Welcome! This is one of our most-visited posts... If you find it helpful, please consider helping us by contributing to this site via the links at the bottom of this page. |
This tech how-to covers one possible solution for fixing a scratchy input jack on a vintage guitar. The "TL;DR" video tutorial is further down below. The images in this post are from the making of that video.
There's no need to debate the definition here... For the sake of simplicity, let's just call a "vintage guitar" one that's been around long enough for the metal on it to tarnish and oxidize.
Over time, my "vintage" (early 2000s) Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay bass slowly developed a bad connection, causing the amp to crackle and pop. The usual culprit is the instrument cable but, testing it out with a different guitar, that was determined to be fine. These Music Man basses have active (aka powered) pickups, so I swapped out the 9V battery as the next test, which didn't help. I pulled out the input jack and bent the prongs around, thinking maybe, somehow, the guitar cable just wasn't making solid contact with the bass anymore. That wasn't the solution and, in retrospect, it shouldn't have been, either... There's hardly a reason the prongs inside the instrument should get bent up, unless you're a time traveler and just finished playing guitar for Nine Inch Nails in the '90s.
Still searching for a fix, it seemed like a new input jack would be the answer. I called one of the nearby Guitar Center stores, to see if they had one in stock that's compatible with Music Man basses. After a brief time on hold, the eager young man picked back up and reported:
"Yeah, we have some input jacks in stock." "But will they work for active pickups?" "Umm, I'm not sure. What's the difference?" I'm truly glad he asked. Standard/passive guitar pickups are wired to two spots on an input jack; for active pickups, it's at least three, because an additional wire goes to the battery... so the designs are different.
With the Music Man jack being a speciality part, the Guitar Center guys weren't sure what to order, so I contacted Ernie Ball. Using my guitar's serial number, they were able to give me the exact part number for Guitar Center to request (Ernie Ball doesn't sell directly to end-users). They also sent a wiring schematic, since the part has been redesigned - it originally had a fourth prong and now has three. Here's the original input jack next to the redesign:
The diagram depicts the new design on the right, which now activates the 9V circuit via only the black cable going to the battery:
The new input jack was only a few bucks, with the modest shipping and handling charge being about as much as the part itself. I really don't like soldering so, when it arrived, I called up my local guitar repair guy. He sets up instruments for John Mayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc., so he definitely knows what he's doing... and I figured the job would be quick.
In his workshop, it seemed like he really didn't want to deal with soldering, either. He took a close look at the nearly-pristine, 20+ years old bass, then he studied me for a moment, as if he was trying to determine how responsible of a guitar owner I might be. He then said "Let's try something else first." He wrapped a little sliver of fine grit sandpaper tightly around a thin screwdriver.
Next, he gently worked the sandpaper around against the contacts of the input jack for a few seconds.
He sprayed a puff of compressed air into the jack, connected the bass to an amp, and wiggled the guitar cable around. No scratches or pops! Wow, that was really easy! Then he charged me $20.
If gently working around the sandpaper in your vintage guitar's jack for a few seconds doesn't clean off some oxidation and dust and fix/improve a bad connection, the problem is likely something else... but this is a really great place to start, using just two basic tools that many of us already have at home.
If you have any questions, hit me up in the "comments" section below.
Here's the video tutorial:
 | Hello, again, from Justin, your author. These posts always require a lot of time and effort to assemble. If this post was helpful, please consider supporting this site by donating any amount (the average is $5) via PayPal:
...or you can Buy Me a Coffee. A huge "thank you" goes out to those who have already contributed to this site! |
If you would rather buy something, check out these photo prints at Fine Art America.
"Tech How-to: Fixing a Scratchy Guitar Input Jack in 10 Seconds"
Written by Justin Kilmer
All images and media on this site are © by Justin Kilmer, unless otherwise noted.
This page was written entirely by a human. It was last updated in Nov. 2024.
Comments