Acoustic/electric loose jack...

whjr15

whjr15

New member
So the 1/4'' jack on my acoustic/electric (martin DXME if it matters) is loose, almost to the point of coming completely off. The problem is, I have no idea how to hold the nut on the inside in place - so I can tighten the outside one.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
THIS, and of course Jack the Gripper are great tools for this, but you don't need it. First, undo both the nuts on the outside (the strap button nut, and the other one). Carefully pull the jack out, and tighten the nut on the inside. I like to have the "lip" of the jack be one or two threads inside the butt of the guitar (I have this great metal rod that is ground like a 1/4 plug makes this very easy, but again you don't NEED it). put on the washer and tighten the flat nut on the outside by hand, and then use a small screw driver or metal dowel or whatever fits in the little hole on the jack while you tighten the nut with a 1/2" open ended wrench. The wrench usually fits - if not, you might be able to do it with a really small Crescent wrench (like a 4" C-wrench). You want it tight, but don't King Kong the thing - it's not held by that many threads, so it's pretty easy to strip. Put on the strap nut, and you're done.

Oh, while you're at it, you should check the solder joints on the jack - they tend to get twisted around when they are loose, which can cause the solder joints to break.

[lecture] Not all the time, but frequently this is caused by under-humidifying the guitar. The end block shrinks just enough for the nut to no longer be tight, and then the vibration of playing the guitar causes it to get looser and looser and looser...etc. If you humidify your guitar properly, this is MUCH less likely to happen. At this point of the year, humidity is probably not going to be a problem much longer, but you should still read the sticky at the top of the forum on humidity problems. There is a reason I said it was super important! [/lecture]


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Good words, Light, but I had to get the stewmac tool so I could tighten the tail pin jack on a sound-well style Dobro. My hands aren't skinny enough to work a wrench back through the holes in one.
 
Thanks a lot for the advice guys. I've never had to tighten a jack on an acoustic before, so I'm pretty weary of losing it inside.

Light - so you're saying I'd be able to fix this externally? Meaning I wouldn't have to somehow reach in the inside to hold the inside nut in place?
 
lpdeluxe said:
Good words, Light, but I had to get the stewmac tool so I could tighten the tail pin jack on a sound-well style Dobro. My hands aren't skinny enough to work a wrench back through the holes in one.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the OP is talking about a Martin, with a Fishman Switchjack, and I've tightened hundreds of those over the years, and know exactly what the thing looks like.


whjr15 said:
Thanks a lot for the advice guys. I've never had to tighten a jack on an acoustic before, so I'm pretty weary of losing it inside.

Light - so you're saying I'd be able to fix this externally? Meaning I wouldn't have to somehow reach in the inside to hold the inside nut in place?
Click to expand...


You are almost certainly going to have to tighten the nut on the inside of the guitar. There is usually no way around that, because if you don't the little lip on the jack will keep you from tightening the outside enough. Just loosen the strings on the guitar, reach in, and be careful. I've got pretty bulky arms, and I can usually reach the jack on a D, so unless you're either really fat or really ripped it shouldn't be a problem.;)


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
You are almost certainly going to have to tighten the nut on the inside of the guitar. There is usually no way around that, because if you don't the little lip on the jack will keep you from tightening the outside enough. Just loosen the strings on the guitar, reach in, and be careful. I've got pretty bulky arms, and I can usually reach the jack on a D, so unless you're either really fat or really ripped it shouldn't be a problem.;)


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...

Haha ok. I figured as much, I just didn't want to go reachin in there aimlessly. I'll give it a try this weekend when I have some spare time.


Thanks again!
 
If you've got a piece of 1/4" steel rod laying around, you could (gently) push it in the jack and us that to maneuver the jack around. Not quite as good as the tool I've got, which has a "jack" ground into the end of it, but it would probably work.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
No specialised tools needed, but some string - I use whipping twine, if you cannot tighten the nut externally. Remove the tightening nut, strap holder nut and washer from the outside. Take care not to loose the jack plug inside the guitar. Thread the string through the two holes on the jack plug. (previously described)
Reach in through the sound hole to the wire connecting the jack ang gently pull it out, the string will pull through the hole in the guitar, make sure you have control of the ends. When you have delivered the jack plug through the soundhole you will be able to adjust appropriately the internal nut, then you can pull on the string to deliver the jack back through the guitar and reapply the washer, bolt and strap holder. Simple.
 
One way to do it (if you can't reach inside,like with a semi-hollowbody guitar: take a pair of thin-nosed needle-nose pliers, insert into the jack, then push the plier arms apart and hold them tight to keep the jack from turning, then use a wrecnh, or another set of needlenose pliers to tighten the nut.
 
Get a jigsaw.

Cut a big hole in the bottom of the guitar.

Stick your hand through that and hold the bits while you screw the nut back on.
 
gecko zzed said:
I'm thinking that OP would have figured it out by now . . . after all, he posted the question about three years ago!
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that. The OP is from Ohio and after 4 years those people still didn't figure out that Obama is a weasel.
 
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