Guitar Maintenance

If you purchase cables with a detachable metal housing, unscrew it and you'll see where the wire forms a contact with the plug. This connection often comes loose from wear and tear of the cable. Before the contact is gone, you get the annoying buzzing sound from your amp, forcing you to wiggle the cable around to get any sound. In a matter of time, the cable is "dead".

To fix it, just put a dab of solder to renew the connection, and the cable will work like new. Walmart has solder guns for a couple bucks. Make sure to store this in your repair kit so you can take it along for gigs.



The jacks of guitars, basses, and amps tend to wear the same way as an old cable. Before making assumptions on which component needs to be repair, first try replacing the cable with a known good one. If the good cable doesn't work, either the guitar jack or amp jack needs to be repaired. Try swapping guitars next - if another guitar works with the same cable and amp, then you know your other guitar's jack is bad.

On Fender style guitars, you'll need to remove the housing around the jack. This will expose the connection through the front of the body. Other guitars usually have a panel in the back that needs to be removed to expose the connection. Usually either the power or ground connection is removed, and you can easily see where the wire was connected. Wick away any solder from this area until you can see a hole in the jack. Strip the end of the wire if you need to, and insert the tip in the hole of the contact. Apply solder to the connection, and test the jack before you close up your instrument.

Sometimes the tooth that holds the cable in place is bent out of position (from the musician fiddling with the cable). In this case try to bend it back to it's place. If the tooth breaks off, the jack will need to be replaced. Rusty jacks should also be replaced to ensure a good eletrical contact.

Most guitar shops keep these in stock. They are usually run between $3 and $5. When you go to the shop, take your old jack so you can get the closest style for the replacement. Before you remove it from your instrument to take to the shop, take good notes on which contact is power and which is ground.



The screws used to fasten a strap to the body of an electric guitar sometimes need to be tightened. After many years of play, tightening these screws over the years often leads to a stripped hole in the body of your electric.

To fix it, pack the hole full of steel wool. When you put the screw back in place, it'll be as good as new. If the screw keeps turning as you tighten it, remove the screw and add more steel wool. I did this to my Fender a year ago, and it's held up without any maintenance since.



Rusty frets usually only show up on a guitars that have been stored in a damp place and not played for a while. Aside from the corrosion problem, the biggest problem with rusty frets is that you can't bend strings. When you bend, the string catches on the rust. Rust also makes slides difficult.

Getting rust off the guitar strings is a simple process. All you'll need is some scotch tape and some fine grade steel wool. First remove all of the guitar strings. Second, get yourself a roll of scotch tape, and apply the tape between all of the guitar frets. It's important that the tape is covering all wood on the neck so the steel wool doesn't scratch it. A second layer of tape on the frets never hurts. You may also want to apply some tape to the sides of the neck.

Once this is done, you can start going to town with the steel wool and the frets. The steel wool will slowly wear away, so it's best do this over a surface where the particles can be swept. When you are done, the frets should be a shiney as on a new guitar.



(coming soon!)