can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

Naps

New member
I just swaped the pickguards in my stats and now the darn thing doesn't work! How hard is it (if it can be done) to ruin a jack by soldering it too much?

Also, which piece on the jack is the ground and which goes to the volume? I traded between the two a couple of times ( every time I would unsolder it I would either drop it or someone would call and and make me loose track of which was what and I'd have to keep guessing :smack: ) But thats why I think I might have killed it. :yell:
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

Anythings is possible I guess?
To find the positive terminal do this...
Put a male jack or your guitar cable into the jack...Put one end of either your continuity checker or an ohm meter on the tip of the jack..Now put the other cable end of your meter on the terminals..The terminal that makes your meter beep or reads 0,is the positive terminal connection...The other connection of course is your ground...Check to make sure you currently have the connections correct and that the 2 connections on the jack aren't touching each other and grounding out the jack...

John
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Anythings is possible I guess?
To find the positive terminal do this...
Put a male jack or your guitar cable into the jack...Put one end of either your continuity checker or an ohm meter on the tip of the jack..Now put the other cable end of your meter on the terminals..The terminal that makes your meter beep or reads 0,is the positive terminal connection...The other connection of course is your ground...Check to make sure you currently have the connections correct and that the 2 connections on the jack aren't touching each other and grounding out the jack...

John

Thanks, but I don't have a ohm meter :smack:

Is there another way?
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

Naps said:
Thanks, but I don't have a ohm meter :smack:

Is there another way?

Go to an auto parts store and get yourself a self powered test light...Use the test light in the same manner as I described with the meter...When you find the connection between the plug tip and the jack terminal,the test light will light up...These lights are pretty inexpensive,but it has to be a self-powered type...This would be the light that has a battery in it...

John
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

If I have them switched, will I get any sound. I just reattached them again and I'm getting some sound, but I'm also getting alot of static.
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

Naps said:
If I have them switched, will I get any sound. I just reattached them again and I'm getting some sound, but I'm also getting alot of static.

If the jack is wired backwards you'll get no sound...Sounds like either the jack is bad or your connections aren't soldered right?

John
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

Hey Thanks alot for your patience and help!

However, I got it together, working, no hum. It was really weird because I must have kept soldering it back on backwards four or five times. But now it's cool.
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

With a guitar output jack, (mono), its pretty easy to visually identify the terminals:

output_jack.jpg


The red arrows point to the "hot" output, and the green arrows to ground.
You can see easily where the ground lug connects to the center metal, which is, of course, the ground. ;)

Edit: The least I can do, is link to Stewart-MacDonald, since I stole their pic. :laugh2:
 
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Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

ArtieToo said:
With a guitar output jack, (mono), its pretty easy to visually identify the terminals:

output_jack.jpg


The red arrows point to the "hot" output, and the green arrows to ground.
You can see easily where the ground lug connects to the center metal, which is, of course, the ground. ;)

Edit: The least I can do, is link to Stewart-MacDonald, since I stole their pic. :laugh2:

Artie....Nice....That's classy and Man,pictures always tell the story..At least for me they always do...I'm going to print this and add it to my archived info book of all things related to guitars and electronics..

John
 
Re: can you ruin an output jack by soldering it too much?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Artie....Nice....That's classy and Man,pictures always tell the story..At least for me they always do...I'm going to print this and add it to my archived info book of all things related to guitars and electronics..

John

Thanks John. I'm still trying to get my webpage done that correlates all the different switches and jacks used in guitars to simple symbols and schematics. Its just that I have so many irons in the fire right now, and I still want to play guitar and pay more attention to my sweetie, that its hard to find the time - sometimes. :rolleyes:
 
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