Soldering a jack

[teacher-39]

Hi all,

I'm a high school teacher in Los Angeles, and I've been starting up a music program from scratch. Last year was our first year, and we got three electric basses that were pretty bottom-of-the-barrel in terms of costs; I know, but we just needed instruments in hands. (Most of my students have never played music at all or had a music teacher.) They're in decent shape, but one has two wires disconnected from the jack, and unfortunately, we don't have the ability to take it to a repair shop due to LAUSD restrictions on spending. I'm at a public charter, so I don't have access to the LAUSD instrument shop, either.

That means I have to do the repair myself. The jack is a round 1/4 inch with three wires that are supposed to be attached; one is cased in white and the other two are in black. The two black wires are disconnected and the white one is connected. I know that soldering a jack is not an ideal repair for a beginner, but I really want to make sure my students can keep playing. Any advice?

 

[RSBBass]

With three wires it sounds like the bass has a built in pre-amp. Post a photo of the jack and the control cavity and we should be able to figure it our.

After you know which wire goes where, it is pretty straight forward and a good repair for a beginner as you can always re-due it if you screw up. There are probably hundreds of videos on Youtube you can watch that show you how.

 

[LoveThatBass]

If there is a battery connector in it the black from battery connector goes to ring connector on jack, other black ( ground) goes ti sleeve and white is signal that goes to tip

 

[richardroquette]

Soldering is relatively easy skill to pick up and soldering a jack is pretty easy. There are probably a million hours worth of introductory videos on youtube. Soldering is also a pretty common skill. I'll bet if you ask around, you can find someone who would do the job for you if you do the disassembly. Your local library may have some craft/technical programs. Also, there may be local groups that do electronics as a hobby.

 

[96tbird]

Find a music store or electronic repair shop. Call them from the school office phone so caller ID proves you’re a teacher. I’m sure they’d fix it for free for a SCHOOL PROGRAM since it’s an easy, quick repair.

 

[teacher-39]

With three wires it sounds like the bass has a built in pre-amp. Post a photo of the jack and the control cavity and we should be able to figure it our.

After you know which wire goes where, it is pretty straight forward and a good repair for a beginner as you can always re-due it if you screw up. There are probably hundreds of videos on Youtube you can watch that show you how.

Thank you so much! I appreciate it. I'm pretty sure these two black wires need to be connected to the open spots on the jack after looking at one of the basses that is working well- is that right?