"I severely dislike having to turn the knob 3 revolutions to gain considerable volume"
I agree with that. As for the vol. encoder, it's the same prob that pots. have when they get "scratchy" if you can get a drop of WD-40 in the encoder then move it around it will solve the problem. Hey you can believe it or not but thats what I have used for 12 years on vcr "mode switches" which is nothing but a flat encoder, the WD-40 lubes as well as cleans just don't go crazy with it