Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey folks,

I'm looking for a bit of repair help and users of this forum have been very helpful in the past, so I'll try again.

I've got a mid-80s Ibanez Destroyer on my bench that has a crushed input jack cavity. The owner was playing it and his friend stepped on the cord and the 90 degree input yanked against the wood and caved it in a bit. The finish is scratched and mucked up a bit, but that is not the concern here. With the input jack rattling around in there, there's all sorts of crackling and static so the customer was hoping I could build it up in there or tighten that jack in there somehow to stop the rattle. I was thinking about using some wood filler or maybe some epoxy and sawdust to solidify things and then covering it up with some sort of decorative washer type device, similar to the "rhythm/treble" ring found around some pickup selector switches. Or just a simple jack plate.

Have any of you encountered this type of repair before? What would be the best approach?

Thanks for your time.


Dustin

I just did one a couple of months back, in fact. Make a nice, square hole (rounded corners, of course), reinforce the back with plywood strips (so you have something to screw into, and install an LP style square, metal jackplate. Looks sharp and these things should have come reinforced with a jack plate in the first place. Before it's broken, it's a cinch to just drill a big hole and mount a jack plate at the factory.

You're going to find that the size of the hole you need is governed by the size of the jack. The hole must be big enough for the jack to fit all the way through.

These are my favorite, BTW.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Hardware,_p ... 3&xsr=1111

Thank you so much for responding, John. I appreciate it. I have a couple questions, though.

Stewmac says the "metal jack plates have a slight curve or bend to conform to the rounded sides of a Gibson® Les Paul®". How curved are they? Since the input on this particular guitar is on the flat top, will this pose a problem?

Can you tell me a bit more about the hole? How do I cut it? With my Dremel?


Thank you,

Dustin

re: how curved are they

They seem to fit on EVERYTHING. No joke. I put them on my own designs, my tele style designs, and I just did one on an Epiphone jazz box. Guitars are actually pretty flat in that area, and just having a small curve allows it to fit many many many different guitars no problem.

I first drilled the corners....careful to start with the drill running backwards. That goes through the finish without chipping. Then I scored the cut line and I forget exactly how I cut it. Maybe with a dremel....maybe just a knife of a chisel. I just can't remember. it's a little fiddly because the wood is kind of wrecked in that area, so keep the tool sharp and easy does it. You don't want to cause more damage internally that you'll then have to fix. In your case, it looks like it's still in pretty good shape so this should be a cinch. It doesn't even really look broken. Are you sure it's not just the finish that's cracked?

Anyhow, the input jack is a fine upgrade regardless.

You know what, I was thinking of the wrong model. I personally would still use an output jack, because I like them, but I though this was a hollow body for some reason. It's just that the jack is loose in the hole? Nothing's broken? You could just try a slightly larger washer with a washer on the inside too. You could also plug it and redrill it.

Personally, I would drill it out and install a jack plate, but it's not that important structurally because it's not a semi-hollow.

Yeah, it's a solid body. Nothing's really "broken" so much as compressed and chipped. There is no structural issue associated; it's mainly cosmetic. I think plugging it and re-drilling may be a good idea. And then covering it with a jack plate. I'll run that by the owner; thanks!

you could always upgrade to a stratocaster jack, which are the best, as they allow the cable to hang at 45 degrees or so- if they get stepped on, they usually pop out. and they don't fatigue the wires as badly over time

Geez, it's on the front of the guitar? I'm still thinking of a completely different model.

I would just fill and drill if the larger washer didn't stabilize it. Strat jack plate is awesome if you have the room and he doesn't mind tearing into the guitar.