Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

while manually adjusting input jack, simply tightening the bold with my fingers; broke a yellow wire from it's poorly soldered base.

No soldering iron. Do I have any options beyond taking it into a shop? I'm back in Fender land for now I guess.

Here is a picture of the internals (not mine) to show what it should look like.
http://www.blueskillet.com/Firebird_V.htm

thanks
Talbot

Mike,

Since there are only two wires it should be simple to figure it out. One is the shield and the other the signal from the pickups. You would do well to just buy a soldering iron and repair it your self as opposed possibly paying more than it would cost for the iron. At least you would be prepared for the next catastrophe.

I used to memorize complicated circuits easily and keep them in my head. Not so these days, but it is easy to take pictures of a projects wiring before you tear into it. That way is something else goes wrong you simply have to look at a jpg to see where things should be. I do that as well with mechanical stuff when I take something apart. Right from the start to the end. Then just follow the yellow brick road back to where you began after the repair is made.

You can get a cheap soldering iron (not gun) at Radio Shack (if they haven't closed up all the stores near you) for $10. Then get a roll of electronic solder (should be mostly silver, just a little tin). Clean the end of the wire, figure out where it's supposed to attach. Don't burn yourself. All guitarists should know how to do a simple solder-jack repair.

Thanks men. Slacker - I'm fixin' to gird up my loins...

Mike - note that I have just a touch of a bizarre condition called Synesthesia - numbers seem to have colors - that sort of nonsense.

It makes it very hard for me to under mechanical relationships - don't know why. I was accused of cheating on my armored cars exam - mechanical phase. Turns out I'd managed a sort of first - lowest grade in history. My gunnery was high nineties and they couldn't figure out why one and not the other. The US Army said I was brilliant - except for one thing, "You can't seem tell a circle from a square!"

For many years my brother Dan did that sort of thing for me. I truly hate to tackle it but I think you may be right. I'm just afraid I'll screw up my all time favorite guitar.

Talbot

You can't do much to screw up a guitar by soldering a jack (keep the iron away from the paint/finish!) Worst comes to worst, you desolder, and start again. Look on youtube, I'm sure there are plenty of 'how to' videos.
Tips: wait for the iron to heat up completely before using it. Touch the end of the solder to the iron tip, it should melt and smoke immediately. Sit the iron on an old metal or ceramic ashtray (they're heat resisitant) while it heats up.
Have a wet/damp cellulose sponge nearby - you can use this to wipe off the iron tip if it builds up solder.
Put some aluminum foil around the guitar if its close to where you're soldering to protect the guitar finish.

A couple of years ago a wire came off the jack of my semi-hollow guitar, now fishing that out, and getting everything back in place WAS a job!

talbot....as gtrmike said, it's no biggie. and soldering skills ain't brain surgery. one thing i would add....make sure you heat the tong on the jack w the iron. get it hot and then touch the solder to the jack w the wire in place.

A couple of years ago a wire came off the jack of my semi-hollow guitar, now fishing that out, and getting everything back in place WAS a job!

oh, man....i HATE fishing expeditions w semi hollows! they are the WORST!

my '67 Guild Starfire bass has what is not so affectionally known as "the suck switch". i believe it has a capacitor attatched to it that rolls off most of the lows for a supposed "baritone gtr tone" (yeah right!). it's a common prct to remove this from the circuitry because even when not employed....the signal runs thru it and allegedly robs some tone.

i've never wanted to get in there because it's such a pain in the arse and truth be told.....that bass sounds DAMN good as it is!

talbot.... i say roll up your sleeves and go for it, bro.... just don't burn your fingertips!

When working with a semi-hollowbody, tie a nice long piece of dental floss around the stem - the threaded jack, or the control pot stem first. Don't use regular sewing thread, it'll break on you! Tie something else on the other end of the floss - the jack nut, for example, so you don't accidentally pull the whole piece of floss into the guitar. When you're done with your fixing, use the floss to pull the jack or pot back into place. Get some long-nose needlenose pliers or locking tweezers to fish through the f-holes or control holes.

TIP: if you have a guitar jack coming loose on you regularly, don't keep turning the nut to tighten it- this is what will eventually turn the thing so many times that you yank a wire off it. Instead, take the nut off, drop the jack out to check the wires are stilll ok, then put back into place, use needlenose pliers on the INSIDE of the jack (where you insert your cable plug) - spread the handles wide to open up the pliers jaw and hold the jack securely while you tighten up the nut with another set of pliers or a small wrench.

Again - thanks boys.

Mike - that Tip made sense and probably suggests how I broke the wire in the first place.

Bought a soldering iron and now I'm girding up loins...

Talbot

I have a guitar with a recessed Jack. I've always hated it. And it's loose all the time!
Probably ready to do just what you're talking about. I can't solder, though. I've bought all of the supplies, watched YouTube videos of it. Still never done it.

I have a guitar with a recessed Jack. I've always hated it. And it's loose all the time!
Probably ready to do just what you're talking about. I can't solder, though. I've bought all of the supplies, watched YouTube videos of it. Still never done it.

Even with a recessed jack (Teles and Strats both gave 'em) you cna use the two needlenose pliers method, it's just trickier. If you can get an extra set of hands to assist - holding the inside pliers steady, for example - it makes it easier.

Thanks. The finest Mexican luthiers Fender could outsource their manufacturing to.

So I bought a soldering iron and decided to fix it. Of course I lost my nerve. I called Ken Stanton Music (my favorite Atlanta vendor) and Glen (mgr) told me they didn’t do that stuff there – they send it out. But then he said, “Wait a minute – is that the white Firebird? Bring it in!”

I took it in and he fixed it just like that. He refused to accept payment so I gave him my soldering kit! 

We plugged it into an Orange amp to test - that darn thing sounded sweet.

Talbot

Cool.
Soldering is not that hard though, once you know how. A little bit of be freakin careful and it can be done without damaging anything. I hate doing hollow bodies, fishing the pots in and out is...ok tedious...to say the least. Last one I did I found some string still attached to the volume pot that had to be replaced, that's how they get them in there.

Soldering...I use paste flux, I was never able to get the flux core solder to work right. Paper towel or natural sponge to clean the iron, alligator clips for heatsinks if needed.

Tin everything. Put a small dab of flux on the contact, melt a small blob of solder onto the tip, touch it to the wire or part, it will flow onto the part, following the flux. Takes 2-3 seconds max. Soldering it together is the same, put both tinned parts together and do the exact same thing, works every time. Wipe the soldering tip on the wet sponge before each use.

I was taught by a friend who worked for Westinghouse. I never knew what he did, I tried to solder a guitar jack one day at his house and he finally asked me if he could show me how to do it right. I told him if he could show me how to make the damn stuff stick I'd love it, that's the way he showed me. Then I found out he had been soldering calculators together every day for 8 years...

I know what the standard method is, heat parts, touch solder to it. The method he taught me works even better, leave the soldering tip in contact with the parts for a couple of seconds and it creates enough heat to let it work. Doesn't take long, 2 or 3 seconds will do an excellent job on a guitar jack. Practice on a few scrap wires first to be sure you can do it right. Good solder joint should be shiny, smooth and silver, bad or "cold" solder joint will be dull, and grey, often lumpy.

To tighten the jack I do it the same way, open it up so I can get to the back side, hold the back side of the whole unit with pliers, tighten the nut with a socket or wrench. I never use pliers on the nut, good way to round off the corners. I never grab the contacts with pliers, the jack has a larger round base, I hold that with regular pliers and avoid twisting one of the spring contacts. (been there done that...) If you have to replace a wire entirely, I keep some old wires out of dead stereos and stuff around just for that, it's usually about the right size. The wires in computers going to the LED's and speakers works too. After 15 years of working on computers, I have plenty of that too.

most important detail while soldering is to use a heat sink, rather have a cold solder joint that can be rectified at a later time, then having excessive heat melt a pot or two..