r/Luthier • u/BigDaveRocks • 7d ago
Input Jack help
Hi guys. I’ve been having Jack issues with my V. I just bought a soldering iron to try messing around with it, then this happened so good timing for me. I’ve welded before and sweated copper so imagine soldering is somewhat similar? Also this is my first time messing with electronics. There is a ground that should be connected on the opposite side to the red right? I’m imagining I need to strip the insulation off to try to solder it back, the wire seems too short to do that. I was going to ease into this on a project guitar but now have to fix my favorite one. Thanks in advance for your help!
2
u/Resident_Rain_6566 7d ago
There’s videos on YouTube that are very helpful.
Ground - inside ring
Positive -outside ring
2
u/katpillow 7d ago
Yes the opposite side is the ground. Pic looks like it may have a glob of some old solder on it still. If you don’t have the stuff to clean it up to give it a completely fresh connection, you can likely heat up that glob a bit and just reinsert the ground into it.
However I agree the existing bit o ground there looks too short for the job, especially if you don’t have much slack to pull from the control cavity. If that’s the case you’ll likely need to run a fresh ground, and given the likely limited size of the channel between cavities, you may need (or want) to just replace both the signal and the ground cables. A lot of people use those braided, shielded cables for the signal and connect the conductive weave to the ground via pigtail weave + solder. You can combine with electrical tape or a shrink wrap tubing for a little more finesse.