Replacing guitar volume/tone POTs?

[lerceon]

My volume pot is broken (can the knob be broken?), there's a "click" feel/sound when I set it to 10 (max).
When I roll it down, the sound doesn't go through.
(I'll probably change the tone pot as well, since it's stock Yamaha Pacifica and probably gonna die soon also)

I'm considering 2 approaches:

1) Learn a bit of DIY and get the tools (solder, etc) and do it myself. Since I'm wanted to learn it, but too lazy.
Can any experts who have used to doing POT replacements on electric guitar give advice on what tools to get and where?

2) Get a professional to do it for me.
Does anybody know the approx rates for the replacement? Or is just the cost of the POTs and maybe few dollars for "labour"?

I'm considering because I think getting the solder kit etc will probably cost much more than the professional replacement cost..

Advice?

 

[tyzjames]

Replacing the pots will typically cost between $30-$60. Great to DIY but wont be easy if its your first time soldering. Might as well get a pro to do it for you. I'll recommend Beez

 

[lerceon]

Where to find "Beez"? Is there a website?

 

[Nicholasim]

His number is 9773 2633.
Give him a call and make an appointment

 

[mightyboy88]

beez is great at soldering and he allows you to learn from him while he is doing the job.

you would be able to pick up a few tips by just watching him

if you do wanna go down the diy route though, invest in better quality solder and soldering iron

 

[Godsmen]

I bought my soldering gun and solder from less than 20 bucks.

 

[doggieshaman]

pot replacements are pretty easy to do. buy a 30w-40w soldering iron from homefix (too high might end up damaging your pot) and some solder. For myself i like to buy the solder at Daiso, might be a little more expensive than from the smaller hardware stores but they work really well for me (melts fast on my 40w iron) also get a desoldering pump in case you have way too much solder on a place.

another thing i recommend would be to get one of those pliers (those that don't really cut) and wire strippers. The wires and pots get really hot to touch when you are soldering so you don't wanna be holding down the wires with your fingers. Also some electrical tape which has two uses, one to tape down the longer wires so they don't get in the way, and two to insulate parts of exposed wiring which someone new to soldering tends to burn by accident.

last but not least buy replacement pots. Cheap ones would work but they aren't the best - if you are doing this only once in a while get decent ones. people in the US will say get CTS pots, you can get them gibsons/fenders/etc but for me those cheap ones from Proline will do just fine. You can get proline pots at music theme at peninsula or ranking sports at bras basah. lastly if you are gonna change the pots you might as well change the capacitators as well, you can get them at standard value in peninsula (orange ones are nice and affordable)

before you start, take a picture of your current wiring (unless you wanna be changing stuff, make sure everything's exactly the same.) or draw a diagram of what goes where.

the only thing left i can tell you is practice making your soldering connections on some spare wire and your old pots. for me a good rule of thumb is don't stick your iron on your pots any longer than about 10secs, pre-tin (i.e. pre-solder) the terminals on the pot you wanna solder to, and usually i twist my grounds together and solder them to each other first so i only have to make the connection once. it's not rocket science, if you mess up just refer to your picture and make sure you follow that exactly.

 

[doggieshaman]

oh and i think you should try learning DIY if you have spare time, as this will embolden you a bit more to try out new pickups/wirings which you normally wouldn't touch due to the costs.

another little tip, if your guitar has its pots mounted on a pickguard, like some pacificas or strats, you don't need to cut the strings everytime, just loosen them enough (and unscrew the pickguard screws, duh), desolder the wires from the output jack (if the wires arent color coded you MUST mark out which is ground and which is hot), and with some finesse your pickguard should pop right out, unless it's made from wood or metal, too.

another better way to test if you don't own a multimeter (which you should get, if you are serious into these things), once you are done solder the output wires to the output jack, plug your wired pickguard into your amp (at small volumes is fine), turn on your amp and with a screwdriver, gently tap on your pickups with your pickup selector at the right places (i.e. on neck pickup, tap the neck) if your wiring is fine you should hear the tapping sound from your amp at the appropriate switches.

- - - Updated - - -

oh and i think you should try learning DIY if you have spare time, as this will embolden you a bit more to try out new pickups/wirings which you normally wouldn't touch due to the costs.

another little tip, if your guitar has its pots mounted on a pickguard, like some pacificas or strats, you don't need to cut the strings everytime, just loosen them enough (and unscrew the pickguard screws, duh), desolder the wires from the output jack (if the wires arent color coded you MUST mark out which is ground and which is hot), and with some finesse your pickguard should pop right out, unless it's made from wood or metal, too.

another better way to test if you don't own a multimeter (which you should get, if you are serious into these things), once you are done solder the output wires to the output jack, plug your wired pickguard into your amp (at small volumes is fine), turn on your amp and with a screwdriver, gently tap on your pickups with your pickup selector at the right places (i.e. on neck pickup, tap the neck) if your wiring is fine you should hear the tapping sound from your amp at the appropriate switches.

 

[lerceon]

Wow! doggieshaman.
Thanks for the detailed and informative answer, I was hoping for something like that

Some clarifying questions:
For the "another little tip" do you mean no need to cut (guitar) strings? That's the most logical answer to me since the guitar strings should logically get in the way of the pickguard removal. Hehe.

"another better way to test", I assume you mean test that the soldering for the pickups and/or pots are working without putting it all the way back, tune up and pick the string to test?
Since you mentioned "another", I thought you mentioned somewhere a previous way to test but didn't find it. Maybe while you were editing it got lost?

 

[doggieshaman]

"Some clarifying questions:
For the "another little tip" do you mean no need to cut (guitar) strings? That's the most logical answer to me since the guitar strings should logically get in the way of the pickguard removal. Hehe."

Yup. First few times i changed strat pickguards i kept the strings the hard way, i.e. loosen it then unscrew the neck first. Until somebody told me the tip that cut down the time i need to change pickguards by 80%. To the point i now have 3 strat bodies and about 5 different sets of wired pickguards to choose from.

"another better way to test", I assume you mean test that the soldering for the pickups and/or pots are working without putting it all the way back, tune up and pick the string to test?
Since you mentioned "another", I thought you mentioned somewhere a previous way to test but didn't find it. Maybe while you were editing it got lost?"

yup. again from past experience when i followed the diagram but gaffed up. this way makes sense and cuts down troubleshooting time. i believe the other way would be to use a multimeter to check numbers and stuff, but i'm no electrician or engineering person (i'm a film n video guy) so this to me is the next best way. Only one little problem with this, esp on my les pauls, is that the middle position sometimes is out of phase (the screwdriver test wont be able to tell this) and then i have to re-solder using different leads of the pickups to fix that.

basically with wiring, there are a few places online that has nice and safe configurations, seymour duncan's website of course (you just need to know which wires from your pickups are the leads, etc) and also guitarelectronics.com