Is there any easy fix for this, or am I screwed (pardon the pun)?

Those look like they need to be removed/replaced, which shouldn't be a big deal on a circuit board that sparsely populated.  I don't know if you're going to get them working any other way.

That was my suspicion.

What in the hot-tipped screwdriver happened there?

If the sound is good do they need to be adjustable?  
Seriously, I tweaked the pots in my Distillate once, had the wisdom to mark where they were prior to tweaking and ended up putting them back where they started.


Paul (who needs to put the iPad down and go to sleep)

It's coming out of a bass with a broken neck to be used for some future harebrained scheme of mine, so I have no idea how it sounds.

We have a reasonable $125 flat rate for repair/replace of PF-6 boards.

Sounds like a plan.

as a recovering amp repairman who's rehabbed a lot of jacked-up stuff, i have a hard time visualizing how any kind of compentent person cound bugger up not just 1 but 4 pots that way.
too bad ya dont live in the mile high, i could swap those out for ya lickety-split.  right now i got our guit@rist's marshall valve-state in my garage workshop getting its cracked solder joints shiny-ed up.  come on down!

I stared at them for a while — all I can think is someone tried adjusting them with a soldering iron.

The drugs must have been very good.

Perhaps they were stripped with a screwdriver and someone tried to "fix" them using solder? Or an attempt to ensure settings cant be changed?

Whatever they did, their choice is baffling.

Quote from: Nova Constellatio on August 11, 2026, 08:29:23 AMWhatever they did, their choice is baffling.

I gave this some thought yesterday after seeing the picture and all I could come up with is that was on purpose, for ill or other intent.

I think you might be right. The bass it came off of looks like it was run over a couple times.

Definitely has "bad boyfriend" vibes.

I admit, that one's a puzzle, but fool with guitar repair long enough and you'll see some things that defy any explanation.

I've even watched it happen.

I spent a week removing the collapsed top from a Kay bass for a guy. It was badly delaminated, had obviously been wet many times and exposed to extremes of every kind. But what did it in was the bridge had been positioned about 2 or 3 inches forward of where it should be, shortening the scale and robbing the top of any meaningful support from the soundpost. It was practically shoving through, and the bridge was sinking in. Not only that, it was cantered on a slant, as if to be a compensated saddle. 🤔 First clues.

Long story short, I fixed it all. Pressed the top back out, reglued all the loose plys, reinforced the bridge area with a patch, and reassembled. Set it all back up and called the cowboy. He immediately copped a scowl upon seeing his "Stradivarius of Doghouses" and told me I'd put the bridge in the wrong place. I assured him I'd located it exactly where it belonged; at 41-3/4", as per Kay's general scale length. He wuddn't havin' it. Naw. You godda' turn it some or it won't note out rite! I tried to explain why that wasn't so. Our conversation was going downhill fast so I just hand-billed the guy and wished him well. He took that bass, laid it on its back in his truck bed (no case of course) and yanked the bridge right back where he had it to start with. I heard the crunch. Oh well. 🤷

*Here's a great book full of stories. I'm sure it's available online. My buddy and mentor Ward Elliott loaned me his copy. 

That poor bass.