7/5/12

Fender Flame Guitar Output Jack Repair

I am pleased to announce that power has been restored to the Crawfish homestead, which also means that the Dungeon is back in operational shape.  Four and a half days was long enough to go without electricity, I think.

I hit the Ovation neck chips up with some stain and set the neck aside to dry.  I think the color is a decent match.  After it dries I'll work on the fill.  In the meantime, I have plenty to keep me busy.

The other customer guitar (same person, different guitar) is a Fender Flame Elite.  This is an interesting guitar - made by Fender Japan for one year only in the early 1980s.  If you think of a Fender as a Telecaster or a Stratocaster, think again.

This guitar was clearly aimed at the Les Paul player-market.  Mahogany body, maple cap, two humbucking pickups, four knobs, and a Gibby-style selector switch. 

Three things to fix on the guitar:  the output jack is fluky, it needs a setup, and there are extra tuner holes on the headstock to be filled.

The picture above is the output jack.  When a jack plugged in and wiggled, it loses contact and signal.  This is a flush-mount jack, so I need to take it out and see if I can get the contacts fixed.

It feels like automotive repair central here in the Dungeon all of a sudden.  First the bolt-on Ovation neck, and now a box-end 14mm wrench on the output jack. 

Not exactly your usual guitar-fixin' tools.

Here's the jack removed from the guitar.  It's basically sealed, which means I can't get into the innards to bend the contacts. 

So I need to order one from the Interweb.  In doing so, I find out that Jackson guitars use these, and they are only so-so with regards to reliability.  Well, this one lasted about 25 years, so that's not too bad.

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