Question for technicians

Thanks, folks... I was thinking about touching up the solder points but the contact cleaner idea makes more sense to try at first. With me not being skilled at solder, I guess I could actually create additional trouble. I'll see if I can find some of that Caig ProGold

I bought a can of CRC (QD) Electronic Cleaner. I did this before seeing the last 3 posts as I figured this stuff was all basically the same thing.

After removing the knob with a small allen the shaft seemed to have no wiggle room going into the faceplate... extremely tight clearance. I sprayed liberally around the "opening" and worked the control back and forth hoping the cleaner would penetrate. On the other side of the faceplate (inside the chassis) the switch shaft goes into a housing of some sort where I can't get at it there.

When I hooked the preamp back up and tested it worked fine for a couple of days but now it is occasionaly failing again. Each time it fails I simple jiggle the selector to balance the sound again. But it only stays good for a while.

Since the cleaner did seem to have an effect, I guess I will repeat the same action with the cleaner, only work it more and for a longer time.

Any further ideas or suggestions? (thanks)

Just for the record, I believe I said "selector" switch in an earlier post, but the faulty switch is actually the balance control (L to R) ... I'll try Atmasphere's vigorous attack method as that stuff seems to dry instantly and I doubt that it has any penetrating ability.

this is an arc sp9-ii if you happen to know what style pots it has... I worked the switch many times as you suggested and it appears fine. hope it holds up. thanks

Twice I have rotated the bal switch end to end maybe 50 times. It works for quite a while and then you do it again. I guess the friction burnishes the contacts enought to eliminate the oxidation and make a good contact. In due time, the cycle repeats.... thanks to all of you who contributed to the issue!