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Post subject: Contact Cleaner/Lube & Tone problem
Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 6:47 pm
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Thought I would slip this into the Jazz Bass area since it is driven by the 64 Jazz I received today. It has a little crackle in the tone pot, so when I pull it a part this weekend, a little contact cleaner is in order. I was chatting with a friend and he swears by Deoxit Fader F5 instead of D5. Have you used it? What do you use?

Another question, when running both pups at the same time it loses its bottom. Why?

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Post subject: Re: Contact Cleaner/Lube & Tone problem
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:50 am
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1. Prefacing this reply by saying you should ONLY clean pots that NEED it. BEFORE deciding you must spray you should rotate the noisy pot full travel 50 to 100 times and see if that cures the problem. Many times it will, but not always. Then you have to go the spray cleaner route.

1. Use as little as possible and try to aim the cleaner at the point in the control travel where the noisy travel seems to be. Chemical cleaners can remove surface material from the control's contact surfaces (a small disc inside the rotary pot) and that will often make your control "feel" different because the control's internal business surfaces have actually changed.

2. If you have no choice but to spray which spray to use sort of depends on what you are spraying! For ROTARY pots like on a guitar or bass D5 contains primarily Deoxit, a carrier solvent that evaporates in a couple of minutes for more flushing and cleaning action and a propellant. All of the solvent evaporates in a few minutes leaving no solvent residue, but does leave enough Deoxit lubrication for smooth travel on most rotary pots but not enough lube for slide faders. The smaller amount of lube is not an issue most times with a rotary pot. While D5 is ideal for cleaning rotary guitar pots it is not suggested as being good for slide faders such as you'll find on a mixer or a graphic EQ because it does not contain as much non-evaporating lubrication as F5.

3. For sliding faders they developed the F5 Fader Cleaning and Lubricating product. If you clean sliding faders with D5 the result is often that the fader feels jerky. With the F5 the fader will slide much more smoothly because there is more lube in the spray. HOWEVER even with F5 some sliding faders are still stubborn!

4. I would not be concerned on a rotary pot as much about lubricating as cleaning but sticky sliding faders are a real pain and can make a mixer or other device a real pain to use. If you have a sticky rotary pot with the D5 there is a solution. To attempt to smooth out a sticky rotary pot after the D5 evaporates completely, say a half hour or so, THEN I'd apply one and only one quick burst of F5 Fader Lube and rotate a bunch of times again. The F5 Fader lube was designed to clean and lube sliding faders simultaneously and contains more lubrication. But again, even the F5 is not 100% foolproof on siding faders and sometimes you wind up with a sliding fader you just can't get to run smoothly.

5. On vintage instruments you should NEVER change out stock parts or even break solder joints. Cleaning is one of two options. Option two is REBUILDING the pot by replacing all internal components including the disc. That is a very complicated and laborious task requiring a great deal of skill to pull off to be undetectable. Probably only a few techs at the best shops will even attempt it.


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Post subject: Re: Contact Cleaner/Lube & Tone problem
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:41 pm
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Thanks Dave. I am going to pick it up tomorrow and give it a better test drive. The scratchy tone pot, and the wonky way the two pups are working together were both discovered during the 5 minute new bass drill. Pretty nice 64. It's an older refin (sometime prior to 85), but from the photo book it appears all original inside, and outside is for sure. Great PG.

I have been using D5, which sounds like it is appropriate for my applications. Appreciate the confirmation.

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Post subject: Re: Contact Cleaner/Lube & Tone problem
Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 10:00 pm
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As for it losing bottom end, sounds like a phasing issue, which would be really weird if the wiring is stock. HOWEVER this one obviously HAD to be de-soldered to be refinished. I'm guessing they rewired one pickup connection backwards.


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Post subject: Re: Contact Cleaner/Lube & Tone problem
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2015 1:28 pm
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I still haven't had it apart, but I will look for that..it makes sense. Thanks, appreciate the input. I will let you know what I find.

Image

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Post subject: Re: Contact Cleaner/Lube & Tone problem
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 12:44 pm
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Quote:
Another question, when running both pups at the same time it loses its bottom. Why?


Many early Jazz basses were often wired with their pick ups out of phase.
The telltale sign is that the bottom and volume drops when both pick- ups are turned up all the way.
Its annoying today but understandable as a way to vary tone very quickly.

You can tell that it was stock if the black wires are both soldered to the pot cans and the bass is out of phase. You can reverse one pick up to check but that means re-soldering those leads.

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