[Rod Wolfe]

Bill, thanks for the suggestion! I may need it in the future.
For now,  I was able to keep working on the back cover as gently as possible and got it to finally pop off.
I cleaned up the inside and did give it a shot of Deoxit.
Next dried it out with a hairdryer and was surprised to see more normal ohm readings.
I decided to also insert a burnish tool against the spring loaded wiper for a couple of swipes.
End result is the original is working at maybe 75% with a couple of dead spots as I adjust it.
I was lucky enough to find a working sweet spot where it is knocking back enough of the inter-channel noise to make everyone happy.
For now I will leave it right where it is.
Hopefully another member can still suggest a known good after market replacement part number. After that I can perform a more permanent fix. 
Thanks again for the suggestions from all.