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I'm trying to help a friend troubleshoot and fix her 1986 Peavey Foundation Bass guitar so that she can play it again -- it's not playable (particularly on stage) right now.
Peavey Foundation Bass Guitar has a description of the guitar and includes, "The electronics of the 1980's era Foundation were passive, single coil pickups that could be used individually or in unison based on how you set the volume knobs on the bass."
The following is a direct quote from the musician trying to desribe what is wrong with her guitar. She bought it new because she fell in love with its tone. She can't play it now because of the way it sounds. When she says "pod," she really means "pot":
"All knobs have the scratchy dirty pod sound. The middle knob (for lower pickup) is the main problem. I usually play with all knobs turned clockwise unless I need a slightly increased low frequency mix, so I will back off that middle knob. It then acts almost like it has a partial short somewhere-loss of overall tone and volume. No tapping or knob twisting really seems to help. I have replaced the jack twice, and had the pods blown out, thinking that was the issue. There was a little improvement for the next 2 times the bass was played, but the "fix" didn't hold (if there really ever was a fix). The bass has sat in the case for a year-took it out to play, and the problem is there, and is worse." She had taken it in to guitar repair shops in Gainesville, Florida for these "repairs."
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From her description above, I think all of her problem(s) may simply be dirty pots rather than failed pickups too. Peavey says that they no longer can supply replacements for those pickups. I'm hoping that a good & careful cleaning of the pots might bring the bass back to life.
I'm hoping that ~28 years of sweat, rain, dust, etc., haven't damaged the pickups because I saw a "rig interview" online where Ted Nugent claimed that his vintage guitars all had replacement pickups because his sweat seeped into the pickups and corroded them to the point that they had to be replaced. (Please no political comments here, he was truly serious about this.)
Any thoughts or recommendations on troubleshooting and repairing the 1986 Peavey Foundation Bass for my friend back to its original tone that she fell in love with when it was new and stayed that way for so many years? My thought is to try to first clean the pots *in* the guitar without desoldering anything and just try to do a "damn good" cleaning job (without soaking the wood with any cleaner/liquid).
All I've got right now is canned air, Caig DeoxIT D5 in a spray can, and isopropyl alcohol, which comes in different concentrations -- which concentration do you recommend? Do you recommend any other cleaners or products specifically for cleaning/maintaining pots? Have I listed anything above that should *not* be used to clean/maintain pots? How about "lubes"? Does D5 leave enough "lube" or does it remove something from a pot that it shouldn't?
Depending on the construction of the pots, I may try setting the guitar "knobs up" with the back plate removed and clean from underneath after masking as well as possible with plastic or foil or whatever, then spray with D5 (or similar), turn the pot(s) fully back & forth completely many times, perhaps eventually with a DMM or "audio probe" (that I found on an "Instructables) on it to "see" or "hear" how "clean" each pot appears to be getting.
Thanks,
Bob
Peavey Foundation Bass Guitar has a description of the guitar and includes, "The electronics of the 1980's era Foundation were passive, single coil pickups that could be used individually or in unison based on how you set the volume knobs on the bass."
The following is a direct quote from the musician trying to desribe what is wrong with her guitar. She bought it new because she fell in love with its tone. She can't play it now because of the way it sounds. When she says "pod," she really means "pot":
"All knobs have the scratchy dirty pod sound. The middle knob (for lower pickup) is the main problem. I usually play with all knobs turned clockwise unless I need a slightly increased low frequency mix, so I will back off that middle knob. It then acts almost like it has a partial short somewhere-loss of overall tone and volume. No tapping or knob twisting really seems to help. I have replaced the jack twice, and had the pods blown out, thinking that was the issue. There was a little improvement for the next 2 times the bass was played, but the "fix" didn't hold (if there really ever was a fix). The bass has sat in the case for a year-took it out to play, and the problem is there, and is worse." She had taken it in to guitar repair shops in Gainesville, Florida for these "repairs."
==========
From her description above, I think all of her problem(s) may simply be dirty pots rather than failed pickups too. Peavey says that they no longer can supply replacements for those pickups. I'm hoping that a good & careful cleaning of the pots might bring the bass back to life.
I'm hoping that ~28 years of sweat, rain, dust, etc., haven't damaged the pickups because I saw a "rig interview" online where Ted Nugent claimed that his vintage guitars all had replacement pickups because his sweat seeped into the pickups and corroded them to the point that they had to be replaced. (Please no political comments here, he was truly serious about this.)
Any thoughts or recommendations on troubleshooting and repairing the 1986 Peavey Foundation Bass for my friend back to its original tone that she fell in love with when it was new and stayed that way for so many years? My thought is to try to first clean the pots *in* the guitar without desoldering anything and just try to do a "damn good" cleaning job (without soaking the wood with any cleaner/liquid).
All I've got right now is canned air, Caig DeoxIT D5 in a spray can, and isopropyl alcohol, which comes in different concentrations -- which concentration do you recommend? Do you recommend any other cleaners or products specifically for cleaning/maintaining pots? Have I listed anything above that should *not* be used to clean/maintain pots? How about "lubes"? Does D5 leave enough "lube" or does it remove something from a pot that it shouldn't?
Depending on the construction of the pots, I may try setting the guitar "knobs up" with the back plate removed and clean from underneath after masking as well as possible with plastic or foil or whatever, then spray with D5 (or similar), turn the pot(s) fully back & forth completely many times, perhaps eventually with a DMM or "audio probe" (that I found on an "Instructables) on it to "see" or "hear" how "clean" each pot appears to be getting.
Thanks,
Bob
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