Could it be a bad input jack?

[benniekong]

My nephew has a new sss vintage modified squier strat that is not working. It hums when any of the metal is touched as opposed to humming and then getting quieter upon touching. However, upon tinkering I discovered that the guitar would stop humming and behave properly if the lead is pushed and held into the jack.

Does this sound like a quick fix, "new jack; solder in and boom" or perhaps something more.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

[Yew]

My guess would be either a faulty jack, or a problem in the cable, if you have another lead laying around try that, if not, think about buying a lead of a different length, at best you have fixed your problem, at worst you have two leads of differing sixzes, one for small stages and one for large

Also, dont skimp on a lead, the cheapest in the shop leads wont last a month, however a solid, well made lead is a good investment

[benniekong]

Aug 19, 2010 10:25:45 GMT -5 Yew said:

My guess would be either a faulty jack, or a problem in the cable, if you have another lead laying around try that, if not, think about buying a lead of a different length, at best you have fixed your problem, at worst you have two leads of differing sixzes, one for small stages and one for large

Also, dont skimp on a lead, the cheapest in the shop leads wont last a month, however a solid, well made lead is a good investment

Thanks for the reply. I've long since learned the difference a good lead makes; I think it is one of the most misunderstood factors in achieving a great tone. That being said, I have tried several with the same result. My next move will be to pop in to the shop and grab a new jack.

p.s. this guitar has a very nice setup from the factory; and when he holds the plug in the duncan designed single coils sound pretty good.

[D2o]

Hi bennie, and welcome to GN2!

If it's a strat, you should be able to very easily unscrew the jack from the body and slightly bend the tip in - so that the patch cord tip and the jack tip have a tighter fit.

Don't make it too tight ... you can adjust it to taste before screwing it back in.

It's a 2 minute job and it's free. Why not try it and see if there is any improvement?

D2o

[ashcatlt]

This is going to come across pretty snarky. For that I apologize, but I have to.

It most likely is not a bad input jack. It does sound like there's something going on with the output jack, though. Unless, of course, there's something really wacky going on in this particular guitar. If that's the case you simply must share the details!

[peterrabbit]

Ya know, Ashcatlt, I consider that jack to be an I/O port, since it both feeds a signal from the amp into the axe and sends the modified signal back to the amp.

Peter
-------------

Favorite country song titles: If I'd a knowed that you'd a wanted to of went with me, I'd a seed that you'd a got to get to go.

[ashcatlt]

What signal have you got coming from your amp into the guitar? And why? And how do you use a single TS jack for both I and O?

[peterrabbit]

Ashcatlt:
A - perhaps we should move this to a different (non-hijacked) thread

B - "What signal have you got coming from your amp into the guitar?" hot +, (and if you don't think there's a signal going out of the amp, just unplug the cable from the guitar and touch the cable-tip with your finger (thereby grounding the signal, but through yourself, not through the amp - bzzzz.)

"And why?" To complete a circuit

"And how do you use a single TS jack for both I and O?" + for hot (in), - for ground (out)

Am I wrong? Everyone thinking I've got a few screws loose, raise your hands!

Peter
---------

Favorite country song titles: Get your tongue out of my mouth, because I'm kissing you goodbye.

[sumgai]

Peter,

Aug 19, 2010 14:55:44 GMT -5 peterrabbit said:

Ashcatlt:
B - "What signal have you got coming from your amp into the guitar?" hot +, (and if you don't think there's a signal going out of the amp, just unplug the cable from the guitar and touch the cable-tip with your finger (thereby grounding the signal, but through yourself, not through the amp - bzzzz.)

[/color][/quote]
Sorry, but I've gotta step in here, 'cause what you've just said is just so wrong on so many accounts.

One, any buzzing, humming or other noise that you experience while the guitar is unplugged from the amp is still not coming from the amp, it's coming from some source external to the amp. In layman's terms, the amp only amplifies, it does not generate any signals (musical or otherwse) of it's own accord.*

To put it simply, you aren't grounding that cable/cord/lead/whatever, you are acting as an antenna for it! (Unless.... umm, see my signature below.) When you touch both conductors, the noise diminishes, no? When doing this, you are, in effect, not shorting the lead, and therefore the amp's input, you are dumping all the "noise" that your body (antenna) picked up into both the hot (+) and ground connections. That's not important, but what is important is that you've sent the noise to ground, whereby it can't be heard (it doesn't get through the amp).

"And how do you use a single TS jack for both I and O?" + for hot (in), - for ground (out)

Well, the trouble here is, you're trying to impute that a + signal goes only one way, and ditto for the ground side. But wait.... what's that you say - ground is the signal output conductor?   Hmmm, I wonder if the IEEE knows this......   No, but you're halfway correct - ground is part of the whole complete circuit, so it carries its designated portion of the output signal, but it's not the only conductor responsible for delivering the goods.

In point of fact, + and - are relative - without one, the other is meaningless, both linguistically and electrically. They show a relationship at any given moment in time, that's all. To drive the point home, they don't infer the direction the signal is moving, but they do give us an initial reference point, handy for calculating phase relationships, as we modify things for different tones.

Am I wrong? Everyone thinking I've got a few screws loose, raise your hands!

Just call me the Mother of all Torque Wrenches!

HTH




sumgai


* Solid state amps, particularly those that are about to go South, may "hiss" or crackle, and yes those are internally generated noises, but they are signs of either poor design, poor component selection, or that said components are about to bite the dust. The same can be said for tube tech, but that occurs about as often as Kyle exhibits lucidity.....

[KIIMH]

Aug 19, 2010 16:09:04 GMT -5 sumgai said:

..... that occurs about as often as Kyle exhibits lucidity.....

… so, tehn … you aknoldeg taht it coud – thearetraclly – happin? … holy kyle!

eddit: i mean taht it coud happin taht i coud bin lucid ... gues i shoud of bin clear on taht

[peterrabbit]

sumgai: "Sorry, but I've gotta step in here, 'cause what you've just said is just so wrong on so many accounts."

...

OK, my great big giant fat OOPS! Maybe thinking this way is what's been keeping me from seeing the simplicity of wiring in general. (BTW - I did know that + and - are relative)

Thanks Mother!

Peter
------------------

Favorite country song titles: Your Negligee Has Turned To Flannel Nightgowns.

[sumgai]

pr,

Well, it may not have too many accounts to be wrong on, but whenever I see things like this, I pretend to be a newbie to the forum, and whether said newfer is electrical-education deprived or a PhD, both of them are gonna go "huh?". Tha's why I nip these things in the bud, so to speak.

OK, you have the relative part of + and - down, tha's cool. I'll try to keep that in mind, if I have to again take issue with something you've said.

HTH



sumgai

[gumbo]

....and all this time I had been SOOO worried about plugging a 110v guitar into a 240v amp....

[D2o]

bennie … aren’t you glad you found this place?

We do like to have fun and get off topic, but we’re not dangerous ... most of the time.

I still remember this thread going off track too!

[benniekong]

Wacky is good. I am a diagnosed aspie with a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD so it is quite easy for me to drift.

[peterrabbit]

Bennie: out of curiosity - did the new jack fix your problem?

Peter

[benniekong]

I finally got around to it and yes it worked. I soldered in the new I/O jack, added some shielding and this cheap guitar keeps getting better and better.

Replacing the tremolo arm for this thing is my new dilema.