My output jack on my Telecaster is loose. Is there any way I can tighten this myself? I tried unscrewing the little plate that kept it in, to take out the jack, but the wiring was very short so I couldn't get full access to it. Any suggestions? The signal has been cutting out a bit recently.
In fact, my volume knob and tone knob are giving me a lot of feedback...they're really loose too; you can pull them up and push tem down, and touching them kills some of the feedback I usually get. I have to put the volume all the way up to get no feedback, and the tone has to be all the way down. Anyone had these problems? If I touch the knobs, or the strings, or the baseplate of the bridge, the buzz dampens a bit. I've skimmed through some of these threads...could it be a grounding problem? I don't claim to know, but that'd be my guess based on some of the stuff here.
Thanks.
-lunchmeat
First of all buzz is not feedback -- which do you mean? I'll assume buzz and make an educated guess that your bridge plate is not properly or reliably connected to ground. If you remove the strings and then the bridge plate, you will find a wire beneath the bridge plate than should connect solidly to the plate when it is screwed down. The other end of the wire should be soldered to a single, common ground point inside the control cavity. Often, this will be the body of one of the pots.
To tighten a loose tele jack, gently wedge into the jack hole a flat blade screwdrive just narrow enough to fit partway in. Use this (again, with light force) to grip the center of the jack assembly while tightening the nut with a wrench or (if desperate, then very carefully) with a needlenose pliers. When done use Locktite thread lock to fix the nut into place.
-=tension & release=-
It's buzz...the high-pitched whine I got on my friend's Marshall halfstack must have been due to the output jack.
Yeah...the buzz is always there, unless I turn the volume up to max (why, I don't know) and the tone down to zero. Otherwise, it's there (unless the volume is all the way down, of course).
I'm not sure what pots are, but I'll try to check it out. I probably need to restring the thing anyway. I would go get it repaired at a shop, but I don't want to pay and the warranty has expired, and I figured it will be good experience to try repairing it myself...I just don't want to mess up my guitar or anything. I think it'll be alright, though.
-lunchmeat
The Loctite'll hold it. I've had to do that with several guitars.
If you haven't already figured this out, it'll be a big help if you never let the cord's weight hang on the jack and flop around. Run your cord between the guitar body and strap from behind, enough so it'll easily bend around and plug into the jack leaving a little slack loop. The strap will hold it. It'll make it a lot less likely that you'll accidentally unplug yourself, too.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I had a nasty buzz recently on my Epi 335. Turned out to be a dry solder joint on the output jack... fortunately it was under warrenty so the shop did it no probs...
