The Steel Guitar Forum

I have an old Emmons volume pedal which I haven't used for a while. I hooked it up last night for a recording session and found that it was malfunctioning. The pot shaft seemed very hard to turn (even by hand). Could this be because the pedal had been kept in a (relatively) cold place for a while? I eventually manipulated it manually enough for it to work somewhat, but the fact that the string seemed to lose it's "grip" compounded the problem. It just kept slipping, not turning the shaft the way it should. I found that by putting as much pressure on it as I could (pulling the string to where the spring was fully extended) it would work acceptably...so I have 2 questions...is there anything I can spray into the pot to make it turn easier, and should I replace the string? if so, what sort of string should I use.

Replace the pot

Jeremy, you can try placing a small drop of oil where the shaft meets the pot bushing. You don't have to remove the pot for this, but don't use too much, or it will eventually bleed onto the pulley, and the string will slip. This "binding" of the shaft inside the pot bushing is very common when pots haven't been used for awhile. After you oil it, work the pot a few times by hand, and capillary action should "pull" the oil onto the bushing.

Oiling the bushing, as well as the pedal pivot points, should be done every year or two to keep things moving nice and smooth, and prevent wear.