Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

JamesPaul

JamesPaul

Well-known member
Apparently, I took a little too much joy in passing the Seth installs in my Dot on to the folks that do my setups. The Guitar Gods have punished me by requiring a jack replacment on the Dot. :yell:

Has anyone ever done this? If so, can you give me any tips on the minimum components you had to remove to accomplish it? i.e. all pots and jack out through the F-hole or just remove the bridge pup & jack and pass the jack through the bridge pup hole or ????? I had previously picked up on the dental floss/fishing line aspect of semi-hollows with no access from the back - which is why I passed the install on to my shop in the first place. :)

Thanks for the help!
 
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Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

Why not just unscrew the jack plate, replace the jack, switch the solder connections and screw the jack plate on.
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

The Golden Boy said:
Why not just unscrew the jack plate, replace the jack, switch the solder connections and screw the jack plate on.
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335's don't use a jack plate- although it would be a nice accessory
I used old guitar strings instead of floss/fishing line.
depending on how much wire there is between the pots, switch etc, you will most likely have to remove the entire electronics assembly. It's not all that complicated, just time consuming.
I would also never take my guitar back to whomever you took it to- if they couldn't handle that job- they have no business being in business.
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

The Golden Boy said:
Why not just unscrew the jack plate, replace the jack, switch the solder connections and screw the jack plate on.
Click to expand...

There is no jack plate. On the Dot, it's just a jack, through the wood top, with the washer and nut on the outside.
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

marvar said:
335's don't use a jack plate- although it would be a nice accessory
I used old guitar strings instead of floss/fishing line.
depending on how much wire there is between the pots, switch etc, you will most likely have to remove the entire electronics assembly. It's not all that complicated, just time consuming.
I would also never take my guitar back to whomever you took it to- if they couldn't handle that job- they have no business being in business.
Click to expand...

Thanks marvar! That's what I needed to hear.

I really can't blame the shop. The jack was always prone to loosening up on me. I would just tighten it up and play on but I really never could see any threads sticking out past the nut. Must be another one of those differences between Epiphone and Gibson. :) The death knell was probably installing the Seth's. I tried to play it every day after they were installed and I actually "pushed" the jack into the Dot while plugging it in one day. I managed to fish the jack back out but neither the old nut or a new nut would really tighten up enough so I could plug in. I figured the jack threads stripped out when I pushed it in. I'm planning to buy a long switchcraft jack to replace it; with the hope there will be a few more threads past the nut. I'll just ensure that I use a right angle cord on it in the future to cut down on the torque on the jack/top.

+1 on the ES-335/Dot needing a jack plate!

As always, I appreciate the help.
 
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Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

Dude i really think that the only failure in the 335s design is in the jack.

did you solve the problem officially though?
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

It'll likely be a weekend before I attempt it but I interpreted the respnse as "There's no guaranteed minimum amount of parts to remove. It depends on how much wire there is/isn't on the particular guitar." I'll probabably start by removing the bridge pup ring to see if I can sneak the jack out there. If not, I'll be prepared to remove more stuff. I will post back my results.

BTW I have read/heard that the ultimate fix is to convert to an endpin jack. That's a little more than I want to attempt though.
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

Try this first. The Jack may not need to be replaced it may just be oxididized. The summer months create a lot of moisture in the air and this causes oxidation on a lot of parts like pots etc. Roll up a piece of emery paper like a pencil and slide it in and out of the jack. It oxidation has built up this will clean it off and your jack should be good to go. Jacks usually don't go bad they get oxidized and most techs will replace them (it easier). Semi hollows are a bitch to get the wires in and out of. I would try this first!
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

maybe some JB Weld---adds a little goth touch...use a toothed washer when you replace the jack and it won't come loose. A little clear nail polish on the threads will also work...
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

ES350 said:
maybe some JB Weld---adds a little goth touch...use a toothed washer when you replace the jack and it won't come loose. A little clear nail polish on the threads will also work...
Click to expand...

I was actually considering loc-tite while I was fishing the jack back through! If there were any threads left on that jack, I might've tried it. ;) One of these could save me from going with the long jack though, so I may give it a try. I appreciate the tips!
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

A good "fishing" device for a 335 jack is a piece of fairly rigid copper wire (14 guage is good) of about 18 inches long soldered to a 1/4 inch plug ( only the 1/4 inch part of the plug is used)

I gave one that I made to a friend that does minor repairs at the local music store and he says it has saved him hours of "fishing" headaches.

I've used mine several times.

Good luck and good fishing.

Dave
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

JamesPaul said:
guitar." I'll probabably start by removing the bridge pup ring to see if I can sneak the jack out there. If not, I'll be prepared to remove more stuff. I will post back my results.

BTW I have read/heard that the ultimate fix is to convert to an endpin jack. That's a little more than I want to attempt though.
Click to expand...
Most repairmen, and also the way I work on em' is work through the f-hole, it's much easier than going through the pickup hole. And, that's the way Gibson put all that stuff in- once you loosen the pots, and put some sort of string or whatever on the jack, you should be able to pull (carefully) the whole assy out. Replace by starting with the jack and work your way back, you may have to make/bend some coat hanger 'helpers' to help you get everything back into position. And then just tighten everything up.
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

Mine did the same thing after i replaced my pickups. Took about 30 minutes to do probably. My wire was long enough that the jack could reach far enough out the fhole to not need anything else to be taken out. I have a sheraton II
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

FWIW I pulled it off. I went with the Switchcraft Extra Long jack. I had almost 1.5 hours in the process including rounding up the tools and waiting for the iron to warm up. I had originally planned to fish the components out through the F hole tonight; then tomorrow night I would swap the jack and put it back together. It was going fairly well so I just pressed on tonight.

It was easier than I expected. There was enough wire on the jack that I should have been able to just pull the neck tone pot inside then pull the jack through the F hole. Unfortunately the jack seemed to be hanging up on something so I ended up pulling everything inside. As soon as I pulled the pup selector switch and bridge volume pot out of the F hole, the jack freed up and came right out.

The only challenge was that apparently I did not route the new jack back properly. Remember the old jack was already inside so I added fishing line to the new one and fed it back to the jack hole. When I tried to pull the neck volume pot back it did not work because it's fishing line was wrapped around the jack wire. Fortunately that pot is right by the F hole so I could pull it's fishing line inside and feed it back to the pot hole cleanly.

The only tips I could add is make sure you build in extra time for this operation and a little patience seemed to go a long way for me.
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

Well, Gibson built all the earlier archtops this way and they had it sussed on the production line. The original Gibsons work fine---most of the components still work after 40-50 years (I have a '48 archtop that works just fine with all the original parts). When you get into using cheap s*%* parts that need to get replaced/repaired ala Epi/Ibanez/etc, then you have problems...
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

ES350 said:
Well, Gibson built all the earlier archtops this way and they had it sussed on the production line. The original Gibsons work fine---most of the components still work after 40-50 years (I have a '48 archtop that works just fine with all the original parts). When you get into using cheap s*%* parts that need to get replaced/repaired ala Epi/Ibanez/etc, then you have problems...
Click to expand...

Yeah, there are definitely parts quality differences between the Epi's and Gibson's. It was really obvious when comparing the old Epi jack with the replacement Switchcraft jack. Still if you find an Epi that sounds & plays decent, you can overcome those issues with some replacement parts and a little work when needed. This Dot has still been significantly fewer $$$ than a Gibson ES-335!
 
Re: Ever replaced a jack in a Dot/ES-335?

Yeah I'm really pleased with the quality of my Epi LP. I wouldn't buy a low end Epi (like a Studio or Classic or something) but the LP Standards and Customs, etc. (and Elitists especially) are really well made.

Well, at least they were. I haven't played any recent model Epis.
 
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