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Post subject: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:22 pm
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Hey guys! Haven't been on here in ages. Busy doing other stuff. Anyway i've been having problems with the jack on the Clapton. When plugged in certain ways i move if i'm standing to play i get kind of a static popping thing happening. I thought the jack was loose and just needed tightened so i took the cover plate off held the back and went to tighten it. It was already tight. No issues there. So i don't know where the looseness is coming from. I can grab the end of the jack plug and move it back and forth a noticeable amount. That kind of play is not right is it? I thought it should be tight with no play there at all? So any idea what could be causing it? I assume that it's something to do with the two contacts inside not holding it tight enough but i took it apart and even when you move it back and forth it remains contacting the two plates. No sound cutting in and out or anything like that. Just that loose play you can feel by hand and an occasional noise from it. Otherwise it's perfectly playable but i'd like to get to the bottom of where that play is coming from. :roll:


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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 4:45 pm
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It's 3 contacts inside the clapton. Tip, ring and sleeve. The sleeve contact is right on the plastic bit.

I digress.
The strat cavity is too small for that stereo socket, to my mind. I had terrible problems getting it to sit in there properly.
If the socket has been circling round in the housing, it could have mucked the way the wires are laid in there. Trust me, it's that tight, it matters.
I'd undo the two screws holding the housing down and very gently lift it out of the guitar body. Just enough so you can see what's going on, where you have room.
Then have a think about maybe rotating the jack socket in the housing to get them into that ideal position.

All very gently, cos they're a sod to solder too. I'm sure those wires are soldered to the socket first. Then fed through into the control cavity, then soldered to the pots

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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:22 pm
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Thanks Niki. Yeah i agree with you, the space in there is so tight. I had it opened out and i inserted a jack plug to see if i could figure out what was happening as i wiggled it side to side. I couldn't see much going on. But i'm not very experienced with guitar jacks like this so may have missed something. But there didn't appear to be any loss of contact anywhere. Anyway i hear you on that cavity because i had a helluva job getting the top plate back in with the two screws. I was trying to push it down but the wires were resisting pushing it into the cavity. I had to get the excess length of wire that had been pulled out with me looking at the plug and i had to feed it back through the hole . That allowed me to get it back into place. Never have this type of problem with my telecaster or an Epi 175 i have! :roll:


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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:40 am
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I've never had that problem with anything, like I had with the Clapton wiring.
How does it sound now?

If I remember correctly (and I'm going back a while). I turned my jack socket so that the longer arm was nearest the control plate. Then the wires to the control cavity, I had running up either side of the jack socket and coming together just before the hole going into the control cavity.
Hope that helps

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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 5:30 am
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It actually is fine Niki and the sound doesn't cut out or anything. But certain times i would be playing standing up or moving around the movement caused me to get a kind of staticky popping sound you know like you get when you plug into an amp that's already on but at a low volume. When i plug into my tele or epiphone i can't move the jack plug at all side to side whereas on the EC i definitely can. Not like it would be if the actual jack was loose, where it would be shaking about with an obvious looseness but more like it feels as if the jack plug is too small for the guitar jack. Obviously with the gear i use that's an impossibility so i thought to myself it's got to be the contacts not keeping it tightly enough secured allowing that play. :o


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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 8:18 am
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Did you put the circuit in, or is it factory fitted?

I found when I put them in. I found the circuitboard needs securing. If they move around they generate noise. Popping isn't unusual.

What I ended up doing was sliding a plastic bag over the circuitboard. With the wires going out of the open end. Then I put a load of rubber foam underneath where it would go, pop it in place then another load on top of it. To stop it rattling round.

Eventually I bought a Powerhouse strat body from Ebay. It has the route for that exact circuitboard.
Even then I ended up packing it.
The board itself has a hole for a screw in one corner. So it can be gently screwed down. It may be worth checking that. If yours is factory fitted. Whichever, I don't think you can go wrong padding it with something.

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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 8:48 am
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Thanks for the info Niki i never thought of that at all and it's something i'll definitely do. Yeah it's an original factory fitted one. You know i joined the 'Strat Talk' forum and one of the guys over there said if the contacts have lost spring tension it's better to just replace it. I don't think that's the problem though because, although this is an old Clapton from around 89 or so with the Lace Sensors, it hasn't been plugged in and out excessively and trashed by gigging day in and day out. Jacks are cheap though so i might replace it. Only thing that worries me is although i'm pretty proficient at soldering, that's a tiny little space there and my eyesight is shot for close up work. Although with my reading glasses i should be fine. But i think i'll invest in one of those 'Third Hand' type tools with the alligator clips and the magnifying glass. Have you seen those magnifying headset type things? I saw Dan Erlewine using those for intricate close stuff. I think they'd be handy for amp work as well, though i don't know where you'd get those from as i've never seen them anywhere in the UK.


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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2016 7:09 am
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Ceri uses a jewellers monocle. You can pick those up for a couple of quid, about a fiver if I remember right.

As much as I loathe to recommend them. Because of how outright awkward the shop staff tend to be. Modelling shops. Them places that sell stuff for painting dungeons and dragons figures and model railways.

Or ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=m ... noapp=true

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Post subject: Re: Clapton Strat Output Jack Woes
Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2017 8:06 pm
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I know this post is a bit old but wanted to add my experience but mine is with my Eric Johnson Strat. Same issue with the intermittent popping and same experience trying to install a stereo jack. Anyway I believe the root cause is with the mono Switchcraft style output jack on some the ring sleeve is a bit too large and what this causes is an intermittent cold connection. Now this is just my theory and I have not positively proven this however with the amount of play and nature of the cord leverage on the suspect movement into cold connection territory, I am strongly convinced this is it. I considered making room for the stereo jack by removing some material via drilling or chiseling but will try a new mono jack as a first attempt.


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