Electra EP-401

I've owned an Electra EP-401 since the early 80's.  I hadn't used it for a while and when I pulled it out the controls all crackled or cut out when trying to use it.   Is there any thing that might clean up the pots that won't involve taking it apart?



IIRC, I only payed about $100 for it.  Was a lot to me at the time but it definitely isn't something too valuable. 

Thanks

Hi: Can you easily pull the knobs off of the unit, and are the potentiometers standard 'USA guitar' sized? I found a nifty gadget at StewMac that allows you to spray contact cleaner into the pot without dismantling, all you need to do is remove the retaining nut from the pot and screw this gadget on, then insert the spray tube on the contact cleaner into the hole on the side of the gadget and blast away. I've cleaned up dirty pots on a strat without removing the pickguard this way. Good Luck!

https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Tools_for_Maintenance/Pot_Cleaning_Cap.html

Thanks, that looks interesting.  I have a few other really old electronics that my work with that.  I'll check it out.

Even knowing that cleaning cap exists I would pull the cover if it were mine. Most older pots are not of the sealed variety so it shouldn't be too hard to get a small squirt of cleaner right into the pot.

What is a good cleaner?  I tried a radio shack version I have and it didn’t help.

I've had good results using Caig FaderLube:

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/ctype.KB/it.I/id.2919/KB.215/.f

Thanks!

I would pull the cover and see how hard it is to spray it into the opening where the three leads go inside the pot.  Usually  with circuit boards it can be hard to spray into the pots because the opening faces the circuit board and is very close to it.  But you can bend the spray can tube into a J shape and get it in there.  You can also buy tubes that are made to do this.

I also like the Caig faderlube for this application.  But it can make a bit of a mess on  the circuit board because it has lube in it.  So if some of it drips out on the board, I will spray the board with CRC QD contact cleaner.  This will evaporate and remove any residues left on your circuit board. Don't spray the CRC into the pots once you use the faderlube.

These use chemicals that aren't good for you so I recommend using medical latex or vinyl gloves and doing this outside.

I've used Caig De-Oxit for a long time with excellent results. The Caig Pro Gold is an excellent product too. If your pots still don't act right after using these, you'll probably need to replace the pot.