I have a Dunlop Wah pedal, and lately I've been having some trouble with it. I love it, but it's become to scratchy lately that I can't even play it clean anymore because it just sounds terrible. I think it's probably just dirt which has gotten into it. I really want to use it for a gig this week, but I can't if it sounds like this. What do I need to do the clean it and get it sounding smooth again?

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Well, you could try spraying the pot with electrical contact cleaner.

But I've always found just working it will clean them up in a few seconds (or minute).

Here's a helpful hint. Get yourself a plastic bag big enough to put the pedal in when you are not using it. That's worked wonders for me. You have to unplug it anyway (to disconnect the battery), so put it in a bag to keep the dust from getting to it.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

spray the connectors. put the plugs in on both sides and work them left to right real fast.
this loosens up any surface rust that might be setting up on the connectors inside.

if it gets time to look for a new one, look at the zakk wylde pedal.
its a little more throatier and has a pedal resistence adjuster. what that does is adjusts the
ease of foot motion. puts resistence to the motion so its not so quick to use in motion.
its about time they did something like this for us heavy footed folks.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

DeoxIT sometimes works.

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.188/.f

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I opened up the back and cleaned out the pot with electronics contact cleaner. It had some dog hairs stuck in there too, which isn't a surprise because it gets everywhere when you have two fluffy herding dogs. Anyway, it works great now. Eventually I might have to change out the pot but I don't have to worry about that for a long time. I also just realized that the new 1-Spot power cord I got for my pedalboard will fit my wah (the old one didn't), so I can close back up the battery compartment which should help with dog hairs in the future.

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Get some contact cleaner and spray inside the electrical portion of the unit and that should fix it. if not it may be a loose conection. and while your at it check all the mechanical components and maby give them a little WD40 with an artists brush. you dont want that stuff inside. Good luck with your fix. ------------ Danny

hey danny, read the post just above yours.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I guess wee have corectly identefied the Electricians in the bunch. now on to biger things.

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can easily just buy a new 100K Wah pot off Ebay or something for like $12 - $15 bucks and replace it.

I have a Dunlop Cry Baby and replaced the pot a few years ago. It's an easy fix...
Blue wire - front contact (the electrical contact toward front of wah pedal).
Yellow wire - middle contact.
Black wire - rear contact.

You have to tweak the gear and tooth a little before you screw everything back down tight, so you get the best wah sound, and don't over-rotate the wah pot's gear.

That's what I plan on doing eventually. I've been getting more jobs soldering broken input jacks and things around work so I'm just about to the point where I feel comfortable doing more things like that.

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