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Post subject: Tone knob issues
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 3:23 am
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Hi, just wondering if there is a simple cure to tone knob problem without taking my strat to the shop.

My 2nd tone knob seems to have a click when it is turned to 10. There is no modification but you can feel the knob locking in at 10. Then, when you turn it down, it makes a scratchy noise through the amp from 10 - 7 and it's smooth again from 7 - 0.

The other knobs are OK. I can volume up and down smoothly with no hissing or scratchy noise and no problem with the middle tone knob either. Only the last tone knob has this problem. I sprayed some contact point cleaner from under the pickguard and it helped a little but the problem is still there.

I really don't want to take it to the shop and leave my guitar there if there is an easy solution. Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 3:42 am
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I'm guessing the click means a No-Load pot; which Strat is ist?
The scratchiness should be cured with a little whizz of electronic contact cleaner spray, with lubricant, followed by a couple of dozen gentle but vigorous 0-10-0 etc. turns.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 3:48 am
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It's a 2014 60th Anniversary Commemorative American Standard with 54 pickups. I tried the contact cleaner and did the 10-0-10. It reduced the tightness but the scratchy noise still there. What do you mean by "lubricant." Do you mean like drops of machine oil?


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 8:26 am
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sounds like you have a no load pot.

I have a 2015 Standard with Fat 50s, and the No Load pot on the 2nd tone.

the CLICK you feel @10 removes the 2nd tone pot from the signal path. Once you engage it, it (should) manage the tone for the middle and bridge pickup. (that's how my setup on that strat is. normally the bridge pup has no tone at all, just the neck and middle, but I think Fender changed that to include the bridge pup, and the no-load pot was - I think - part of that change)

The noise/static sounds like a dirty pot. Contact Cleaner ought to help. You may have to pull it off the pick-guard to get in there well enough to blow all that gunk out.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 9:30 am
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Scrachy noise ; turn pot shaft a least 20 times, ( more if needed ) it may remove the dirt.

If not use good contact cleaner you spray where are the pot wipe ( 3 lugs ) .
You need to remove pickguard .


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:22 pm
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Bauzer wrote:
What do you mean by "lubricant." Do you mean like drops of machine oil?

There are electrical contact cleaners which have a lubricant ingredient - those leave a film of that lubricant when the cleaning ingredients dry. Others have no lubricant and evaporate completely, leaving no residue. (That's just one, simple, way to categorize those products.)
In my 'hood "everybody" uses PRF 7-78 (lubricated) and 6-68 (dry), but I don't know if that brand is available where you live.

But if you tried that with absolutely no effect with the scratchiness (sometimes doing it once removes some but not all excess noise), it may be that there's a worn spot in the carbon resistance strip inside the pot. It can be fixed/replaced, but usually it's easier to just get a new pot; same brand, value, type etc. as the original.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 2:25 pm
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OK got it. Thanks so much guys!

Didn't know what the click @10 was. It feels like a deliberate click rather than a fault. Now I know :)


Edit update: I contact cleaner it, by removing the knob, turned up and down a few times and it worked! No more scratchy hissing sound. Thanks again guys! But I still don't get what the click is for. Doesn't seem to do anything than to hold it on 10.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 12:17 am
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It is a single pot not a double stacked pot?

If a double stacked pot the click should be at 5 not at 10.

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After all this time I should be better.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 12:42 am
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I'm not sure what pot it is but the click is at 10. I tested it at various positions and it works the same. So I wonder what the click is for.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:17 am
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There's no stacked pots in the 60th Anniversary Commemorative Stratocaster ( 017-0182-703), but both tone pots are NoLoads.
The click is the tone pot turning itself off the circuit. The theory behind is that a regular potentiometer affects sound even when it's full on, and NoLoad pots try to fix this via a bypass in the 10-position.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:09 am
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The service diagram for 017-0182-703 only shows a single no load pot on T2 which is the same as the American Standards.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:14 am
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64Galaxie wrote:
The service diagram for 017-0182-703 only shows a single no load pot on T2 which is the same as the American Standards.


What does that mean?


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:20 am
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Bauzer wrote:
64Galaxie wrote:
The service diagram for 017-0182-703 only shows a single no load pot on T2 which is the same as the American Standards.

What does that mean?

@64G; I humbly stand corrected.
@Bauzer; It means that only the Tone2-pot (mid & bridge pickups) is a NoLoad pot, T1 (neck pickup) is regular.


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Post subject: Re: Tone knob issues
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 4:03 am
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jmattis wrote:
Bauzer wrote:
64Galaxie wrote:
The service diagram for 017-0182-703 only shows a single no load pot on T2 which is the same as the American Standards.

What does that mean?

@64G; I humbly stand corrected.
@Bauzer; It means that only the Tone2-pot (mid & bridge pickups) is a NoLoad pot, T1 (neck pickup) is regular.


Thanks. I just read up on NoLoad pot and it appears to be a good thing. And it clicks in at 10. I'm learning something new each day :wink:
:)


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