Loose pot

[exaN]

Not the knob itself, but turning the knob on my push pull pot has barely any resistance to it. Is there a way to tweak that? The pots on my Ibanez AR2619 for example have that smooth, precise, almost elastic turn to them. I'd love for all my pots to turn this smoothly.

 

[Cagey]

Have to take it apart and look for targets of opportunity. Some pots have their armature bear against the rear of the housing, and use a bit of high-viscosity grease to lubricate that surface. Depending on how thick the stuff is, you get varying levels or resistance to turning. Another method is to lubricate the armature shaft where it goes through front threaded mounting flange. Same deal - the higher the grease viscosity, the more resistance. I'm not sure if either method would work with a push/pull switched pot, but it's more likely the second.

 

[exaN]

I see, taking the pot apart might be a little too much for me, but I'll check into it. Thanks Cagey!

 

[Cagey]

Well, manufacturing processes and part designs vary, so it's possible somebody's making something that'll feel right to you, but I'm not sure who that would be right now. I was a big fan of CTS pots for a long time because I'm somewhat picky about turning torque, too. But, I recently ordered a dozen of them them to stock up a bit, and they're all super-stiff. Took one apart, and it appears they've changed the grease they use to something really thick. In the past, Alpha pots used to be the loosey-goosey parts, which I couldn't abide, and Bournes pots were nice and smooth, but too stiff. So, who knows? Clarostat (also private labeled for Honeywell and A/B) makes really nice pots, but I'm not sure you'd find them in a push-pull.