Japanese tele knobs cts pots

[emilyjules]

Hiya all,
I have a Japanese 1986 '72 reissue which has been my number one for the last 5 years or so and have ended up having to replace the tone pot, these things happen with old kit and it's been messed around with a fair bit in its past lives so I'm not too sentimental about these things, but the new cts pot's shaft won't fit the original knobs. At the moment I've got a random Gibson knob on it that I had lying around and fit but if possible I'd much prefer to use the original ones.
Wondering if anyone had any advice on either filing down the shaft or inside of the pot to fit? Don't really want to rush into anything since it's always harder to make a hole smaller if you go too far.

 

[Boreas]

Don't bother with the CTS pot unless you are willing to change or drill the knob, which I wouldn't. You should be able to match a quality pot to the original knobs. Alpha makes a good pot and I believe they are available in metric sizes. What brand of pot came with it? CTS pots are good, but most Asian-spec pots are good as well. Another thing to consider is the feel (torque) of the pots. I prefer mine to feel the same. The CTS may feel kinda sloppy compared to an Alpha which are often higher-torque.

 

[old_picker]

This is no big deal.

The cheapest, easiest way to fix this is to buy new knobs

Tge other way is to drill your metric pots out to 1/4". They are currently 6mm. Trick to drilling thr pots out is to have a drill press and a cunning way of holding the knob straight and steady. Oh and not drilling right through.

The idea that you can somehow file down the cts pot shafts to fit is a bad one. Definitely not achievable by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Robnik33]

I had the same issue with my MIJ Aerodyne strat when I upgraded to full size CTS pots. Used some Gibson speed knobs I had lying around. Looks cool, and antagonizes the Fender purists!

 

[Fretting out]

I ran into this with an 88 mij tele

I just bought new knobs, although I ruined the original control plate making the new pots fit (stupid,stupid,stupid)

NEW KNOBS!

 

[emilyjules]

I ran into this with an 88 mij tele

I just bought new knobs, although I ruined the original control plate making the new pots fit (stupid,stupid,stupid)

NEW KNOBS!

Yeah unfortunately I already did the same thing to get the pot to fit without thinking about the knobs rip

Don't bother with the CTS pot unless you are willing to change or drill the knob, which I wouldn't. You should be able to match a quality pot to the original knobs. Alpha makes a good pot and I believe they are available in metric sizes. What brand of pot came with it? CTS pots are good, but most Asian-spec pots are good as well. Another thing to consider is the feel (torque) of the pots. I prefer mine to feel the same. The CTS may feel kinda sloppy compared to an Alpha which are often higher-torque.

I'll definitely keep this in mind if I have to replace the volume pot at some point, definitely going with an alpha to save me any more pain

This is no big deal.

The cheapest, easiest way to fix this is to buy new knobs

Tge other way is to drill your metric pots out to 1/4". They are currently 6mm. Trick to drilling thr pots out is to have a drill press and a cunning way of holding the knob straight and steady. Oh and not drilling right through.

The idea that you can somehow file down the cts pot shafts to fit is a bad one. Definitely not achievable by any stretch of the imagination.

Looks like this'll be what I'll be doing. My one question would be if I drill it out won't it remove the splines on the inside of the knob? They have screw fittings so hopefully that shouldn't cause too many problems but I don't really want to risk it if I can avoid it.

 

[teleplayr]

I updated the pots, switch & cap on my MIJ Custom Telecaster.

I bought a new plate from AllParts and full sized CTS pots & standard Tele. knobs., I saved the original plate & pots.

At that time it set me back about $40.

It all fit perfectly.

 

[JRapp]

Ummmmm, no. Don't drill out the metric knobs; way too much work for a very simple problem. Just buy a new set of knobs that fit CTS pots. Cheap, easy, and it works.

 

[Wound_Up]

Don't bother with the CTS pot unless you are willing to change or drill the knob, which I wouldn't. You should be able to match a quality pot to the original knobs. Alpha makes a good pot and I believe they are available in metric sizes. What brand of pot came with it? CTS pots are good, but most Asian-spec pots are good as well. Another thing to consider is the feel (torque) of the pots. I prefer mine to feel the same. The CTS may feel kinda sloppy compared to an Alpha which are often higher-torque.

You don't have to change or drill the knobs.

Ted Woodford on YouTube has a procedure he does to fit import knobs on non-import pots. Get an old pot with the same shaft as the CTS. Heat the shaft up with a soldering iron and slide it into the knob. It'll basically make new splines to fit the CTS pot instead of the import pot. Its extremely easy to do and works wonders in a pinch.

 

[Wound_Up]

Yeah unfortunately I already did the same thing to get the pot to fit without thinking about the knobs rip

I'll definitely keep this in mind if I have to replace the volume pot at some point, definitely going with an alpha to save me any more pain

Looks like this'll be what I'll be doing. My one question would be if I drill it out won't it remove the splines on the inside of the knob? They have screw fittings so hopefully that shouldn't cause too many problems but I don't really want to risk it if I can avoid it.

Don't do that. You'll end up ruining them and having to buy new ones anyway. Just get another CTS pot or an old one from someone and heat the shaft, then insert it into the knob. It'll form new splines for the new pot shaft and will fit like it was made for it. Because it basically was with the way the shaft splines get reformed.

I'm pretty sure you can, buy CTS pots with import shafts/splines, also. So no need to buy Alpha pots. Just buy the correct CTS pots or make new splines in your old knobs like I posted above.