CTS Pots: Groundwater Pollution in NC

[Robbie Collins]

I'm rethinking my use of CTS pots after reading an article in the Atlantic about the extremes CTS Corp has gone to avoid responsibility and cleanup of it's former NC manufacturing site.

[Robbie Collins]

Oh yeah: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/03/dont-drink-the-...

[Andrew]

That's so much like Erin Brokovich it's almost hard to believe. I doubt I'll be using their products any longer. The worst thing is, how many other such companies have done similar things that you don't hear about...

[Paul Verticchio]

Guys,

In fairness, in 1959 when the plant began production, there were little to zero environmental laws on the books. When the plant closed in 1986, there were only a few. ALL industrial manufacturers did the same thing. That's not a defense... just a fact to put the article in a perspective it's author ignored.

I agree 100000% that it's a sucky situation. I can guarantee you that political and financial influences had a lot to do with the discovery & cleanup efforts, but that's a discussion for a different forum. Back to guitar stuff.....

The type of contamination referenced in that article were common to all electronics industry manufactures. Case in point: The makers of vacuum tubes. They used all sorts of creepy crawly things to make the rightfully celebrated vacuum tubes. That's why today's tube production takes place in Russia, China (yuck to Russian & China tubes) and Eastern Europe (good stuff)!! When it comes to environmental responsibility, they are truly many decades behind the pace of the USA, Britain, Japan & Australia.

To extend the effect, when we buy or install NOS tubes in amps, we're perpetuating the same disservice to the environment. Watching electro components being made is a lot like watching sausage being made. It's something we shouldn't do as the consumers of the product ;)

To allow all of us to rest comfortably, the pots made by CTS for use in MI equipment are a micro percentage of their total production. Same for other components used in MI gear. The MI Industry is keeping no manufacturer in the black.

All modern (2000 & beyond) component manufacturers in the USA have to meet & maintain strict environmental standards and hopefully we won't read about today's factories in a future article like this one. 

I use CTS pots exclusively whenever possible.  They are consistent, feel great and are built like a tank. I can't say the same for either Alpha or Bournes.  The combination of CTS pots, Switchcraft Switches & Jacks and G&H 1/4" plugs are an unbeatable combination for reliability and super audio performance.

All that being said... if anyone can direct me to a pot equivalent to CTS's at a similar price (Canadian made PEC's are awesome but they're $30+ a pop), I'm always open to something new & better :)

[Andrew]

The quality of CTS pots compared to others is so clear it's a non issue (which is not to say all the others don't perform their function well - you just have to do some quality control - and some of the others offer options that CTS won't). The issue is that CTS Corp has gone beyond shirking responsibility for the situation to the point of seeking legal action against people testing property they no longer own (as I understood it). Even if "that's how things were done" was an excuse for the contamination of our most valuable resource, it still does nothing to explain the fact that they're doing nothing to own up to the problem and even trying to hide it. So if this article is accurate, I have strong reservations about using CTS pots in the future, and if a customer requests them, Ill just explain the situation and point them towards the PECs if they really think they are that demanding of their pots (most players aren't). Im not a tree hugger, and the loss of my business would never shake a company like CTS, but I don't like assholes getting their way just because they're good at being assholes.

[Paul Verticchio]

"but I don't like assholes getting their way just because they're good at being assholes."

Amen to that!!!!! :) All other comments are VERY well stated. Makes me think about it more.

Thanks Andrew :)

[Andrew]

I have my moments lol.

Of course it would be painful for some to go with a lesser quality/unfamiliar product. If we were talking about Switchcraft then Im not sure what I would do. With musical instruments being fairly specialized and suited to particular tastes, we only have so much choice for certain parts and materials, so a call like this isn't easy to make.

Also, full disclosure, I could be called a hypocrite, smoker that I am, for supporting the tobacco industry. But I do that knowingly and (somewhat) willingly.

[Glen H]

Don't feel too bad Andrew, most of the money you pay for smokes goes to taxes politicians like.  They are the hypocrites.

[Russell Vance]

Umm,

Unless we wish to go into such niceties as mahogany and ebony/rosewood deforestation, ivory sale and trafficking  and other things such as the use of animals to make glue or the exploitation of non-union sweatshop labor (and that includes south of the border stuff) I suppose I would view anything relating to remonstrating against or punishing manufacturers or suppliers for unethical, or morally unconscionable conduct or similar as being a very slippery slope to traverse on our forum.

One cannot "cherry pick" from the long and comprehensive list of environmental and socio/demographic-economic disasters that the Capitalists exploiters and the resource end users are responsible for.   So while it's disturbing in particular, it's unmanageable in the entirety that it would have to be dealt with if fully exposed here at our place.  I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying here is probably not the place.

Sincere  Regards,

Rusty: Fully paid up Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Sea Shepherd supporter and Capitalist business owner.  We do our best to balance it all but it's a day to day moral dilemma.

[RETROROD]

I have just read the Atlantic Journal article that Robbie put up. Oddly, living on the East Coast of NC, I had not a clue that CTS had a former facility near Ashville. It IS a sad story, but one of many. Beautifull mountainous area!

My first thought ,about the idea of boycotting CTS products, is that I can think of many...... more serious wrongs ,that I would like to see righted and take a stand on!

"but I don't like assholes getting their way just because they're good at being assholes." could apply to a lot of people in "public service" as well!

Paul and now Rusty broke the ice for me as they express MUCH and SOME of my feelings about the topic.

Rod

[LARRY KLOSE]

Unfortunately, American Industrial history is full of stories of environmental degradation from their processes and disposal practices going back to the mining excesses of the 19th century to the present day.  .  In the MI category, Conn (now Conn-Selmer, a division of Steinway) has a VOC cleanup site in Nogales, AZ, 35 miles down the road from where we live.  They first started working on the problem in 1980 and cleanup continues to the present day, even though manufacturing stopped in 2003.  The USAF has been cleaning up underground VOC contamination at the base in Tucson ever since I've lived around here--moved in 1993.  At least CTS is still around to address the cleanup issue from their former site--and the EPA should hold them to it (it appears from the Atlantic article that EPA dropped the ball big time!)

.  As said above, more modern plants have much higher compliance requirements, at least  on a go-forward basis.

I did environmental work in Silicon Valley a number of years before I moved to Arizona.  You don't want to know what's in the ground (water) there, although California's environmental agencies and EPA are more on top of the cleanups.  A sale of a small business property to a former client came with a huge underground contamination issue from the dry cleaning operation and its leaky solvent tanks that was there before.  The seller just walked away.  There's all kinds of underground VOC's all over the place from the earlier years of the electronic explosion that occurred in the 20th century.  The cleanups go on for decades.

While not condoning the sins of the past, at least buying CTS products will give them a revenue stream that might help them to fund the cleanup and keep their plants clean in the future.  It's not a unique situation for a manufacturing business that's been around for a while.

Larry

[Hesh Breakstone]

Some great posts guys!

Well that settles it and I'm going to do what I always do when this stuff comes up - blame G*bson..... ;)

[Ned Knepp]

The only reason that we know about this is because the U.S has made some pretty good movement in the "save the earth" department. What CTS did wasn't any different than what the competition did. Are those of you that are considering a CTS boycott sure that the components that you will use as replacements are cleaner?  Yeah, CTS is being and ass about ownership of the issue, but, we can see that simply because we know about the situation. Do you know that their competition would be any better about it?  

I guess the point is that if I took this approach to the products that I use, I wouldn't drive my car for fear that the gas, oil, steel, plastic, rubber, coolant... came from pollution producing companies that have past records of leaving their mess for others to deal with. My computer's system board and pretty much ever other electronic board in my household were almost all made in china. If you think they use environmentally protective processes you haven't been watching the news about the air quality over there.  

 It's pretty much a fact that manufacturing produces pollution. How do you handle your finishes? How much of the overspray and fumes did/do you catch? Old cans of finish? How did/do you dispose of the filters? Every corporation that has been found to be a gross polluter has to be forced to accept responsibility for their actions. Their investors don't like it when they loose money and in case the idea of the rich getting richer comes up, please remember that there are a LOT of small, middle class investors with money in these companies, often in the form of investment funds that are offered at their place of employment as retirement funds. These companies may put a good face on for the public (thinking BP, anyone) but they really don't like putting out money to clean up their mistakes.

If CTS makes the best pots for the money than going with a lesser quality product just doesn't make any sense to YOUR business.  If the replacement you use goes bad in a couple of years, the owner won't think about CTS and their pollution, they will wonder that YOUR work didn't last longer.  You won't hurt anyone but yourself and your customer using a lesser product and the idea of boycotting a company that you think should spend money on cleanup is a bit like thinking that debtor's prison is a way to get debts payed isn't it? 

Personally I think a better approach would be to continue to purchase their products and use your "association" with them as a consumer as reason to contact the company to let them know you like their products but that their reputation is suffering because they don't appear to be willing to take full responsibility for their past mistakes.  You can put their pots in your clients guitars and use that as a reason to bring up the idea that CTS needs to clean up it's past. Maybe they will be willing to contact the company too.  It just doesn't seem like an either/or situation to me. You can have your pots and complain too. In the mean time, I'm going to put some gas in my truck, check the oil and coolent, kick the tires and go for a spin.