Nearly Frozen Pot Shaft

[radcha]

need some suggesstions for this: I have a (volume) pot that works just fine except that it is nearly frozen

it can be turned but it's stiff as can be, otherwise it works fine

Is there anything that I can do to loosen the shaft, that will help to make it easier to turn?

thanks

[Dudz]

I really don't have any idea so wait for someone else to respond but maybe you could oil it? I've had various other problems with pots but never something like that. I even played a guitar with one that worked like normal until about 3/4 of the way down it would suddenly jump in volume.

[Tim37]

personaly i wouldn't mess with it unless changing a pot might hurt the value of the guitar. If its a modern (no collectable value) guitar just through a new pot in there.

[radcha]

thanks for the replies

One thing I thought of is contact cleaner, although I've never used any before; would a good dose of that possibly loosen the shaft?

Edited February 17, 2009 by radcha

[WezV]

try some contact cleaner first but i would just get a new pot in there

[psw]

Oil is extremely bad idea...contact cleaner better WD40 on the shaft...however it might be bent so new our would be better...sometimes the knob can cause friction...take it off an see if there is any difference.

[WezV]

i wouldnt use WD40 on electric components, i have had to re-wire amore than one guitar because the owner decided to use copious amounts of WD40 instead of proper contact cleaner

[Paul Marossy]

i wouldnt use WD40 on electric components, i have had to re-wire amore than one guitar because the owner decided to use copious amounts of WD40 instead of proper contact cleaner

Yeah, WD-40 is a bad idea. It also ruins bypass switches on wah pedals and stuff like that.