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Tone and volume pot stems too short

I have just noticed that my tone and volume pot stems that come through the wood lid are too short to install the secure nut onto.(Not enough thread showing). The lid on the CBG is thin. I am quite ticked off that I didn't notice this before. I am supposing the only way to fix this is cutting out the lid to make a thinner plate to put these stems through so the nut will secure them As is I can't put a nut on them as it is. Unfortunatly I already drilled the holes in the lid for these stems to come through. . Any other ideas?

AAAAARGGGG. Why, oh why ......

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on October 25, 2019 at 1:37am

This a pretty common problem since pots are usually designed to fit through metal panels and excess threaded length just creates a problem in the other direction.

If you have a drill press and some Forsner bits, you can securely clamp the lid to the base of the press then drill part way through the lid.

An alternative is to use a Dremel tool to grind away material on the inside of the lid. There is usually a step on the pot bod (below the threads) that is the only part you need to grind for so you won't have to do a lot of grinding.

A third way (not my favorite) is to epoxy the nut used to secure the pot to the inside of the box. Then you just thread your pot into the nut. If possible, a couple of sheet metal tabs should be soldered to the nut to provide more surface area for the epoxy.

It's unlikely that you will find pots with long threads, so developing a process for thinning the box when necessary is time well spent.

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on October 25, 2019 at 3:58am

I would just cut the box out & mount the pots on something thinner? Most of the builds you’ll see in the pics use a wood,plastic or metal control plate, kinda the norm? Long shaft pots are used on most brands like Gibson,PRS,Etc. so they’re quite common? Cbgitty has always had long shaft pots tho? https://www.cbgitty.com/cigar-box-guitar-parts/jacks-pots-more/6pc-...

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Permalink Reply by BrianQ. on October 25, 2019 at 5:11am

You can get really good prices on them, if you don’t mind waiting?

https://www.ebay.com/p/1461392725

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Permalink Reply by KOOL DOG HOOCH on October 25, 2019 at 6:02am

I don't mind the stems as much as the seeds, those really upset me, all that popping. Oh I'm sorry, wrong thread! :-) if you look around and I think they still make them. Its a nut with a threaded tub attached to them( one piece), you oversize the hole the tube screws onto the pot through the wood and serves as a bushing, the nut a flange. I believe they were called an offset nut. If you find them be mindful of the diameter of the threaded part, not all pots use the same nut size.

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Permalink Reply by KOOL DOG HOOCH on October 25, 2019 at 6:26am

Extension, not offset. Looks like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Vintage-Potentiometer-Metal-Collar-Nut-E...

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Permalink Reply by Robbie on October 27, 2019 at 2:44am

Hi! First let me say thank you to all who posted in your ideas and help. I decided to go with the plan of a thinner wood plate to put the volume and tone pots through and it worked. Here's a picture of the "38 Special" almost at completion. I say almost because the Delta pic up is not working now. Lots of buzz feedback from the tone knob but ziltch of anything through the volume.Anyway, I'm getting close and this one will be done.