the highest resistance and cleaned the carbon tracks with isopropanol and then lubed it with a hint of fader lube. The resistance is still as high as it was before. So I thought "that's that, the carbon track is worn out I guess".
But I asked the original owner who told me the pots were switched out due to experimental lust in the 70's, not because the old ones were bad. Also the tone pots were practically never used for 40 years according to him, yet they had the high resistance readings.
So it turns out I couldn't "fix" the resistances by cleaning the pots. They all look to be in great shape though. I wonder two things:
- Could IRC pots from 1954 vary this much from the start? If not, why would they have risen so much in resistance?
- More importantly, could I use any of these pots again? And what would the effects be? I'm thinking I could put the 670 kOhm one on the neck volume at least? Or maybe I could even use the 846 kOhm one too, and put that one on the neck volume and the 670 on the bridge volume? But are these resistances too high you think?
I've heard about old pots sometimes reading much higher than 500 kOhm. I do like a bright neck pickup :hmm
670 kOhm
846 kOhm
1,48 MOhm
1,69 MOhm
I assumed they were switched out because of their high readings. So with nothing to lose, I opened up the one with the highest resistance and cleaned the carbon tracks with isopropanol and then lubed it with a hint of fader lube. The resistance is still as high as it was before. So I thought "that's that, the carbon track is worn out I guess".
But I asked the original owner who told me the pots were switched out due to experimental lust in the 70's, not because the old ones were bad. Also the tone pots were practically never used for 40 years according to him, yet they had the high resistance readings.
So it turns out I couldn't "fix" the resistances by cleaning the pots. They all look to be in great shape though. I wonder two things:
- Could IRC pots from 1954 vary this much from the start? If not, why would they have risen so much in resistance?
- More importantly, could I use any of these pots again? And what would the effects be? I'm thinking I could put the 670 kOhm one on the neck volume at least? Or maybe I could even use the 846 kOhm one too, and put that one on the neck volume and the 670 on the bridge volume? But are these resistances too high you think?
I've heard about old pots sometimes reading much higher than 500 kOhm. I do like a bright neck pickup :hmm