[morzh]

Another snag.

The volume pot is in a sorriest of shapes.
It was behaving funny, making noises, producing hum, and being 800k end to end.
The wiper was giving me many megohms in the middle.

I took it out, opened it (easy) and lightly cleaned it. It became almost fully open after that. The resistive path was probably next to open and one swipe of alohol moistened qtip did it in all the way.
I do not think a pencil rub is a good solution.

Well, will need a 500K taper.