KNOBS!

[noodleplugerine]

Right - Basically, I wanna know if there's an alternative to my knobs:



These are the type of knobs which I have on both my main guitars, and I absolutely love the look and feel of both of them - But they're held to the pot by a little screw which seems loose all the time!

Now, this isn't such a problem on the Viper, since it rarely gets so loose that turning it stops turning the pot (but it does happen, and out comes the screwdriver).

But on the Horizon - The volume is a push/push for the pickups, which I use alot - And as the screw loosens as it does on the viper, this becomes a problem, since every time I push to coiltap, the knob drops down a bit with the pushing force, and then it reaches a point where I can't push again to change back! And then outcomes the screwdriver again!!!

So basically - What options do I have? Are there knobs with the same look and texture but with a better mechanism? And if not, what possibilities are there to avoid these problems? I'd hate to change them considering they look so good - But it is getting annoying.

[Fikealox]

Put some thread-lock on the screw's thread? It's this sort of rubber tape you wrap around threads before you screw it in. If you use it sparingly, it'll keep the screws in nice and tight, but you'll still be able to get them out if you need to later.

[AndyR]

What are the spindles of the pots like? Are they split shaft or solid? (Is spindle the right word?! you know, the thing sticking out the guitar that the knob is on!  :oops: )

I only found this out a while back (I think it was Jonathan at Feline explained it to me). With tele knobs - which is what yours look like - if the pots have split shafts, you need to make sure you line up the grub screw with the split and screw into that. Otherwise, as you tighten it, you're closing the split in the shaft, and this will adjust after time, and then the screw's loose again. I understand that another option is to use pliers to force the split shut first - but I really didn't fancy that.

If they're solid shafts - then I don't know. Fikealox's idea sounds interesting (a bit fiddly though maybe? I can see me dropping the grub screw down inside the sofa while trying to do it, wife getting blamed, etc, etc!  :roll: )

[Philly Q]

You could take the Edward Van Halen approach and put superglue on the screws before quickly threading them in  :? ...  I don't recommend it though, I accidentally got superglue on the grub screw of a wraparound bridge and had to destroy the screw to get it back out.

You can get threadlock liquid like this stuff.  It sets like a glue, but doesn't hold really strongly - you just need a little extra pressure to break the seal.  Or failing that, a little drop of clear varnish would probably do the trick.

[Lazy_McDoesnothing]

You could take the Edward Van Halen approach and put superglue on the screws before quickly threading them in  :? ...  I don't recommend it though, I accidentally got superglue on the grub screw of a wraparound bridge and had to destroy the screw to get it back out.

You can get threadlock liquid like this stuff.  It sets like a glue, but doesn't hold really strongly - you just need a little extra pressure to break the seal.  Or failing that, a little drop of clear varnish would probably do the trick.

+1 to everything.  If you go for the threadlock stuff make sure it isn't the permanent kind.  All you need is a few drops around the bottom 4 threads or so.

Probably not good for this application, but another option for non-permanent fastening would be to use hot glue.  If used on metal you heat it up with a soldering iron and it melts again.  Again I don't think this would work on your knobs but I use it on loose switch tips.

[noodleplugerine]

It started annoying me again - So I reread this thread...

And then I just took a little piece of blue tack, and put it in the screwhole - Now the screw pushes into the blue tack, which in turns pushes onto the pot, so there's a VERY nicely secure join, which will have no permanent problem.

Works AMAZINGLY - better than any glue would have I think, cos this system actually in a way, glues the pot to the knob - So that it can't move vertically, which was the real problem.