Volume Pot Help Please!

[JaySwear]

i've got a slight dilemma. i've purchased every part i could possibly need to finish off my warmoth  :icon_biggrin:  one of them being a volume pot. i only have a volume and pickup toggle, no tone or second volume. however, the first pot i bought (ha-ha i bought pot) had a tab protruding out of the top. so i figured this was normal, and i needed a longer shaft pot. so i purchased a long shaft pot from stewmac. i knew some people needed long shaft pots for things like VIPs and LPs, so i figured i might too. however, after seeing that the longshaft pot towers over the top of my guitar about 3/4" i think maybe the tab on the first pot is actually not supposed to be there.

so is it possible to cut that tab off and move on with my project? it looks like cutting it off (whether i was supposed to or not) wouldn't affect anything, but i just want to make sure i'm not crazy. two pictures below with an arrow pointing out the tab and i've outlined it in black just to make is really obvious what i'm talking about. any help greatly appreciated! can't wait to finally get started on this thing...

 

[Mor Paul]

What guitar/pickguard or not?

 

[JaySwear]

rear routed strat body. so no pickguard. i'm wondering if it was for a guitar with a pickguard because a thin pickgaurd would still leave plenty of room to fit the washer on. while the wood from the body leaves no room at all.

 

[jlegnor]

Yes you can remove that tab.  But you have to be careful not to get any shavings or metal dust inside the pot.  I would think you could still use the long shaft if you had to.  You would just need to move the botten nut up the shaft some so that when you insert it and screw on the top nut, it will be flush with the top, which will make it stick out some in the control cavity.  But it might not be too sturdy that way either.  I would either get enought nuts to put on the shaft to make a good sized "sleave", or just buy another standard pot.

 

[rockskate4x]

When I use pots with those tabs, I drill a small hole in the back of the control cavity for them. This hole is not deep enough to go through the front of the guitar. The tab is now useful because it keeps the pot from spinning when in the hole. Be sure that the hole is in a place that positions the pot the way you want.

 

[JaySwear]

the idea of drilling a hole for it is a great one. i already bent the tab down so it wasn't in the way any longer. wonder if i could bend it back up without having it snap off  ???  might try. at the very worst i would just be rid of it like i wanted in the worst place, best case i would have a way to keep the pot secure. anyway thanks for all the quick advice, everybody!

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

I don't think you even need the tab. I just filed it off.

 

[tfarny]

I also drilled a tiny hole in my cavity for that tab, and it was good because it's one more thing to keep the pot in place.

 

[-CB-]

???? file it off?  just snap the fool thing off with pliers, it already has a stress groove at the base to make it easy.  Jeeze.

You dont need it, and usually use a star washer anyway, in order to hold the pot in place.  If mounting into wood, you might not even need the star washer

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Cut it off or bend it out of the way.  Some pots I've bought had that, others didn't.  My guess is it there to (when tightened) dig into the wood and keep it from moving.  It could also be used to make solid contact in a paint shielded cavity when tightened.  Anywho, I've always used a nut on top and underneath the wood or pickguard to mount the pot as low as possible, so it didn't even come close to being useful anyway.

 

[JaySwear]

yeah my bigger concern was getting the knob as low to the body as possible. i ended up using the longer shaft pot anyway, just so i had as much room to work with as possible.

 

[RU36]

I have had pots with that on it before.
I just snapped it off with pliers, I suppose you can just bend it flat too.

 

[bpmorton777]

yeah, ive snapped those off before using pliers. if you file it off your gonna get metal shavings in all the working parts..not good.  :icon_thumright:

Brian

 

[NLD09]

I also drilled a tiny hole in my cavity for that tab, and it was good because it's one more thing to keep the pot in place.

yeah i never really occurred to me to remove the tab. I figured it was supposed to be there to keep it in place so i did what you did.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Building pedals I have snapped countless ones of those tabs off.  If they are the die cast ones, they just crack right off.  If they are the sheet metal ones they bend out of the way.  Any sturdy pair of needle nose pliers will do the job.
Patrick