The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hi all. New guy here.

I got a fretless VS600B the other day at a thrift shop. It played great when I got it home and then... it didn't.

Right now, it's very quiet. In fact it's inaudible unless I turn the amp and the guitar up to 10, and even then I'm not sure I can always hear it. What I can hear is crackly, humming, and terrible.

Any thoughts?

a) No, it's not the battery
b) I've tried jumping the volume and tone pots by going from the white pickup output to the tip contact of the jack. Didn't help.
c) I'm pretty sure it's not the jack. The contact looks good, and I gave it a quick brush with a Q-tip.

Keep in mind, though, that I could be doing it all wrong.

Anyway, if there's a common cause of death, I'd love to know. I might try to fix it myself.

Welcome Bexpert.
How does it look under the hood? Do the electrical connections look original or like they may have been "experimented" with?
You might try hitting them with a solder iron. I've picked up a few like that.

_________________
Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Thanks for your help.

It's hard for me to tell. It looks, well, rough?

I've given all the wires a tug, and they appear to be fixed in place. None seems to be touching another at an uninsulated part, and there are no crackles or anything when I pull on them. But there are two stubs of wires that have been cut off--super weird.

I'll resolder where I can. I guess at this point I can't make it any worse!

Sounds very much like corrosion in the pots to moi.

Before doing anything drastic to the wiring, give the inside of them several liberal squirts of electrical contact cleaner, then yank it like a monkey in a mango tree!

Don't forget to swab the jack's contact points with cleaner on a Q-tip. A dry wiping won't do much.

If that does nothing then a reflowing of the old solder joints just might do the trick.

_________________
Guitars: http://legend.barryeames.com/guitars.html
Music/Pix/Videos: http://getback.barryeames.com

Thanks again. I'll do all that, but as it turned out, your advice was excellent. I touched up one of the pots' contacts with my soldering iron, and the bass now works! And it was the first pot, first try! Amazing. Thanks very much!