Thatch_Ear
Addicted Member
When picking up a piece of old gear the chances are that all of the switches, slides, and other controls on the front of your new baby are polluted. Mostly dust but maybe carpet fresh crystals or who knows what else. I usually give all the movable controls that matter a squirt or two of cleaner before I start the baking and variac regime. That way when the piece is ready to try hopefully there is no problem, but if there is the non problimatic parts are usually performing like they should. When the piece is hooked up in the system and the tubes warmed up enough for signals, start messing with all the knobs, switches to find out whether or not you get any noise out of them. Your most likely candidates are your volume and on/off switch. Especially if the on/off switch is on the back of the volume pot. Then you know that every time that thing was turned on or off that pot had to be used. For me that is the weak spot for Fisher tube gear. I would second that with a slide tape monitior switch. Those can be a pain.
About cleaners, you can't run down to your puter store and get the cleaners they have there. Those can and will strip the pots so clean that you will have to replace them. The best I have used is a pair a Caig products, one for cleaning and the other for lubing. Caig Deoxit 5 for cleaning and Caig CaiLube MCL for lubing. These are available mail order and for those in the US, Parts Express carry it.
Another one that you can use is the Tuner Cleaner from Radio Shack. There are or used to be 2 kinds. The one with the red fluid is basically the Caig Deoxit cleaner and the lube in one can. It has been a while since I bought any from RS so if they don't still stock both,sorry.
Really the hardest thing about cleaning pots and slides is getting to the guts where dust etc plus just drying out from age are. Usually you can get to them with the bottom plate removed and you want to get that straw on the can into a slit on the side of the pot or just into the center of a slide. Double gang pots=2 cleanings. Also there will be fluids following gravity so a section of newspaper or something to soak up the chemicals is called for.
When you start spraying the cleaner into the guts of the pot or slide you want to work them fast and furious to loosen and wash away any foriegn particles. Remember the cleaner is a solvent! Don't breath it and protect the surfaces under the gear. Ventilation is a good idea. The stuff is typically not toxic but can be an irritant.
The cleaner will evaporate. Leave the thing on your bench over night for it to dry out.
Then if you are using the separate lube hit them with it while doing the same furious paced movements.Use only small amounts.
The lube takes a time to dry. The best thing is to wait 24 hours before applying current to avoid shorts or if you are touching it to have smoke come out your ears. By this time I am usually getting uptight if the piece is going to be in THE SYSTEM and take a hair dryer to it about 6 hours after the spraying.
Then hopefully there are no pops or scratches caused by the pots/slides. If there is a last ditch effort wanted it be a small squirt of WD-40 into the culprit, do the waiting again, and listen again.
Also be aware of the fact that there a lot of guys who will hit a dying pot with WD-40 before selling the gear so that everything is fine on arrival, but does not last. The WD-40 is to get you through till the replacement arrives since it is very rarely a true fix. It is also a great tool to use to get gear to the evaluation stage so that you can decide if it is worth keeping and fixing
About cleaners, you can't run down to your puter store and get the cleaners they have there. Those can and will strip the pots so clean that you will have to replace them. The best I have used is a pair a Caig products, one for cleaning and the other for lubing. Caig Deoxit 5 for cleaning and Caig CaiLube MCL for lubing. These are available mail order and for those in the US, Parts Express carry it.
Another one that you can use is the Tuner Cleaner from Radio Shack. There are or used to be 2 kinds. The one with the red fluid is basically the Caig Deoxit cleaner and the lube in one can. It has been a while since I bought any from RS so if they don't still stock both,sorry.
Really the hardest thing about cleaning pots and slides is getting to the guts where dust etc plus just drying out from age are. Usually you can get to them with the bottom plate removed and you want to get that straw on the can into a slit on the side of the pot or just into the center of a slide. Double gang pots=2 cleanings. Also there will be fluids following gravity so a section of newspaper or something to soak up the chemicals is called for.
When you start spraying the cleaner into the guts of the pot or slide you want to work them fast and furious to loosen and wash away any foriegn particles. Remember the cleaner is a solvent! Don't breath it and protect the surfaces under the gear. Ventilation is a good idea. The stuff is typically not toxic but can be an irritant.
The cleaner will evaporate. Leave the thing on your bench over night for it to dry out.
Then if you are using the separate lube hit them with it while doing the same furious paced movements.Use only small amounts.
The lube takes a time to dry. The best thing is to wait 24 hours before applying current to avoid shorts or if you are touching it to have smoke come out your ears. By this time I am usually getting uptight if the piece is going to be in THE SYSTEM and take a hair dryer to it about 6 hours after the spraying.
Then hopefully there are no pops or scratches caused by the pots/slides. If there is a last ditch effort wanted it be a small squirt of WD-40 into the culprit, do the waiting again, and listen again.
Also be aware of the fact that there a lot of guys who will hit a dying pot with WD-40 before selling the gear so that everything is fine on arrival, but does not last. The WD-40 is to get you through till the replacement arrives since it is very rarely a true fix. It is also a great tool to use to get gear to the evaluation stage so that you can decide if it is worth keeping and fixing
