Super Pro Changer Removal

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

I'm doing some re-rodding and such under the C6 neck of my newly acquired Super Pro, so I figured now would be a good time to pull the changer. It plays fine, but there's some visible dust build up in there, and it has likely never been taken out, cleaned, and relubed, so a cleaning is probably in order. Not sure how realistic it's going to be to push out the axle given that it's a D-10 and the Super Pro has only a very slight step down between necks. Do I need to pull the entire changer housing (in addition to the obvious removal of rods, springs, and strings)? Since mine is a wood neck, I'm guessing this does not require the removal of the whole neck, fretboard, etc. involved in some earlier posts about Buds of this era (1981).

Any advice from Super Pro owners before I start flinging parts around the room? I have torn down a Dekley and a Fender Artist (whose changer is somewhat different from the Super Pro, despite the common undercarriage) before, so I am only a near-novice at this, not a total newbie.

Thanks,

Dan

Dan

Don Sulesky · From: Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH

Dan
A few years ago I bought a 1983 and did a complete overhaul except for the changer. I had owned a new 1980 SuperPro before than and sold it.
I wanted another one used and it was in terrible condition.
Took me a month to restore.
If it were me I would remove all the strings on the C6th neck.
Turn the steel over and soak the heck out of the changer with some very light cleaning fluid.
I think I used acetone on mine.
The thing is to remove all the tension so the cleaning fluid can get onto the shaft.
I also have wooden necks on mine and I had no problem doing this. After it is clean you just need to lubricate the changer between the fingers.
I have been using a light gun oil on my steels for 40 years with no problem.
Good Luck. Very Happy

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Leon Campbell · From: Texas, USA

Dan, I've cleaned many Super Pro's and I all ways remove the housing, it's easier that way. You can
clean and lube and inspect each finger and put them back as to wear. Leon

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Don: I don't trust myself with fluids around a lacquer finish--I'm a klutz. Also I want to get a good look at the changer fingers

Leon: Can I simply unscrew the two forward screws and un do the two rearward hex bolts and then lift the housing with the changer straight up and out (after removing the rods, strings, and detaching the springs, of course)? Once out, it will be easy enough to drive out the axle.

Thanks,
Dan

Leon Campbell · From: Texas, USA

Dan, that is pretty much it, you will have to twist
it a little, it will not come straight up, but it's easy. Leon

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Great, that's about what I was expecting. Thanks, Leon.

I'll twist it a little, and if it won't come out, I'll shout.

...

"Well shake it up baby now, (shake it up baby)"

Sorry

Embarassed

Stuart Legg · Posted 25 Jun 2013 11:35 am

I hope you've go lots of Valium to take before you try getting all those springs hooked back up.
I know you have never dealt with those springs and those rod end clips before or you wouldn't be intertaining the idea of taking the whole changer out of a super-pro just to clean it. Confused

Removing all those rod and little rod end clips and trying to get them back on alone will put you in the nut house.

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Hey, if I could get that "knife-edge" axle-less changer back together on the Fender Artist, I'll take my chances on this one. I do remember the return springs being one of the hardest things to reassemble on the Dekley changer (no picnic on the Fender, for that matter). Will Jack Daniels work instead of Valium? I know a certain bass player who always keeps some handy...

Stuart Legg · Posted 25 Jun 2013 11:51 am

We had to take a big nine pound hammer away from Bo and hold him down to keep from him giving a sho-bud a hammered finish and he was just trying to change one finger of the changer. Laughing

Martin Weenick · From: Lecanto, FL, USA

Dan, if you remove the pull rods and unhook the return springs, remove the strings, the changer axle can be tapped out with a wood dowel or brass punch and the fingers will drop out the bottom of the changer.
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Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Martin,
I can't see how to get the dowel in position to knock out the axle since it's a D-10. In any case, I want to take the housing off and check everything out under there anyway.

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Well, in the end I did both. With the tension off the changer, the axle only needed a gentle push from the eraser end of a pencil (which I could get in at an oblique angle); I was able to pull it out the rear apron end and catch the fingers as they fell.

Taking off the housing was a little more trouble than I anticipated. I had to pry it up gently (with a guitar pick) and then had to remove the pickup screws for the housing to clear.

Changer fingers are in pretty decent shape, oily, but not filthy, and no grooves worn yet in the pot metal from the tab on the steel lowering plate. Still, lots of cleaning to do!

Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Deep into the cleaning process. Some of the hex cross shafts have burrs that prevent parts from sliding on and off easily. This raises two questions about sanding.

1) can Ii get into trouble by hand sanding with a relatively fine grade (i think it's 200)? Seems like i should be okay; hard to mess up the edge on a hex rod and, even if i did, there are five more for parts to grab on to , right?

2) I noticed that the parts I already did sand get a very nice "like-new" polished look after I hand rub them out. Any harm to lightly sanding all the hex shafts just for the cosmetics effect?

Mind you this is all by hand; no danger of my grinding these things down to the size of a Ticonderoga pencil.

Dan

Chris Lucker · From: Los Angeles, California USA

I have not had Super Pro parts on a guitar for a long time, so I cannot remember if the cross shafts are plated, but to remove a burr or set screw mark I would never consider sanding. Just use a fine file and work the impacted area alone. Sanding will work too wide of an area. Do you have a small, fine three corner file?

I do not think that your sandpaper is 200 grit if you are using it for making metal parts shiny. You are thinking more like 1600 wet dry -- the black paper. But truly, unless you are going to tumble all those underside parts in some walnut shell medium or something similar, you are only going to get a shine on the flat surfaces and all the irregular pieces will then look like crap. You really do need a tumbler to accomplish what you have in mind. I say tumbler but the machines are also called vibratory cleaners, or something like that.

The guitar did not shine like a jewel underneath when it was factory fresh, so why now? Just get it clean and burr free.

I wrestle with a lot of gunky guitars. I used to use copious amounts of brake parts cleaner, which is tremendous stuff but toxic. Now I boil the filthy metal parts in Simple Green and water. Then, depending on the part, I hand polish with a green pad, or white pad, or go to the buffing wheel, or the tumbler but the buffing wheel or tumbler are not really necessary to clean up a guitar unless you want it over the top shiny.
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Ron Pruter · From: Arizona, USA

Dan,
Just curious. How much wear did you notice on the axle shaft? The shaft will probably only have wear along one edge of the bar. I'd reinstall that worn side at the 7 or 8: o'clock position, viewed from the back. This should put the less used side over where all the friction takes place.

PS- I'm glad you didn't use acetone on the assembled guitar, as suggested. Bye bye finish. I have great results with naptha, brushes, and an air compressor. Ron
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Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Chris: I know, it's overkill. But my feeling is: I went to a lot of trouble getting all these parts out of there, I want it to look decidedly "newer" when they go back in. Also, psychologically, feeling everything smooth and polished reassures me that there's no dirt-attracting gunk going back under the hood.

Ron: surprisingly little sign of wear on the axle. I did mark which side was up and rotated accordingly, though. There were also no grooves in the pot metal part of the finger. Along with other evidence on the axe, I am starting to surmise that this guitar spent a large portion of its life in the case. I might revise that notion when I pull the E9 changer though...

Changer went in without any struggle. Easiest one of the three types of torn down and reinstalled. Even the return springs were no problem to reattach (and a nine pound hammer is a little to heavy for my size anyway, Stuart...) Waiting on some nylon washers from McMaster-Carr before I put the underside back in and give it a test drive.

Chris Caruso · From: Merrimack, NH USA

Who would that certain bass player be?

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Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

Yup, he da' one!

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