Question about jack

[RideTheCrash]

My friend has this (low end) Peavey guitar he's been using for a couple of years now. He still does events at our church using it, and it constantly dies on him and the drummer's dad has to come in and solder the jack back together.

I was over at his place yesterday and I guess the guitar had died again. Out of curosity I opened up the jack and there was a grey and white wire. The white wire was much thinner and made a clean break from where it was supposed to be soldered. There was still old wire strands in the solder though.

I'm not very experienced in soldering, but I could tell the solder joint was cold/dry. Not shiny at all, looked pretty bad. Is it bad to keep soldering onto the joint where it's been previously soldered so many times? My friend just wants it to stop breaking. I'm wondering whether I can find a new jack (maybe) or whether soldering onto the old joint is okay.

I don't have anything to desolder with though.

 

[goldtopchas]

You should be able to re-solder the jack, unless it's damaged or loose from being heated so many times. Make sure you have both the wire and the jack clean. If you don't have desoldering braid handy you can heat it and give it a puff of breath to blow off excess solder(be careful,it's gonna fly off and land somewhere.) wear eye protection. Clean the soldering irons tip with fine sandpaper and melt some fresh solder on it and shake off the excess. Tin the end of the wire, then tin the hole closed on the jacks tab.
Lastly, just heat the tab slightly and slip the wire into it. It should puddle over nicely. Hold it still a few seconds till it cools.

 

[flamin-gitaur]

It's best to use a soldering iron that is at least 60w to prevent overheating, and also to get a good solder joint. If there is enough wire in the cavity, cut off the previously soldered end and cut it back to expose clean wire, and then re=solder using .030 dia. 60/40 rosin core solder. Also make sure that the input jack is tight, and not spinning inside the guitar cavity, the back and forth rotation will eventually break the wire again.

 

[Light]

Buy a new jack. A good one is still cheap, and the ones used in cheap guitars suck. If you want the conections to stay, make sure there is enough slack that the joint isn't under stress, and put some shrink tubing over the joints (not needed, but it does help with joints under stress - though it does make it a pain to fix it if it ever DOES break).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[RideTheCrash]

Next time I'm by 'The Source' (aka RadioShack), I'll see if they have anything in stock.

I think that is the problem though, that the jack moves freely in the cavity, so when he plugs in his cable, it's moving and breaking the joint.

 

[lpdeluxe]

It's possible to tighten the retainer nut on the outside of the jack plate to keep the jack in place. If it doesn't have a jack plate (like, for example, a couple of my acoustics w/pickups and lower-bout mounted jacks) you can get a plate from Carvin, Stewart-McDonald or most music stores. Cut a 3/4" hole around the existing jack hole, attach the jack to the new plate, and screw the plate into place. Here's a picture of an example, on an Epiphone Biscuit I added a Schatten pickup to.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lpdeluxe@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=2508&.dnm=140f.jpg
If the guitar has an end-pin mounted jack, sometimes it's difficult to get a wrench inside to tighten the from the inside. Stewart-McDonald makes a tool
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/S...cs/1/Endpin_Jack_Wrench/Pictures.html#details
that's worth the cost if you only use it once! My Dobro has an end-pin jack, and this is the only thing that I can get in past the soundwell to tighten the nut.

 

[boingoman]

Is it bad to keep soldering onto the joint where it's been previously soldered so many times?

I don't have anything to desolder with though.

Yeah, if you melt/reheat the same solder too many times it won't be good anymore.

 

[Light]

Go to a good guitar store for the jack, and get a switchcraft. The ones a Rat Shack suck too.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Anfontan]

I agree-a Radio Shack jack is not made to last, it's as cheaply made as they come . And an output jack will get lots of use on an electric guitar, Switchcraft is the one to get, check stewmac for sure!!