Jacked up jack? check this out!
Did your jack fall out?
If yes, don’t be embarrassed as it happens to everyone. Do not fret it is easily fixable, but there are some precautions you want to take while fixing it to prevent damage to the jack wiring and the future of the human race. Also there will be some slight dis-assembly involved.
Tools you will need:
-Screwdriver ( which ever one fits the screws for your jackplate)
-Wrench/socket wrench of some sort (usually they are sized with a 1/2 inch nut but you sometimes can get by with a 13mm one too)
First thing you want to do is find all of the parts that fell off. Usually this should be a washer and a nut. You will want to put those aside for later as you will need them but not right now.
From left to right- Jack, lock washer, washer, and nut.
The next step requires you to remove the jack plate regardless if the jack is still sticking out or if it went into the cavity.
Now while you are pulling everything apart watch out for more falling parts. There will usually be more washers and a serrated lock washer to help hold everything in place.
You want to take everything apart before re bolting everything is so you can hold the jack in place.
The reason you need to hold the jack in place while you are screwing everything back together is because if you screw the nut on without support you will usually cause the jack to spin which will cause the wires to wrap up around the jack and prevent you from plugging your cable in, or you will cause a solder joint to break and there will be no signal at all and some horrid banshee noises coming from your guitar.
For this example I am reattaching a jack to a stratocaster jack plate. Because of the way the plate is setup, you will need to use a socket wrench to access the nut on the jack.
Once everything is taken down, you will want to place the lock washer over the threaded part of the jack then insert the assembly into the back of the jack plate.
Then it should look like this…
Cool now flip that sucker over and put the flat washer on the nut.
Ok. Once all of that is done you will want to grab the jack bit with the tab and use the socket wrench to tighten the nut until it is tight. Remember to be careful of any wires attached to it while tightening as you don’t want to hold onto the wires because you could break them off.
Hold the jack with one hand and tighten with the other
Once you finish all of that put everything back together and you are done! These instructions cover most jack problems you will run into. Jacks like a tele jack or a recessed jack come together differently, but we will cover those on a later date.
I hope this helped. If you have any questions feel free to give me a call at 591-0999. I’m Hiroshi!