Hi Blatboy,
<offtopic>Good to hear from you - many greets to NYC!</offtopic>
Regarding the alpha encoders - hm, mine still rock the house, but am beginning to wonder, if there have been a few bad batches lately :smile:.
If you have not sealed them up, you could try opening them, and bending the metal lip upwards (towards the encoder wheel) - this should improve contact - i did it with mine after removing the detentions.
Many greets,
Peter