Leaderboard

CTS Pot knob compatability

dwillen

Newbie
Messages
19
Will the metal knobs on  the Warmoth site work with the CTS pots? If not, Could you direct me to where I could find knobs that would fit?
 
They always work for me, but they're not really designed to. The CTS pots Warmoth sells have split splined shafts, which are for press-on knobs like you see on Strats. The metal knobs have set screws. They'll still work, though. The way I do it is to place the knob so the set screw will drive into the slot of the shaft. They stay tight and work well.
 
Cagey said:
They always work for me, but they're not really designed to. The CTS pots Warmoth sells have split splined shafts, which are for press-on knobs like you see on Strats. The metal knobs have set screws. They'll still work, though. The way I do it is to place the knob so the set screw will drive into the slot of the shaft. They stay tight and work well.

Thank you for your input. I have to me honest though, I dread press on's. I have THE worse luck with them. The ones with the set screw seem rather nice, because they are locked down.
 
I don't care for the press-on knobs, either. That's why I always use the metal ones. Never had a problem.
 
When using knobs with set screw on a split shaft pot, I usually put some heatshrink tubing on the shaft. It adds just the right amount of thickness for the pot to fit snugly, and it gives the screw something to bite in. You can do without, but it's a nice addition. You can use a fine strip of masking tape if you don't have heatshrink tubing on hand.
 
I've also put a little piece of plastic in the slot to prevent the shaft from compressing on itself.  However, I kinda view such shenanigans as 'hacks' and prefer to just use a solid shaft POT.

 
Warmoth aren't the only place to buy pots. The best thing to do would be to order soild-shaft pots instead, from AllParts or similar.
 
It seems that one of those on-line stores like stew-mac or allparts sells conversion sleeves that slide over the split shafts that make 'em into solid's for the set-screw type knobs... but I can't remember which one at the moment. :icon_scratch:
 
Allparts makes them (search for "brass pot sleeves"), so any Allparts dealer should be able to get them. Although I think it's overpriced compared to the aforementioned heatshrink solution, but why not.

Otherwise, yes, unless you want something special (a pot with less friction, or a no-load pot for the tone knob), you can just go with regular solid shaft Alpha pots, they're used by pretty much everyone and work very well.
 
croquet hoop said:
...Otherwise, yes, unless you want something special (a pot with less friction, or a no-load pot for the tone knob)...

-And don't forget the wonderous blend pot, the two-pickup bass player's friend!  :icon_jokercolor:
 
Back
Top