ndobson07 Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 Hello everybody, I am new to the forum and am in the middle of building my first guitar. I was wondering if anybody has made their own volume/tone knobs? If so, how do I make a hole that will accept the pot shaft? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theQuestioneer Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 you mean that would stay on? i'm not sure, but i thought about this too. you know how they make knobs that are secured by a screw, right? i figure if you could get your hands on one of those screws, you could use that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLS Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 Id definetly use the screw to hold it in place, i just got done removing a knob that requires you to yank it off, and i threw it away. Soon to be replace by one with the screw. I HATE THOSE DAMN KNOBS! its especially hard take it off in a push/pull pot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 buy the size dowel you want or use a hole cutter to make the knob, take some measurements with the spreader part of a set of calipers off of your existing knob, then use the appropriate drill bit. Mount your ruff knob (come on, no giggling) in a drill press vice to hold it securely and lign it up with the center, set your depth just to make sure you don't go to far by accident, then give it a try. If you're really not sure what size to drill for the hole, start a little small, then just keep redrilling the hole moving one bit up at a time untill you get it just right, make sure your hole doesn't drift off center though when you redrill each time to make the whole a tad bigger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 i am in the middle of a knob making project so i can be of help... make a square out of plaster, clay, resin, anything hard but carveable but not grainy so you can get detail. get some rubber type liquid that dries, i think they make it for dipping wrenches in, but you can also get some at an art supply store. coat your hand carved knob with it, make a alot of layers and let them dry in between, so you end up with about a 1/2" thick rubber cast, peel this off your hand carved knob. turn the cast upside down and make a little jig so it holds it flat, get some clear casting resin (found at an art supply store) fill it up, dont let it kick (dry) to much cause it will get hot and limit the amout of life of your rubber cast. hand sand then primer, sand again, then paint, and decorate with lines, grooves, ect. sounds more complicated than it is and when your done youll have custom made knobs that are rock hard and smooth, expect to get about 8-20 knobs out of each rubber mask. t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quito195 Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 (cough, hack) LATHE (cough cough cough) I dunno making clay molds....doesnt sound like fun when I can knock out a metal one in 10 minutes flat even if you came up with a design I machine shop would probably knock you one out for nothing just an idea you didnt really specify what the knobs needed to look like my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 true, but theres alot of shapes you cant turn on the lathe oblong or one-off custom shapes are gonna have to be either carved by hand. or a cnc. now dont get me wrong, if your looking at just a simple rod like knob, you could make one in a few min on a lathe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 knobs are really cool i didnt really get the idea of making your own at first then i thought about it you can really get some pretty cool looking things going it might be cool if people posted pics of their fave knobs oh by the way theres a key on your keyboard that you can use any time it works at the end of sentences to sort of put an end to the stream of consciousness kind of output which is really ponderous to read the guy who invented our alphabet thought it up i think its called the period and its really easy to use here i'll show you . there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 LOL at above.... too true. A lathe is good for round knobs, it's nice to match them to the woods or materials used on the rest of your guitar. I turned these up using padauk and black pickguard material. They are just drilled out with an appropriate sized drill bit before turning them, and push fit on the pots. I don't know how many fittings and removals they'll be good for, but if they get loose I plan to soak the hole with CA and then push them on again once it's dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 not a fan of padauk but they are very nice!!! walnut+ebony on those = x 3.3923 btw what kind of lathe do you have? t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryeisnotcool2 Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 they look nice setch, i started doing the same thing with my guitars, using ebony/maple/walnut but i never finished the 20 that i started,lol ive been using the speed nobs cause they look nice on my design, but eventually i will get back to making my own, im gonna use the brass inserts then tap a alen head set screw into the side. you can get them at depot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdog Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 Setch/asm....Now we're talkin' knobs! You guys ought to try a few sets out of Black Palm......These make great-lookin' knobs with the cool end grain which this palm displays. I've made many sets out of Macassar Ebony and African Blackwood....also nice stuff. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syxxstring Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 and harbor freight has a small lathe for 29 bux today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 i dont see the lathe on their site. any way you could post a link? thx! t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commidaddy Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 Out of curiosity...I always thought of experimenting with dice or something like that as knobs....any thoughts on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moojiefulagin Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 I think syxxstring might have meant 39.99. that one's here: Lathe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars Posted February 28, 2004 Report Share Posted February 28, 2004 I use a plug cutter and a drill bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickleweaseler Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Out of curiosity...I always thought of experimenting with dice or something like that as knobs....any thoughts on that? I plan to do just that. I have an early fifties grestch(sp?) Syncromatic. It's an ass kicking archtop. The only problem is that it is supposed to have master volume and master tone knobs but I only have the tone knob. The knob on the volume I have know is an aluminum one I made. It's about as attractive as a hat full of buttholes; nowhere near as cool as the gold plated knurled tone knob. I'm gonna make 2 dice knobs. Should I make 7 or 11 show? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 one link for you guys www.diceknobs.com you can even get them at musiciansfriend now! they've got bunches on their site. save you alot of time and they're set screw ones too I've got some right in front of mye right now! nice Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myka Guitars Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 I have been thinking of making knobs as well. What I have come up with so far is to use a brass tube with at least a 3/32" wall thickness and the inner diameter matching your control pot shafts. Insert the tube into the wood you want to use and then turn it on the lathe. When complete drill a hole for the set screw and thread it making sure you go into the brass. No chance of stripping the threads! I dissected one of the ebony knobs from StewMac and it looks like they did something similar. You could also use steel tube if you wanted more durability but I think brass would be sufficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 buddy of mine put dice knobs on his epi LP, they were awesome, all he did was take a die, drilled a hole in the side with the one dot thats sunk in, so it was centered and kept going until it was big enough, but he on the other hand glue it on, dont do that, big mistake, didnt work and had to get new pots, and it was a hard time to get them off since he used Contact Cement. Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickleweaseler Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 one link for you guys www.diceknobs.com you can even get them at musiciansfriend now! they've got bunches on their site. save you alot of time and they're set screw ones too I've got some right in front of mye right now! nice Chris Except the pots on my guitar have a 3/32 shaft. (They're the small style archtop pots.) I bet those are larger and won't center properly. Plus I can probably make a set for well under $5. Why pay $12? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68 lost souls Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 So will the screw holding technique work with split shaft pots. By this I mean can I use a scre to secure the knobs to the pot if it has a split shaft or does it have to be one of those solid shaft pots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 You can screw-lock a knob to a split shaft pot. Try to get the screw located right between the two halves. This way it won't work loose as easily nor will it bend the one half inward toward the other. A trick for centering the hole if you have the knob already, like if you're using dowel rods or a plug cutter, is as follows: Clamp a piece of scrap on the drill press table. Drill a hole the size of the knob (outer diameter) and insert the knob. Without changing anything else, change the drill bit to the inside diameter. Then when you drill that hole it will be perfectly centered. (unless you moved something As for Myka's brass tubing, that's a great idea. I've drilled and tapped wood before with metal taps and it works quite well with hard wood. Then you can soak superglue in the threads if you want to feel safe. That shouldn't strip out. But the brass is a better idea, so long as when you are drilling through and tapping, you don't compress the tubing. Maybe its better to stick a dowel rod in there when drilling and tapping so you have back pressure. Some of those hobby shop brass tubes bend real easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jabsco Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 I was thinking on the knobs i plan on making for my bass coming up, im using split shaft pots, so the knobs i make are going to be punched out with a hole cutting drillbit and all that then make the shaft hole 1/32 '' bigger than the shaft, and fill the hole with clay then press it over the shaft and squeese the exess out to get the shape of the shaft in it, then let it harden. it may not work, but if it does ill post a tourtial of how i did it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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