Wiring problems

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

I've picked up a few old guitars that I'm trying to fix up a little.

Two of them cut out while playing. I thought it might be loose wiring, but I opened them up and everything is soldered on good and tight.

Part of my problem in troubleshooting is that both guitars will cut out if you bump the volume, the tone OR the input jack.

And sometimes you strum and the sound cuts in (or out) even if I don't touch anything.

So my question is:

Is that the pots going bad?

Could it be a break *in* one of the wires rather than at a solder joint?

Could it be the pickups going bad?

Follow up question:

What's the best/easiest way to fix it?

- replace all the wiring and see?

- replace all the pots and see?

[whiskeyzulu]

sounds like a bad ground - I'd start there.

[Submariner85]

I think it's your cable going to your amp. Unscrew the ends and see if the solder has broken there. I had this happen to me and it's an easy fix.

[murkat]

or input jack. resurface the ground sleeve, check the tip applicant contact, put a lil more tension to it, clean as well. check for loose ground fray as well

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

or input jack. resurface the ground sleeve, check the tip applicant contact, put a lil more tension to it, clean as well. check for loose ground fray as well

What do you mean by "resurface the ground sleeve"?

...interestingly, on one of the guitars, I just tightened up both the input jack and the volume pot anchor screws, and the cut-out problem is 95% resolved (still a little bit...)

So I'm thinking the input jack might just be the problem.

[specialk]

Huh!

All my guitar has in an output jack,

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Huh!

All my guitar has in an output jack,

input/output...okay, I'm an idiot, but you know what I meant!

[murkat]

What do you mean by "resurface the ground sleeve"?

take some 1200 (+,-) W/D sandpaper, steel wool, scruby pad, etc, whatever, and clean up (resurface)

the contact areas of the jack, removing the oxidization for good clean contact.

[gorch]

With old guitars pots often become scratchy when not used for a longer time.

To clean the contacts, never dip your guitar into a bath tub. It will shrink.

[landon w]

+1 on the sand paper. roll it up so you can insert it into the jack and move it in and out (insert humurous sexual reference here)

this will clean it up right where it contacts with the cord.

also, if your volume/tone pots were loose, then there is a good chance that the ground wire has become worn at these spots.

just double check it.

i know a lot of this is redundant, but the rolled up sandpaper trick works with input/output on the guitar as well as all of the input/output jacks on your amp. these will have corrosion on them as well over time and effect the performance of your amps even if the jack is not being used