RS guitarworks pot problems?

I just got a guitar that has a rs kit in it and 3 of the 4 pots on it were blown out the same way. The tabs holding the pot casing were open and the last pot was open as well just not as bad. I took it all out and crimped the pots back together but it has developed a bad ground hum now. I am not sure how this happened as I just received the guitar but I am not very impressed with the quality of the pots at all. I am going to have to replace the pots and am debating what to use...I will probably go with alpha pots.

 

I have had this problem with the new CTS pots. You have to support the back of the pot with one hand while pushing the knob on with the other. I don;t remember that ever happening with the old ones. Never had that problem with the Alphas or Dimarzios either.

 

+1. I blew the back of a CTS volume pot out on my prewired Strat kit by pushing the knob on. As if that wasn't frustration enough, I had to to take the pickguard off to reassemble the pot. From then on I always apply pressure to the backside of the pot as well when pushing knobs on.

 

You have to GENTLY squeeze the slotted knurled end of the pot shaft together just a tad before mounting the knob, as they seem to be a touch tight. Be very careful, though, or one side of the knurled end will buckle in, and likely snap off.

Sounds like a PITA, but the sound and performance of these pots are so good that I put up with it.

rooster.

 

If I understand the RS Guitarworks CTS pots correctly, these pots are very consistent in spec. By that I mean at or better than their stated rating, i.e., 250k or better, 500k or better.

If this is the case, it may be that RS is not getting these pots from CTS like this, but rather that RS may be taking these pots apart, lightly sanding or "shaving" the contact area until the resistance is at or slightly above the stated spec. In doing this, the tabs that hold the body of the pot together will be weakened and may open up when pressure is applied from the shaft end of the pot.

I'm speculating here as to what RS actually does with their pots, but I'm not speculating on this weakening the pot. I have taken many a pot apart and done the same thing...and experienced the same problem as described. You can carefull bend the tabs only partway back when taking the pot apart. You can carefully bend the tabs back and crimp them tightly when re-assembling them - maybe even tapping the tabs lightly with a flat punch. You can even add a little solder to the tabs when through. But, it seems that no matter what you do, the pot is not quite as tight as it was before it was disassembled. About the only way that I know of to ensure that the pot stays together when pressing the volume/tone knobs on, is to apply pressure to the back of the pot body while pressing the knob on (as mentioned by another poster).

 

Same thing happened to me. I thought I had done something wrong, but it sounds like several of us have had the same problem. I squeezed the tabs back down and put a drop of solder on each one. Seems to work fine, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

 

This is the first negative Post I have seen regarding RSGW, I do not like the sound of this. I just ordered 4 new pots from them should be here by the end of this week. Thanks for the heads up guys, you may have just saved me a headache :AOK.

 

yeah same problem here, I also snapped off a nib when pressing them together as 'rooster' mentioned, major PIA when your talking shipping to the UK.

 

On one guitar (LP) it actually sounded better with the 2 original gibsons plus 2 from RS rather than 4 RS but can't remember which way round I used them vol or tone, anyway I might have a spare or 2 if your stuck.

 

We disassemble and adjust resistance on CTS pots all the time and to my knowledge I have never had a customer experience the problem you did. So, I doubt it is something RS is doing unless they are doing a shoddy job putting them back together.

As to CTS, I have not noticed any change in the rear cover design or material over the last few years. They have made some improvements to the internal resistive element though which I see as a plus. So, I don't see this as the issue either.

Obviously, a lot of people have had this problem so something must be going on. I wish I could shed more light on what it might be. IS it only with RS pots or all CTS pots? Bottom line though, they can be destroyed by pushing too hard on the shaft. It's always best to support them when installing knobs.

BTW, don't want to insult anyones intelligence, but were you trying to push metric knobs (japanese or MIM guitar) onto the USA spec CTS pots?

I'll keep my comments on RS to myself ...

 

Wow, I'm glad I read this. Pure laziness kept me from ordering an RS Strat kit last night. I was actually going to do it tonight.

Thanks, all.

 

I had ordered four RS pots for my R9. Then I read on several forums of quite a few people having the same issues. Needless to say, I think I wasted $40 as I'm now reluctant to install them. This thread hasn't helped with that notion.....

 

Could one of you guys that hasn't installed the RS pots yet please post a clear close up photo of one? I'd like to see if it is different than a standard CTS pot or if it has been taken apart. Just curious ....

 

Yesterday I received 2 Superpots and 2 CTS 500K audio taper pots from RSGW. They appeared to be untampered with based on the way the tabs looked. The super pots tested out on my Simpson 260 as around 450K....wuz up with that? I thought they were specked at 550K? Same with the CTS audio taper pots, they tested around 400K. I installed them without a hitch and they sound fine but the stock pots tested about the same so there really wasn't a noticeable change in tone. I heeded the warnings to apply pressure on both ends while replacing the knobs.

 

Somebody copy/paste this thread and send it to them.

 

I've installed about 10 of the SuperPots so far in various guitars, and I've yet to read less than 500K on a B&K Toolkit multimeter.

rooster.