Don’t know jack
What is up with the jacks on these semi-hollowbody Epiphone guitars. When I was shopping for guitars in the stores, I often saw Epiphone Dots and Sheratons with the jack missing inside the guitar. How can that be good for sales?! And when reading in the Epi forums, I saw folks complaining of this happening to them. Does this happen on the more expensive Elite Epi’s, or other semi-hollow body guitars?
Update: I added a 1/4″ inner-tooth lock washer between the nut and round washer, and it has stayed tight ever since.
I never thought it would happen to me. I made a point of periodically hand-tightening the jack when plugging in a cable, just to be sure.
The first time it happened was a hair pulling experience, trying all kinds of implements, knitting hooks, paperclips, and finally a coat hanger, before getting it back in. Took more than 30 minutes, and countless expletives.
So, of course, I promised myself I’d be extra careful, but then it happened again! I tried some glue, but it apparently didn’t stick, and it happened again! So now I’m pretty good at getting it back in there. My time is down to about 5 minutes, requiring about 5 attempts before nailing it.
Today, I actually did it on purpose, so I could make a video to demonstrate how to get it back in there. Hopefully this might save someone an expensive trip to the repair shop.
My plan is to replace the jack with a Switchcraft L12A 1/4” jack. The “L” in the part name stands for long bushing (3/8”) which will hopefully be a bit longer than the Epi jack. I’ll also put in a lock washer.
I’ll post the results, and a how-to here later.
September 18, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
spending $15 every time it happens…
September 24, 2009 @ 9:09 pm
I’ve certainly seen the “jack dropped in body” problem on a wide variety of guitars in a wide variety of price points. Not enough data to tell relative frequency, though, might be less frequent in the higher-priced options. Still, you get good at putting it back in place after awhile.
October 2, 2009 @ 9:09 pm
just for that
October 7, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
pickups/pots/etc – you have to remove ALL the electronics through the
f-hole! Check out my other videos if you wanna see a fully disemboweled
semi-hollow body guitar 🙂
October 10, 2009 @ 2:10 am
turns around when I’m screwing it even when i’m holding the center of the
jack like you did! Maybe you got some suggestion how to fix this?thx
October 14, 2009 @ 2:29 am
Yesterday i turned my guitar in at a guitar shop to get my neck reset, but
when I got home and had a proper look it didn’t look ok. At the heigt of
the 8th fret the strings were much higher than at the headstock and end of
the neck. So I straightened it again myself with the trussrod. Now it
definitely looks better but I’m still in doubt. You got some tips? thx
October 14, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
neck allowing the strings to clear the frets in the middle. if you tighten
the trussrod too much, you get too much relief – and more buzzing as you
play higher frets. If you have too little relief (trussrod too loose),
you’ll get buzzing even playing the low frets. Out of space here- see my
9/9/09 blog post about how to do the measurements, and my P93 setup before
and after visiting the luthier. Hope this helps!
November 12, 2009 @ 8:15 pm
Just curious: did you think of trying a lock washer on this jack – replacing the original washer with a lock washer? If so, did that help matters at all?
November 12, 2009 @ 11:20 pm
I mentioned using a lockwasher in a couple of the other comments above, but to be honest, I still haven’t tried it.
When I ordered the Switchcraft L12A, I also ordered a 3/8″ internal-tooth lockwasher. I’ve now wired up the Switchcraft, along with the rest of the electronics, but I still haven’t put it back into the guitar yet, so I still don’t know how it’s gonna work out. I was imagining regular washer, then lock washer, then nut. But I’m not 100% sure yet.
I’ll be putting in new pickups this week, and then reinstalling everything back into the guitar, so I’ll post an update on the lock washer in the next couple weeks…
December 13, 2009 @ 2:51 am
December 19, 2009 @ 7:27 pm
Thanks, man! You saved my butt!
After watching your vid, I set it up on a countertop with a light shining in it and although it still probably took me 45 minutes, I was able to at least visualize how to do it, thanks to you.
I got a question for ya..
I have that same guitar and the intonation on G is horrendous, even after having it professionally set up. If you fret the G string a few frets up, like an A, it’s way off. Some people can hear it, some not so much. Coming from the acoustic guitar world, it drives me freakin’ crazy.
Have you experienced anything like this?
I did find an almost 100% solution.. I put on a heavier guague wound G string instead of the standard unwound. Made a ton of difference, but I am not sure why. Coming from acoustics, it’s not a big deal to me, but I sure would like to know if there is something else going on.
Thanks again for sharing your expertise.. and sharing it so clearly. You’re awesome!
December 19, 2009 @ 8:43 pm
Hey Jerry,
Glad you got your jack sorted out! 🙂
Yes, I know what you mean. The G on my Epi Riviera is the hardest to intonate.
Do you know how to adjust the intonation? It’s not hard to do yourself. Strum the string open (or play the harmonic at the 12th fret), tune it to pitch with a tuner. Then fret it at the 12th fret and strum it again, checking on the tuner. Should be exactly the same pitch. If it’s flat, you want to move the saddle forward towards the neck. If it’s sharp, you want to move saddle back towards the bottom of the guitar. Move the saddle by loosening the string a bit and turning the screw.
Now, you may find that you’ve moved the saddle all the way as far as it will go toward the back of the guitar. That’s right about where I’ve left mine. However if you need to go further, you can loosen the string all the way, unscrew the screw all the way out, then lift the saddle out and turn it around and put the screw back in. You can see on the top of the saddle that where the string rests isn’t dead center. Rotating it around will position the string rest slightly closer to the bottom of the guitar.
If you still can’t get your intonation where you need it, you could replace the bridge with a nashville style tune-o-matic, which has more intonation range. I’ll be replacing my bridge with a roller, and will be covering that in an upcoming video…
Hope this helps!
John
February 27, 2010 @ 12:15 pm
mileage may differ.) In fact it’s tensile strength is one of the reasons
that I use it. Another is that the, again, very thin dental floss FITS
BETWEEN THE THREADS of jacks and pots. It won’t come loose even if you’re
tugging on it quite vigorously.
February 27, 2010 @ 12:15 pm
May 31, 2010 @ 11:41 am
June 27, 2010 @ 9:45 am
November 1, 2010 @ 6:34 pm
80 bucks to repair it and the jack is loose again
Guitar Electronics Comparisons - Planet Z
November 11, 2010 @ 11:12 am
[…] caps in your guitar, this should be a good example. (Note, I’m changing the jack for mechanical reasons, not to improve the […]
November 13, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
through the hole in the body is to turn the guitar so it’s “belly” or body
front face is toward the ground and let gravity help it pop back out with a
little jiggling. Try putting the guitar, face down, with half of the body
overhanging the edge of the bed a bit so that you can sit under it and
jiggle until you see the input pop out. A paper clip with a hook can be put
inside the input give it “handle” while you reposition.
February 19, 2011 @ 6:24 pm
grab the jack and pull it up through the f-hole. Get a piece of string and
push it through the empty hole and pull that up through the f-holes from
inside. Tie the piece of string to your jack and then pull from the small
hole until its just in place. It gets your jack everytime.
March 4, 2011 @ 11:29 am
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July 24, 2011 @ 10:25 am
I panicked when this happened to my P93 Riviera. You sure saved my wazoo and a trip to the guitar shop (I’m new at working on these). Instead of using a coat hangar, I used a more flexible coated 16-gauge wire. It was easier to fish out the jack and all I had to do when I was complete was gently pull on the wire to straighten out the bend a pull it through the jack. I definitely followed your advice put a couple drops of CA glue on the threads. Thanks again!
July 24, 2011 @ 10:39 am
Correction: I used 20-GUAGE coated wire.
July 26, 2011 @ 4:18 pm
Hi Dave,
Good suggestion. The coat hanger is a bit unwieldy- but it’s something that typically everyone has in their closet 🙂
Since I installed that tooth washer, the jack hasn’t budged. Hope yours stays tight now!
Really, such a ridiculous deficiency- I often see brand new Epi archtops hanging on the wall at Guitar Center with their jacks missing inside the guitar. Why doesn’t Epiphone address the issue at the factory, as they know the problem will affect nearly every single customer!? Are they simply not paying attention?
Cheers,
John
August 14, 2011 @ 8:52 am
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Jim
March 18, 2012 @ 3:50 pm
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March 30, 2012 @ 2:32 pm
http://www.allparts.com/Nuts-and-Washers-s/24.htm
April 8, 2012 @ 7:37 pm
April 8, 2012 @ 9:46 pm
If the pots are loose, you need to remove the gold hat knobs (wrap a cloth around them and pull to get more torque). Then use a wrench to tighten down the nut on the pot.
If the hat knob are loose on the pot shafts, you could try spreading the knurled split pot shaft with some pliers or a screwdriver so they exert more outward pressure on the knob. Or wrap some tape around the pot shaft to make them tighter.
April 8, 2012 @ 9:49 pm
April 8, 2012 @ 9:54 pm
After the pots are tightened down, you just press them knobs back onto the pot shafts.
Consider adding a lock washer between the nut and the body to keep them tight.
May 24, 2012 @ 7:11 am
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minutes.
May 25, 2014 @ 1:58 pm
back
October 2, 2014 @ 9:31 am
easier…
Quick Repair Gibson/Epiphone Dot ES 335 Fallen Input Jack
June 18, 2015 @ 9:52 am
GREAT SITE!!!
Didn’t read all the comments but here is my 2 cents.
1- Get the jack thru the hole.
2- Take a wire, bend to make a small fish hook at the end. Slip it thru the jack.
3- With the wire in place, slip in a second wire, with nut and washer as in the video-clip.
4- Tighten the nut. Note that the fish wire can be used to hold the jack in place in the underbelly of the guitar and allow proper tightening of the nut.
NOTE: If you take the washer, and bend it to give it a slight downward curve, it will act a a locknut because it will exert a backward pressure on the nut. Place the washer with the upward curve towards the sky.
NOTE : I may of missed it on your web site, but the alloy of a jack most DEFINTELY affects the sound of an distorted guitar pickup — especially with single coils. The Swithcraft jack of the 50’s had more silver in the alloy. Less in the 70’s and even less in the 80’s and probably even less in the 90’s. Silver lets certain high frequencies pass thru better. I suggest you do a test with the many different jacks on the market, FIND yourself a early 1960’s (or earlier) jack to use as your comparison point. They didn’t use more silver back then just for the hell of it! Otherwise everyone would just have then, and now, use the least expensive copper alloy period.
June 22, 2015 @ 6:43 am
I have no experience with or access to older jacks. I don’t know whether silver content would have any substantially audible effect on the sound…
John
June 22, 2015 @ 12:58 pm
Hi,
FANTASTC website!
I discovered the difference about 15 years ago. I had a Fender Squire with it’s made in China jack and, for the fun of it, decided to put in an old Swithcraft jack. I was totally stunned. I kept testing one after the other for a half an hour and wow what a difference! The Switchcraft jack made the guitar sound much more Fenderish and expensive!
I called the Switchcraft company to ask what they thought made the difference. The technican I talked to told about the change in alloy over the ears.
The change si so dramatic that I have even installed three jacks on one guitar. Swithcraft, Neutrik and China. I also made a box with four jacks in it so I can auditively prove that the alloy makes a difference. Be it noted that the younger you are the easier it may be to hear the difference, However, at 65 years old I still easily hear the difference.
I prefer the old Switchcraft jacks warmer sound. Neutrik jacks cut thru the mix better but on most guitars I’ve tried it on, Neutrick jacks have too much highs. China cheapo jacks eat up the highs and take the beauty out of the sound. They sound dull with too little high frequencies.
It is much easier to hear the difference playing without a distortion pedal. With a distortion pedal, many would probably prefer the Neutrik jacks because they cut thru the distortion better.
I may at some point put a clip on Youtube so people can hear the difference but you are a smart guy with better equipment than me and might do a better job at it.
Rick Mantree
June 22, 2015 @ 1:11 pm
Hi again,
If I do the clip, and you agree there is an interesting audible difference, would you put a mention on your website? I would record directly into my Roland VS1880 or AKAI DSP24 without a microphone, without any effects, and just transfer the brute sound to Youtube and suggest people check out your fantastic website.
I have some old 1980’s Switchcraft jacks, new Neutrik jacks, Chinese, Japanese Marshall amplifier jacks. On one out of four guitars I work on, I install both a Neutrik and a 1980’s Swithcraft jack.
Rick
June 22, 2015 @ 1:13 pm
Damn, I should have written Japanese and Marshall amp jacks and NOT Japanese Marshall jacks — which probably do not even exist at all.
June 26, 2015 @ 1:20 pm
Sure- I’d be happy to link to your video/writeup.
Thanks Rick!
-John
January 8, 2017 @ 9:35 am
Hi. A bit late, but hope this is to be read by anyone looking for a solution on how to tighten the jack. Just insert, but not to the bottom, a #6 Fischer anchor into the jack (yes, that ones to hung things on the wall – preferably SX type), put a screw in the anchor and screw it. This will widen the anchor, keeping it firmly to the jack. Now, hold the anchor with pliers and tighten the nut.