More unabashed endorsement

[Mark Hammer]

I've mentioned this stuff called Stabilant that a buddy turned me onto.  Not a contact cleaner, it bills itself as a stable longterm contact enhancer.  The more I use it, the more I am amzed at how many problems it has solved for me.  I have been bringing pedals back to life by the fistful this past 2 weeks.  Last night I dug out the Heladito (Small Clone) that I hadn't been able to get working.  The chips didn't seem to be properly seated in the sockets, so I applied tiny amounts of this stuff to the socket pins.  I also pried off the backs of the pots and applied a bit to the resistive element.  Put the pot covers back on, reseated the chips in the same clumsy fashion, and bingo...sweet chorus.

I suppose I could live without it if I spring for better pots and better IC sockets and better stompswitches, but I am increasingly impressed by how a little dab of this stuff is able to make lesser quality components behave in a much more dependable way.  I am also increasingly shocked by how many things I have been unable to get debugged and working right have been plagued by contact issues within the pots, sockets, and switches.

If I keep nattering on about this stuff, its more out of amazement and a desire to have others avoid the heartbreak that comes from these sorts of impediments to functioning pedals.  If there is something else out there that works in a similar fashion, get it.  Meanwhile, I can't remember when I've had such a string of successful builds, in terms of assembling it, firing it up, and it just works.

[Dirk_Hendrik]

Without having tried the stuff and therefore not allowed to have an opinion it feels like something I dumped online a while back in an annoyed mood:
Mojo Spray


With credits to some in the mojo topic a few weeks ago.
No offence Mark

[Mark Hammer]

No offence taken.

I'm as skeptical of mojo stuff as the next guy.  In this case, the recommendation came from a friend who operates a studio and studio gear company ( http://www.sageelectronics.com/ ).  While he works in the digital domain for some post-production, much of the initial work is done in the analog domain, and he has a room with a lot of knobs and buttons, some of which is "legacy" equipment that he bought from other people (e.g., he bought Leon Russell's old mobile recording setup).  In therealm of analog signals, contact continuity is pretty critical, so I thought I'd try the stuff out.  Initially, as he was describing it, I was thinking "I'm not springing forty bucks for a can of something that may do bugger-all".  But a place near me had these trial size vials of a half millilitre.  It doesn't sound like much but it was enough to do some good and at 50 cents a vial, it was a painless way to try it out.  You can find out more here:  http://www.stabilant.com/appnt01h.htm

I've been a lifelong user of budget spraycan contact cleaner from Radio Shack or wherever, and while those thin red tubes can get in places that are otherwise difficult to access and clear out crap that may have built up, they don't improve the contact, merely remove impediments to contact.  From the perspective of a pot wiper, though, a half mil of air is not much different than a half mil of gunk:they both impede contact.  So, if I'm building something, and I have the opportunity to get up close and personal with anything that involves a nonsoldered contact (sockets, switches, pots) moving from something that uses a shotgun approach to cleaning to something that uses a targetted approach to improving the quality of the contact made seems like a worthwhile effort, and if its feasible to do, go for it, right?

If it was a commercially built, functioning circuit, and I was "hearing things" after applying this stuff, then I'd be suspicious of mojo-itis too.  In this case, however, I've been really pleased with how I was able to make things go from not working to working dependably by directing my attention to working on the consistency of nonsoldered contacts.  You know, you make a board, check it for etch quality, make a point of using only new resistors and caps so that you don't have tarnish on the component leads impairing solder joint quality,  You use decent wire.  You use heatshrink to secure wire to lugs and prevent strain-related breakage or intermittents, you try and socket everything that can be socketed, you scrape away any vestiges of tarnish on IC and transistor pins, you check and double-check that all the parts are in the places where they should be, that nothing got overheated or static zapped during installation, that all ground connections that ought to have been made were made, and STILL the freaking thing doesn't work.  You twiddle the rate pot, the drive control, flick the switch, and nothing.  Then you wipe some drops the size of a sesame seed on a pot , twiddle the wiper to spread it around, put the cover back on, and the thing works all of a sudden.  Tends to induce some suspension of disbelief.

I suggested before that maybe some of the boutique people might consider pitching pretreated mechanical components as a product feature.  That doesn't mean that it has to be THIS product, or even that you have to say it was this product.  But if reasonably decent components can continue to have their contacts performing well for a long time under heavy use conditions, that's a nice thing.

I'd be curious if anyone has attempted to salvage a wah pot with this stuff.

[PenPen]

Mark,

That stuff has caught my interest since you first talked about it. Coming from you, its a pretty strong endorsement that it actually works, and works well. However, I've had my eye out for a supplier around here, and I can't find it anywhere. Is there an online source for this stuff? It really would be cool if you could convince SmallBear to become a distributer.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

It's worth reading the tech notes. www.stabilant.com
Fortunately the patents should run out soon (pat in 1987) so, maybe it will be $1 per gallon soon, here's hoping!

[formerMember1]

i have this stuff called ProGold G5 "The only product that conditions and protects plated surfaces and their base metals!"
"Enhancer, Lubricant and Preservative"  "Improve the flow of electricity on Plated Metal Surfaces!"
"Due to it's unique properties, it deoxidizes and cleans surface contamination, penetrates plated surfaces and molecularly bonds to the base metals- NO other product does this."  "Use on gold, silver, rhodium, copper, nickel and others."

that is what it says on the bottle, it was like $15.00 bucks at Guitar Center, in the PA system area.   Is this the same stuff you speak of?,...or is this just ordinary contact cleaner?

It does work for me the same as you describe though,..it really does a nice job, but for some reason i get the feeling the stuff you have is different,...

[Mark Hammer]

It is probably a different product from a different company with a different molecular structure, but it would appear to be aiming at the same target.  It may work better or just as well or almost as well.  I have no idea.  Stabilant is not aimed specifically as plated surfaces, which is why I put it on the resistive element of pots, but ProGold may well be able to do that too.  If it is in that category of things that may be called contact enhancers, then I guess is could also be used to do things like making switches and sockets more dependable.

[amz-fx]

I've mentioned this stuff called Stabilant that a buddy turned me onto.

It will not be $1 per gallon when the patents expire because the raw material is expensive stuff... but it won't be $15 per oz. either!

It is not the same chemical as ProGold.

-Jack