remove controls from electric guitar

[wrathkeg]

Hello,

I've recently been given a guitar from 1963 like this one but in slightly worse shape.

I am trying to remove the three volume/tone controls (bottom right of the picture) to do some deep cleaning. I've removed the little grub screws on each control, but the control knobs still won't budge. I thought that once the grub screws were out they would have just pulled off but that doesn't seem to be the case. Does anyone know what else I have to do to remove them?

Here is a close-up of what look like the same controls on a slightly different model. The controls were almost certainly used on other items around that time so it's possible guitarists and non-guitarists alike might have ideas.

Thanks,

wrathkeg

 

[Burnerman]

I'm sure those knobs should just pull off, but do try removing the screws completely just in case they go through the potentiometer spindle.
You don't suppose someone has glued them in place, perhaps......?
John

 

[wrathkeg]

Thanks: at least I'm not the only one who thought that! I'll give it another go when I get the chance. Good point about the glue but the guitar has been in a single pair of hands all its life and I'm confident it won't have been glued.

 

[wrathkeg]

Oh, in the event that they should just pull off, any tips on what might get them moving?

 

[Burnerman]

Seriously I'd take the screw out and squirt in a little WD40 and leave it a while.....I've never seen any particularly tight knobs though, I have to admit! Some gentle leverage from beneath may help.
John

 

[wrathkeg]

I tried pulling with some serious force and they wouldn't budge, and also levering. That's why I wondered whether there might be some other step to removing them. I'll try some WD40 first.

 

[wrathkeg]

Well, even with a bit of WD40 I still didn't manage to remove them. Spoke to the previous owner who (years ago) tried to remove them but didn't manage it either.

 

[Burnerman]

It sure sounds as if they have been cemented in place - you would have thought that at least one of them would have budged by now.
I guess you can get behind them - if need be - by removing the plastic panel which will reveal all of the electrickery behind.
John

 

[wrathkeg]

Yes, I've had that (the scratchplate) off and cleaned the pots. It was interesting to see that they were all stamped "British made". The only problem with not being able to get the knobs off was that it made cleaning away 55 years of grime all the more fiddly. But with a combination of cotton buds and cocktail sticks (!) I just about got there in the end.