Deoxit alternative?

[Billy3]

I have a can of BW-100 electronic contact cleaner and a can of CRC 2-26 multi-purpose precision lubricant. Are they safe to use on scratchy potentiometers in my guitars. I'm broke and frugal. Don't want to have to buy deoxit if I don't have to, you know what I'm saying?

 

[Sea Devil]

I think you'll be ok if you use the contact cleaner first to get the crud off, and then the lubricant after. Contact cleaner alone can cause pots and faders to seize up.

 

[LutherBurger]

CRC 2-26 works just fine all by itself.

 

[Boreas]

You should be fine. I usually don't bother with lubricant on pots unless the pots are rotating poorly. Just don't saturate them.

 

[CCK1]

I haven't found a real replacement for Deoxit. Expensive, but nothing I've found works as well.

 

[TimTam]

The safety data sheets (links below) on the D5 and F5 series Deoxit list the 'F' and 'D' component as 'trade secret' (which somewhat defeats the purpose of a safety sheet !). You'd need an industrial chemistry lab to figure out what each is, and whether it's different to any other product. That D/F component amounts to 5% or less of the total volume, the rest being basically naphtha as listed (ie lighter fluid). With (imported) Deoxit costing up to $50 a can around here, I would go for any of the popular local electrical contact cleaner alternatives (which tend to differ in different countries). It's not like you're talking about a $100,000 mixing desk.

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.20/category.291/.f
http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.20/category.298/.f

 

[kbold]

I haven't found a real replacement for Deoxit. Expensive, but nothing I've found works as well.

I use Electrolube EML
A suitable alternative, and cheaper.

 

[Wound_Up]

I haven't found a real replacement for Deoxit. Expensive, but nothing I've found works as well.

Same. Deoxit cuts crap that others won't touch.

I dealt with scratchy pots for a year because I was too frugal to buy deoxit and was convinced I could get something just as good for less. So I tried. After buying and trying some contact cleaners at the auto parts store, nothing helped. They were still just as scratchy as ever. So I dealt with it for the next year by not going all the way to 10 or 0.

Finally, one day I decided to buy deoxit to see if it really was as good as people said. I shot just a squirt into the pots, worked em back and forth and the crackling and popping and scratching was gone. After a single application.

I'm a firm believer in Deoxit these days.

 

[pdmartin]

I don’t know if it’s still available but I used to use Techspray 2422-10S Blue Stuff in my shop. Never needed to use anything else. It was great.