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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| Got a mysterious problem with the electronics in my 1982 1615 Pacemaker(bought from Patch and had it redone at mothership and loving it...til now)
Every so often the signal dies, as if shorting out. if I move the guitar around it will come in and be alright and work for a while .. maybe days.. and then bam it shorts out again.
Its not the patch cord.
Ive taken the stings off and checked all connections, jiggled wires visually checked and wiggled battery leads, checked the wire at the pick up itself.. (I know sometimes they get loose and short out) but everything seems ok. I cant get the problem to occur by moving it or any wires, leads tapping or heavy playing. It just sometimes happens with a mind of its own.
Any ideas?
I was wondering if something in the preamp might be cold soldered or inside the actual pick-up itself.
I'm at a loss and will entertain all ideas and expressions of sympathy. |
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Joined:
May 2006
Posts: 4239
Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | I'm sympathizing with you Murph. But I would have done everything you did and wound up just as flummoxed. Good luck guy! Hopefully someone here can help. :confused: |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 2793
Location: Atlanta, GA. | You're sure it's not the amplifier you're using?
You're sure it's not the battery?
:confused: |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Have you checked if the ring nut on the 1/4" output jack needs tightening? How 'bout the tension on the center pole connector tab inside the 1/4" output jack? |
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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| Not the amp, new battery.
Output jack good.
Center pole connector tab inside the jack I'll check now.
Thanks all |
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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| Center pole tab...OK |
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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| BTW I'm getting tired of loosening strings and sticking my hand inside. |
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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| After playing around with it for a while. it seems to got out and with a VERY gentle tap to the area around the preamp it works again. I emphasize a gentle touch. I suspect a cold solder in the pre itself.
Anyone have any ideas how I could get a spare? |
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Joined:
April 2003
Posts: 557
Location: Burbank | Cold solder is where I was going to go. If you are adveturous, you can open it up and re-flow the obvious looking areas with a hot iron. Cold solder (in case you don't know) usually is cloudy looking or more obviously a bunch of solder surrounding a pin but not actually touching it. This is common with machine or assembly line soldered PC boards. |
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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| Thanks Mario.
I turned the preamp box 90 degrees in the guitar to see if gravity will keep whatever circuit in place.
failing that, Ive got a good shop nearby that has a guy thats a wiz a coldsolder stuff.
But if anyone has a spare kicking around.... |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Mine does that but I think its the battery making a poor connection in its mounting |
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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| Took the pre-amp to my guy and he coudn't find a cold solder. In fact he commented on the hand-soldering being so good...pre robot days.
He did observe the battery flap not making good contact, the + side of the box has tabs the dont allow the metal contacts to be bent out.
I took a razor and clipped of the plastic tabs, bent the connector out and seem to have fixed the problem. |
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Joined:
September 2007
Posts: 108
| Just Got home from a gig and alas, still trouble. Good news is its more pronounced and I can definitely say it's the pre-amp. either the pot on the volume control or the input jack for the pickup wire. Probably cheaper to buy a new unit than to fix. I'll post in the sales section. Anybody know if the mothership would stock theses parts still? |
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Ghost in the machine