Just wondering how you should properly remove the volume and tone knobs on a Strat. I'm afraid to do anything with too much force because I'm not sure exactly how they're supposed to come off, but I've been considering swapping out my pickguard and obviously they'll need to be removed temporarily.

Thanks

hi there , i usually just put a duster underneath the knob and wrap it around then pull , but i press down on the pickguard as i pull , hth , cheers
Alan

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i use a cloth, stick it under, wrap around and pull straight up. if its really stuck i just wedge a guitar pick underneath and wedge it out. its handy since it wont scratch your pickguard

A duster on the guitar top, then lever off with a pair of good quality tea spoons opposite sides of the knob, using the bowl of the spoon as a fulcrum.

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Hi adey: I'm fascinated that they need to be good quality spoons. Now I'm embarrassed to admit that I have done it with cheapo spoons. Oops!

Even worse, I've sometimes just gripped the knob between finger and thumb and gently pulled it off. Oh dear!

And seriously: all good suggestions on this page. I happen to own a Schatten knob remover (purchased to remove tricky bushings - not knobs, obviously! Duh!) I PROMISE you, you don't need that tool!

Cheers - C

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This is what I used mine for. Hate to pay out for silly OTT luthier gizmo tools, but I just couldn't think of a better way of removing these bushings, which were installed wrong and set absolutely solid in the wood:









Absolutely not required for mere knobs. I love to think of some must-have-all-the-toys kid buying that widget just to pull his knob off (erm, if you see what I mean).

Cheers - C

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Similar to what I used to pull a crankshaft pulley...



Might be too large for a knob...but with some modification...

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

That thing reminds me of the Veggimatic.

The larger side of two 1mm picks works well (or whatever size you can get under the knobs edge).

As the plastic is soft it is unlikely to damage the knob and also you can wiggle them to torque in different directions.

Ceri.. tut, tut, from a man such as you who really knows his way around a guitar and knows the value of good tools!

Good quality tea spoons because cheap ones bend! Then your wife whinges at you all day long.. I don't need that sort of grief - I've only just been forgiven for once using one of her sewing needles to tease out a stuck pickup wire..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Wow...and to think all this time I was just pulling them off and kinda holding down the pickguard at the same time.

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

That's so 2010!


It's what I would have done too.

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Like dude, I should have thought of that years ago your technique sounds way easier!

Shoelace or if real stubborn two spoons pop off knob!

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson