General Music Chat

Does anybody have a trick for tightening a loose jack on a Gretsch? I can't tighten the outside nut without the jack spinning inside the guitar. There's no way to reach the jack through th F-holes to hold it still. I've tried plugging a cord into it and putting sideways pressure on the 1/4 inch plug to hold the jack still while tightening the nut, but no dice. It's loose enough so there's not enough of the jack threads protruding past the nut to grab a hold of it either.

there is a tool for that. if you have anyone who does guitar repair work in your area they would have one.
a good mechanic may have something similar try going to a local car dealer or a good garageand ask the mechanics there.

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Hang on...you got needlenose pliers?
Stick the closed plier tips in the hole,(not real deep, a 1/4 inch or so) then open them with one hand while turning the nut with the other. "DO NOT PUSH THE PLIERS IN OR ROTATE THEM"
It should give you enough outward pressure to hold the shaft still while you tighten the nut.

Hope this works for ya...does it even make sense?

That just happened to my epi dot. The jack actually fell inside the body (I didn't catch that it was loose)

I had to use a small surgical tweezer/clamp, shake the input jack to near the hole, got inside in jack, opened the tweeze thingies and got it to come back out of the hole.

Once out, I kept the tweezers open inside the jack to hold it in place and then used needle-nose pliers to tighten the nut. Oh, and I had to put the nut on the inside of the tweezers themselves beforehand so that when I got the jack out, the nut could slide right down the tweezers onto the jack and get threaded w/o the jack falling back inside the guitar.

Took a couple of tries, but once I got the nut threaded a little and the threat of the jack falling back inside the guitar was gone, it was easy to tighten the nut back down (did same thing franny suggested in the post before mine). And this time, it ain't getting loose again!

Good luck.

Hang on...you got needlenose pliers?
Stick the closed plier tips in the hole,(not real deep, a 1/4 inch or so) then open them with one hand while turning the nut with the other. "DO NOT PUSH THE PLIERS IN OR ROTATE THEM"
It should give you enough outward pressure to hold the shaft still while you tighten the nut.

Hope this works for ya...does it even make sense?

Hey now, that makes sense, thanks. I wonder if it would help to have a small bit of fine emery paper between the pliers and the inside of the jack for more friction.

Maybe, but shouldn't be necessary. Usually you can hold the jack still pretty well with needle nose pliers or hemostats. If you have some of the really long hemostats they can be used to hold the jack through the f-hole by grabbing the contact tab on the back side. Shorter 6" hemostats will work on some guitars.

I've also used a screwdriver, wedging it against the contact. A magnet might get it through the hole, if you have a magnet on a handle that's small enough to get inside the hole. It's not too difficult to hold it in place long enough to get a grip on it with pliers or hemostats.

A drop of fingernail polish in the threads will help prevent it coming loose again, I've kept some on hand for years. I need to replace the clear, it's the one used most for this kind of thing. Keeps jacks in place quite well in spite of the vibration they're subjected to. Fingernail polish also works great for repainting fishing lures. Dip it in the water for a minute and it's dry, ready to use and you can paint jig heads any color you want in 2 minutes. I've kept red, blue, yellow, green, chartreuse and black in my tackle box for years. Need to replace them all actually...

Oh...just one drop is plenty for threads. A little is good, a lot IS NOT great, same as with oil.

Where else can you get tips on both guitar repair AND refinishing fishing lures all at one time?

Heres one for ya. (I've used fingernail polish for years to mount rifle scopes. dead zero forever.)

Been repairing guitars in the shop where I work. Loose jacks, loose pots, sh*t for strings. Throwing away old dropme straps etc.
This one though, after restinging and tuning has a huge dead spot on the first string. Sounds ok for a older inexpensive guitar till I get down to around the twelth to fourteenth fret. Then nothing. Like I turned the amp off. Simitone down music, simitone up nada. WTF?
Any suggestions?

High fret.

Lay a 18" or 24" ruler across the frets. I'd almost bet you'll see one or two high ones in that area. In absence of a ruler you can use the strings, capo at 1st fret, press down at last one and look. Check with a feeler gauge if you have to. A 12" ruler will work too, and will offset some of the backbow if the neck has a heavy one, you'll only be doing half the neck at a time. High frets should still show.. You might even be able to see it looking down the side of the neck. If it's a set neck, they have a tendency to develop a hump where the neck joins the body, especially acoustics. This can cause a similar situation but is more tedious to deal with. I've been fighting the hump in my Takamine for 5 years, finally got the end frets down so the slight hump has very little effect. It just sounds too good to give up on it...

A bit of filing or sanding might be in order, but first try tapping it with a hardwood block, it might just be loose in the fret slot. Be sure and support the back of the neck well directly underneath the problam area. Tap lightly, you're not forcing a support beam under a two story house...

If the frets turn out to be uneven all the way, use a long file or sandpaper taped to a long planer (with blade removed please) and level them, then a careful re-crowning job is in order. (That means replacing the rounded fret tops with a fret file or small file with edges dulled) I modified a small triangular file for crowning, rounded off all 3 edges on a grinder so it won't cut into the fretboard, and I put masking tape alongside the frets to avoid scratches. Buff with fine sandpaper or scotchbrite to smooth the file marks.

It's a tedious process, and takes 2-3 hours, but makes a guitar playable again when frets were not properly leveled at the factory (very common on cheap guitars, not unusual on mid range ones) or after a few years of playing when it develops fret grooves.

While you're at it, check the ends of the frets and touch up if necessary, they shouldn't stick out far enough to hang your hand when moving along the neck. A two sided foam fingernail file works great for this and a fine grit one is good for buffing frets in general.

Actually gear and tech discussioin would be a better place for both of these issues, for future reference.

I have plenty of tools at my disposal as I do some of the gunsmith tasks at the shop. (particularly fond of S&W revolvers) I will look into the fret level process as you outlined but I doubt if my boss wants me to spend that kind of time on a pawn guitar. It,s amazing to me how poorly the actions are set up and total lack of intonation on some of these little axes.
You have a wealth of info running in that bald head. Thank you!

Thanks, I've been at it for years and years, and very rarely let anyone else "fix" my guitars. I found out long ago I can do a much better job than 90% of them, and have the tools because I was once a machinist for 8 years and have always tried to pick up anything that might work for guitar maintenance/repairs. Plus I'm just a tool junkie anyway, it's almost as bad as the dreaded Guitar Acquisition Syndrome... Got the 24" machinist rule a year ago or so at a local auction, $3 for a box of stuff, the $35 (or more) Starrett was the only thing in the box I wanted...

A lot of the info I've picked up also comes from research, especially online. A number of luthiers have set up websites with excellent instructions for doing just about anything to a guitar you might think up. Frets is one of the best. I got the idea for my fret crowning file from a friend locally who repairs guitars, since actual fret files cost a lot of bucks, he ground the corners off a small triangular file and uses that. He's also the one who turned me on to foam fingernail files for buffing. I've been amazed how well they work.

One thing I forgot, you can use a 6" or 12" ruler over short areas and check to see if it rocks back and forth over a fret. That's useful if a high fret isn't very visible.

Gunsmithing is another area I've tinkered with but not as heavily as guitar repair. Mostly minor stuff, and learned as a kid how to disassemble and clean every gun in the house, that was my chore after we came in from the woods. No nap, no go outside and be a KID...I had to clean the guns...I can take a Winchester Model 12 down, clean and reassemble blindfolded...I did it once with my eyes closed just to prove it to myself, my father never knew the next time he took it out I had no idea if it was actually right, I just knew it would shift shells through properly. I did look to make sure the barrel was clean, but that's the only time I peeked. I didn't get my ass beat so I guess it worked fine...He took it duck hunting once with his brothers and it was the only shotgun that was usable, everything else froze and wouldn't shoot, all automatics. He had to break the ice off his model 12 every time, but it would still fire...

Yes I also clean and repair all my fishing reels, I've been reworking Ambassadeurs since I was 10, guns before that. Rebuilt the engine in my Jeep myself too...(but that was only a year ago...) I'm partial to Ruger if you're talking pistols...can't beat a good Single Six for a .22

I have one gun I won't fool with now, an early 1900's H&R long tom 32" barrel with broken hammer tang and loose pivot pin. (last patent date stamped on it is 1905 or 1907) Kicks like a mule and throws buckshot way out there...but I never fire it any more because the pivot pin is loose - it's dangerous, so it's now a wall hanger. I'm not good enough with firearm repair to do it myself and don't trust most shops. After a local amp tech swapped out my tubes for old weak ones, I avoid letting anyone else work on any of my stuff. Right now I dont have the $75 or so to replace a quad of 6L6's...the amp sounds weak and wimpy, and that's my clean amp. I could handle it much easier if it were the Super Reverb, since the MX will do everything but the cranked tube amp sound the Super does so well. The MX is all about cleans...no breakup at all, even at really LOUD volumes... But nooooooo...the guy had to swap tubes in the MX...He'll never touch another of my amps...

Deadspots...Fender was/is notorious for this.
If you find the frets check out, are level and have a good seat then it's the classic fingerboard to neck glue. An impossible fix to us hacks, what it is; is the neck and fingerboard bond isn't quit up to snuff compared to the rest of the board.
I recorded a deadspot; the decay rate is pretty obvious. Frets 7, 8, 9 ,10, 11, 12 on the D string of a bass.