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Budding Young Luthier Needs Help With Knobs!

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Post by jamesakabob Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:47 am

Greetings all!

I have been stealthily snooping round this forum for a few months ever since I was contemplating buying an '85 Thunder I-A bass off "Fleabay" (I'm sure at least ONE of you will have looked at it! Laughing ), long story short, fell in love with it, bought it, so thought I'd finally say hello and ask for some newbie help!

I in no way profess to be the most accomplished luthier in the world (or even in my house for that matter! Sad ) but thought I'd give this beauty a little spruce up for a gig or two as, as I have found, the sound is what can only be described as unimaginably great for the price, along with having the tonal equivalent of a bungee jump! cheers

Whilst I am happy throwing circuit boards around in my guitars, I don’t want to rush into anything too hastily with a bass 1 year older than me that I most likely wont come across again for a while (well at least in MY price range Rolling Eyes ), so...

...How do I get the knobs off me bass?!!

Yes, as simple as that, I want to take the knobs off but am too scared of a repetition of when I pulled a fair few wires through the face of my first guitar project when I was about 12!

Before you ask (Pollyanna!) I will post complete before and after pics, history, medical history, national insurance number etc on the member's Westone thread!

Thanks in advance, and I love this forum!

James
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Post by Guest Wed Nov 05, 2008 7:59 am

Hello James and Welcome, Smile

jamesakabob wrote:
Before you ask (Pollyanna!) I will post complete before and after pics, history,
medical history, national insurance number etc on the member's Westone
thread!

Oh dear, am I that much of a dragon?
Embarassed

Anyway, it's good that you have the bottle to repair/restore your own guitars, good for you James!

Right, first things first about how to remove those knobs:

1. Check to see if there are any little grub screws at the side of the knobs, if so, loosen them with an allen key.

2. Whether the knobs are with/without grub screws, grip the knob firmly either side and pull the knobs gently but firmly in a straight up direction and they should come off.
If they seem to be difficult to pull, you can always try using pliers or carefully put the flat end of a screwdriver underneath and prise them up that way. If you do use that method though, I would recommend putting something over the guitar to protect it first - a piece of plastic or something similar. Also, be careful if you use pliers, put a cloth between the pliers and the knob so as not to damage the knob.

Good luck and I hope it works!
cheers

Pauline
:flower: :queen:


Last edited by Pollyanna on Wed Nov 05, 2008 8:08 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Missed a bit!)
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Post by jamesakabob Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:16 am

Pollyanna wrote:

Oh dear, am I that much of a dragon?
Embarassed


Lol no, I'm glad of it, means I have lots of shiney member pics for refference!

Thanks for the advice, the knobs had no grubs and were INCREDIBLEY difficult to remove, hence double checking so I could blame someone else! Razz Razz Razz
Finally got the wee beggars off and thought I'd post progress so far (more for my reference rather than anything else!),

Grubby fretboard with slightly corroded frets:

brass - Budding Young Luthier Needs Help With Knobs! 04112011

The bridge and knobs are filthy and heavily corroded:

brass - Budding Young Luthier Needs Help With Knobs! 06112010

Whilst the polepieces are slightly rusted, the copper coil and all other electronics/wiring are in good nick, albeit a little ganked up and dusty:

brass - Budding Young Luthier Needs Help With Knobs! 06112011

So here is my girl's current state, all internals cleaned and dusted, fretboard almost done but the frets themselves still need work:

brass - Budding Young Luthier Needs Help With Knobs! 06112012


You may notice one battle scar near the dual tone switch but I prefer her the way she is! I like the bass having a history, and also I could never bring myself to sand a guitar down!

Will probably finish this today as I'm getting quite obsessive What a Face

Thanks again, and I will post more pics as I go,

Cheers,

James
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Post by corsair Thu Nov 06, 2008 1:59 pm

Good work, that man! Smile Now, oor Polly has devised a fiendishly clever scheme for getting that brass looking sweet as, so if you ask nicely, she may share this info with you (but not if you call her a dragon!!) Laughing Filing the frets is not something I've done; I've piddled about with most everything else but leave that to 'my' luthier; ie I'd rather pay for an hour or two of his time to start than 5 or six to replace the frets that I've munted!! Laughing
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Post by jamesakabob Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:43 pm

Hehe, already did the first bit of brass earlier Razz , just needs a bit of polishing and it'll be right as rain, did spot a part of a thread from Polly somewhere mentioning clear coat lacquer, maybe I'll dig it up and give it a go!

Pics, pics and more PICS!

Before,

brass - Budding Young Luthier Needs Help With Knobs! 06112013

After 1st stage, (although camera phone doesn't do the knobs justice!)

brass - Budding Young Luthier Needs Help With Knobs! 06112014

Should be getting shiney new phone with 8 megapixel camera within the next few days so will bombard with EVEN MORE (better) pics!

Ooh, just found that thread, turns out ammonia is already recommended by the powers that be, woohoo! Although I'm not sure I could cope with 1 part ammonia to 6 parts water, bit too strong for my tastes (well, smells) drunken
These old Westone parts really scrub up nice! Shame I couldn't get more done today, but didn't want to risk starting up again after a few pints of "artistic inspiration" after band practice Very Happy
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Post by corsair Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:38 pm

.... looking good!! That knob with the arrows on it is intriguing; my VA900 has the same sort of knobs but not the arrows; what knob is it?
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Post by jamesakabob Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:08 am

corsair wrote:.... looking good!! That knob with the arrows on it is intriguing; my VA900 has the same sort of knobs but not the arrows; what knob is it?

That'd be the "Equalizer Tone" knob that when the active circuit is on controls how much of a boost is given to Bass or Treble. Apparently us Thunder players need arrows to tell us what way to turn the knob, I know that I would've been stumped for days otherwise, *ehem* Razz

Just looked up your VA900 on the forum, thats a nice looking guitar Very Happy , I assume that's an LED for showing the active circuit is on? That'd be really usefull for me as I always forget that the active in my Thunder turns on when you plug the guitar in, and that the switch is a "By-Pass" switch and not an "On/Off" switch for the circuit Rolling Eyes
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Post by corsair Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:42 pm

Ha - so Thunder players ARE thickies!! I've suspected as much... Laughing Yeah, that's what the wee light does on the VA - it needs a 9V battery to run it, though and it is switched with the lowest of the 3 mini switches that turns the pre-amp on. The other 2 are coil split and phase reverse; what's wrong with the p'up to warrant changing?
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Post by Westbone Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:42 am

Hello out there,

A good way to remove tight knobs, get two tea spoons, place either side of knob and press handles, pop they just come off.
Place a cloth on guitar to protect the body or two thin slithers of timber.

Cheers
Daim. Very Happy
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Post by corsair Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:52 pm

Yep; good tip, thanks Westbone - there's nothing quite like a little leverage to shift them pesky knobs!! Mind you, I wouldn't back any modern teaspoon to the job; the buggers'd bend; you need good old Sheffield cutlery for that job! Laughing
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