Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Ive been playing my guitars a lot more lately , and Ive noticed a lot of dust noise from the controllers on my amps and my Washburn EHB330. My Fender princeton chorus amp is probably 20 yrs old and Ive never done anything but replace a busted speaker or 2. and the controls are about trashed from the dust . Any tricks to clean or do they need to be replaced? My crate seems a bit better as I have a cover for it but iI notice a lot of static adjusting the volumes. Your help is appreciated.


Its another day in Paradise !!!!

I'd love to hear about this too.

I have a great guitar that was given to me but the pots are all twitchy.

For one thing equipment is like battery posts. If you don't move them, they will let corrosion build up over time. Lot's of times you can just take your pot and rotate it back and forth and the scratchy sound will get less and less and sometimes go completely away. Inputs are the same way. If you have rack gear that stays wired the same way for a long time you'll start getting some noise that will drive you crazy. Every so often unplug and plug each patch cord in every input and output in your rack just to keep the corrosion from building up. Also, twist all the knobs and sliders then return them to their original settings.
As far as cleaning pots, both amp and guitar, if it's not too old you can spray some tuner cleaner in it and work the pot back and forth until the noise subsides. If it's an older pot, this could cause it to go completely out. Try some silicone lubricant spray first as this will clean it without the chemicals that tuner spray has. It may very well work the dirt out without messing up the pot. This is good if you're trying to keep everything original on an old guitar or amp.

What rat said but use this: I have used this on 80 year old radios, priceless guitars and it works 99.9% of the time. It will even take "rust" out of your pots. No lie! Radioshack has been making this product forever and its the best on the market hands down.

Thanks guys!

I was thinking of rebuilding the damned thing but everything mentioned makes complete sense.

I Tank you!
(Irish monotones)

And people say this site sucks.
I was at the Shack today getting solder supply, I did not see the cleaner, but I am going back.

What rat said but use this: I have used this on 80 year old radios, priceless guitars and it works 99.9% of the time. It will even take "rust" out of your pots. No lie! Radioshack has been making this product forever and its the best on the market hands down.

He he he. That's the kind I use. I guess I should have mentioned it. Thanks, RGM.

Thanks guys . Ill get some and try it this afternoon and let you know how it works for me. I was told by someone not to use a lot of stuff like silicon or wd-40 as it woulld ruin the pots. I beleive the guy worked at radio shack. Im a little worried about the fender amp more cause its so old. But its worthless in the shape its in.



And its another day in Paradise !!!

Oh hell no, dont use WD40 for anything. Throw that stuff away!
You want something to rust? Well ok then use that WD40. I have seen high quality weapons rusted to almost useless because someone cleaned it with WD and put it storage. NO NO NO !!!
It si good for cleaning rusted or greasy wrenches and freeing bolts but it does not work well as a long term lubericant and it will cause rust.
Did I beat that dead horse enough?

By the way how is the best way to apply this stuff on my equipment. Do I take the knobs off and spray the stems, or something else . I dont want to screw something up or hurt the finish on my guitars, especially my Gibson smartwood LP.


And its another day in Paradise !!!!

Thanks Sans. Illremember that !

You have to get to the backs of the pots. Guitar is easy, just take the plate off the back and use the little plastic straw that comes with the cleaner. Just spray a little into any opening on the pot, it'll spray all up in there. On the amp, you'll have to pull the electronics out to get to the pots.

What if I have pot on my dust?

What if I have pot on my dust?

Send it to me. I'll incinerate it for you.

Thanks for taking care of that Rat ! But the guitar I have the worst problem with is a Washburn 330 EHB without a cover on the pots. I had to take the controls out from the F holes to get some juice in them. That guitar hasnt played as good since I bought it. My amp didnt go as well unfortunately. I pulled the electronics out and tried to clean them as well as I can but when I put it back together it only made about an 20% improvement. My daughters friend who repairs equipment for a living said it might be a few bad solder joints and is going to try to fix it for me. We went thru and lubed up my other guitars to sdtop that infernal scratching noises. Overall the 11.00 I invested in radio shack was a success.

And its another day in Paradise !!!!