ARP Omni 1 slider

I have been in the repair process on a customer’s ARP Omni. One of the problems is that the release is unusually long for the strings section and is not affected by the release slider. In checking the slider, I measured it’s value at 55k ohms. The schematic and parts list indicate it should be a 10K ohm linear. The part number matches the parts list that indicate this part (5709705) should be a 10K ohm. Even measuring the carbon strip when I had the slider apart for cleaning measured 55K.

Has anyone run across this before - the value of a slider “aging” that drastically (10k to 55K)??

slider