New Gibson Pots and eBay speed knobs

LouieLouieOhOh · January 21, 2015, 08:38:57 PM

Anyone have any experience with Gibson pots and Speed knobs from eBay (after market ... so to speak)?
I bought both (Gibson brand POTs and after market speed knobs from eBay) and they are really hard to press on.

eb2 · January 28, 2015, 10:46:03 PM

I have had that experience. There are loads of speed knobs from Asia that look just right, but the inner section is just a tad too tight to squish on there. You can get a pliers and pinch the pot shaft together a tad and work it on. Just don't force it and break the plastic inner wall. Then they are kaput. If it won't go all the way down right, you can get a drill bit roughly the match for the shaft and give it a "trim." That should give it a bit more room to work it on.

The best bet is to buy Gibson knobs, while their pots are not too critical. Any quality pot - DiMarzio, Fender, Gibson, Ernie Ball - will be fine, and probably made by CTS in the first place.

Granny Gremlin · January 29, 2015, 03:40:34 PM

Vintage Gibsons were Centralab not CTS. At this point I use Bourns if I'm ordering from a general electronics supply, or the Stew Mac house brand (not CTS either).

dadagoboi · January 29, 2015, 04:47:18 PM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on January 29, 2015, 03:40:34 PM
Vintage Gibsons were Centralab not CTS.

137 is the CTS code. It's on every Gibson bass I own. The newest is a '67. Care to clarify your statement?

Granny Gremlin · January 29, 2015, 07:58:34 PM

Whenever I checked the codes on mine (65, 75, 78, 81) they came up Centralab (134), I wouldn't put it beyond Gibson to not be consistent that way.

A quick google found this example of a 61 Centralab in an SG Special (scroll down a bit) just above an example of 69 CTS pots in a Melody Maker:

http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/reading_pot_codes.php

You learn something every day.

Dave W · January 29, 2015, 08:44:17 PM

Here's something else new: Emerson Pro CTS pots from Stew-Mac

LouieLouieOhOh · January 29, 2015, 11:44:49 PM

Thanks All ...

Just drilled them out a little (by hand) then "squeezed them on ... The POTs are Gibson ... came in a Gibson bag.
Next time I'll buy Gibson knobs.

Thanks again!

dadagoboi · January 30, 2015, 12:47:58 AM

Quote from: Dave W on January 29, 2015, 08:44:17 PM
Here's something else new: Emerson Pro CTS pots from Stew-Mac

Vintage Gibsons are 3/8" (medium length) shafts. Stew Mac apparently doesn't sell them, in standard CTS or those. Charging $2 extra for long shafts is ridiculous IMO.

amptech · January 30, 2015, 02:23:45 AM

Quote from: Granny Gremlin on January 29, 2015, 03:40:34 PM
Vintage Gibsons were Centralab not CTS.

I know fender too used centralab sometimes, but on all my 6 gibson basses (5 from the 60´s and 1 from the 70´s)
there is CTS pots. I don´t think I have ever seen centralab pots on 60´s gibson, and I downloaded lots of gut pictures
when I was bitten by the EB-3 bug.

Got myself a ´66 SG last summer, CTS pots.

And yes, I did buy some chinese knobs for USA gibson pots, did not fit. They didn´t fit coarse knurled shafts either!

I usually end up buying knobs from philadelphia luthier tools (I know someone here is not too cheerful about this shop), because they have the correct metal top knobs with the small letters and they fit CTS. Good price too, compared to gibson knobs.

Granny Gremlin · January 30, 2015, 07:34:10 AM

Quote from: dadagoboi on January 30, 2015, 12:47:58 AM
Vintage Gibsons are 3/8" (medium length) shafts. Stew Mac apparently doesn't sell them, in standard CTS or those. Charging $2 extra for long shafts is ridiculous IMO.

Have you checked out out the Bourns series of guitar pots? Cheaper and made by folks who know what they're doin. Stew Mac charges that much because, with 3 brand names on those things (Emerson, CTS and SM), they can.

http://ca.mouser.com/new/bourns/bournsproaudio/