Holes for pots to small

[horsehead]

Just started changing over the pots in my new tokai & noticed that the CTS ones are slightly bigger by a couple of mm I reckon, now last thing I want to do is take chance with drilling the guitar, but is there any other way? I've just been screwing in & out the pots to give it some more room but this could take some time!

[Afghan Dave]

Metric vs Imperial = school boy error!  :? :lol:

Been there done that and you can either waste hours with a lot of sandpaper or bite the bullet and buy the right ones.

I went back and bought the right ones.  8)

[horsehead]

bollocks

[Transcend]

 a round file does this job in seconds.

The first time i had this issue i sat with a pencil wrapped in sandpaper.

Took about 2 hours.

With the file it took about 10 seconds with no damage to the guitar

[Twinfan]

I use a reamer and bore them out to CTS size as I think their pots are better than the smaller Alpha ones...

[Transcend]

I use a reamer and bore them out to CTS size as I think their pots are better than the smaller Alpha ones...

You haven't bought any recently have you?

the newer CTS pots have awful tapers with huge jumps in and generally poorer construction than they used to be.

It's a shame really as they used to be nice

[Twinfan]

Not bought any for a little while, but I get them from WD-Music with the tighter 10% tolerance and brass shafts.

[Transcend]

the last 4 or 5 i have bought from various places have been useless.

So i've moved over the using alpha or honeywell/clarostat or bourns

[horsehead]

Toe-knee where do you get your bourns fro mate?

[Transcend]

I usually get them from my local guitar store or farnell.

i think allparts does them as well.

[horsehead]

I hope they do the imperial measurements, otherwise I'm screwed!

[Transcend]

Widening the holes isn't too bad.

And neither are Alpha pots and they fit in everything

[Philly Q]

Just a thought.... is there anything actually wrong with the pots in the Tokai, or are you just changing them as a matter of course?  I'm not sure what pots they use, they may even be Alpha already.

Anyhow, for widening the holes, I use a 10mm (or maybe it's 3/8") countersinking bit.  I don't drill all the way through from one side, I countersink from both sides of the hole then use a round file (or a pencil or drill bit wrapped in sandpaper) to finish off.  That way you don't end up chipping the finish or making the hole too big. 

[AndyR]

Just a thought.... is there anything actually wrong with the pots in the Tokai, or are you just changing them as a matter of course?  I'm not sure what pots they use, they may even be Alpha already.

+1

I was wondering this, actually. When I got my Tokai, I was going to replace the pots with the "better" CTS ones that I'd put in the Epis I was no longer using. But I realised that I had the imperial/metric problem which I'd already encountered on the Epis (affects the knobs as well). So I decided at the time not to bother for a while.

The CTS pots from one of the Epis did move to my Faded SG (mainly to get rid of the circuit board arrangement in there so I could change the caps). The other set are still in the Epi LP up in the loft.

I did change the Tokai's caps to PIO, I feel that made a difference that I like in that guitar. But I didn't change the Tokai's pots in the end because a) they work, and b) it turns out that I much prefer them to the upgrades. I find them smoother than the CTS, more responsive, less prone to getting dirty and crackling, and, above all, easier to do what I want with them.

Sooner or later I intended to replace the things I put in the SG. But, to be honest, the difference between the types is so small for me that it doesn't really feel like worth the effort to change in either direction! (Especially because internet wisdom says it would be a downgrade in this case! :lol:)

The only reason I'd change pots on a guitar now is if they were broken or obviously not doing what I want, or if I wanted to experiment with different values.

I know the "better" CTS ones work a lot better for some folks. At the moment, though, it seems I much prefer the "not so better" ones... :roll:

[horsehead]

Philly's 3/8ths countersink worked spot on with no ripping huge holes in the guitar (bonus). I do change them as standard to CTS, but I've heard some VERY good things about the bourns pots. The pots on the tokai seemed a bit....scratchy to me, they seemed to jump as well (could've been the wiring I know) from about 4 - 10!