New guitar with similar output jack issue.

[Kory Pevoto]

The guitar from my last post was an ESP LTD F-5E. The guitar that I making this post about is an ESP LTD F-405FM. It is even worse with the noise and loss of sound while trying to play. Upon inspecting the jack I discovered that it was a switchcraft and that the solder points appear to be good. I also took a look under the pot cover plate to discover some motherboards which were not in the ESP-F-5E.
My new fear is that something may be wrong with these boards. Who can tell me what I should do? Perhaps the boards can be replaced? I paid $961.00 dollars to an individual on eBay so I'm hoping I didn't make a big mistake.

[Daryl Kosinski]

Take a pencil eraser (the white kind) and clean the contact points on the socket followed by a little contact cleaner on a Q tip. A little gentle bending to increase the pressure on the contact points. Finally dampen a Q tip with a little WD-40 and coat the contact points. That should cure it.

[David King]

The 405FM looks like it has a full compliment of active EMG pickups and what looks like a custom EMG preamp. EMG stuff is generally bullet proof so I would check the jack as Daryl suggested and also check the other parts that can wear out which are the battery connector/s and the pots. They use a switchcraft battery snap which is pretty good but it can get loose after a while (easy to tighten). Best bet is to plug the bass into your amp with the volume set low and try to shake, rattle and roll the cable, wires, pot shafts, battery connector etc until you find where the noise is being generated. Poor quality batteries can also cause these symptoms.

Daryl; I've never heard of WD-40 being used as a contact cleaner/enhancer. It's a petrolium product design to displace moisture and form a protective layer that would tend to insulate the contacts. I'd much rather he use an actual contact cleaner like Deoxit 5.

[Daryl Kosinski]

I worked 39 years in one of the largest R&D centers servicing industrial electronics. Every bench in the shop had at least 2 things. Windex and WD-40. We didn't even stock contact cleaner. I did say only dampen a Q-tip with WD-40 never spray on electronics. A little Vaseline would work also for preventing corrosion.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

To clean the sleeve, I take a bit of fine sand paper, roll it abrasive side out and twist it in the sleeve (opposite the way its rolled). It doesn't take much to freshen the surface.

[Daryl Kosinski]

I have used Joshuas method many times be sure to use a very fine grit 600 or higher.