Repairing Cracked Wood Wood Around Input Jack

[louparte]

I've been slamming my guitar cord tip too forcefully into the jack apparently.Now I've got some cracks.

The reason I used such force is the tip was metal and shocking me. So I wrapped it in electrical tape.The tape made the tip larger.
Thus the need for a little extra push w/the heel of my hand,

It's still fine. Nothing is in danger of caving in. But this area needs to be strengthened. the only two points of access are the rather fat right 'F' hole
on the lower bout and the jack itself. Can it be reinforced w/o removing the top? I guess I could live with it if he sawed in there, reinforced it and did a
seamless job reinforcing it.

An older pic of the part in question...when it had a brass tailpiece, maybe 7 years ago.

[Spook]

I don't know the details of fixing this. I'm guessing you put a wood, metal, or plastic plate over it and mount the jack to that with maybe some filler where the wood has cracked inward.

Just wanted to express my sympathy. I don't think that's an uncommon type of damage but it really sucks when it's your guitar.

[guitararmy]

I wonder if a metal jack plate like what you would use on a Gibson Les Paul would work...

https://www.allparts.com/AP-0637-010...ate_p_379.html

[fazool]

If you wrapped the tip in electrical tape to stop it from conducting electricty (to shock you) how did it still work?

This is a very bad fix firstly, and secondly, getting shocked is an indication of a short elsewhere in your system.

[louparte]

Originally Posted by fazool

If you wrapped the tip in electrical tape to stop it from conducting electricty (to shock you) how did it still work?

This is a very bad fix firstly, and secondly, getting shocked is an indication of a short elsewhere in your system.

FTR this thread is titled: " Repairing Cracked Wood Around Input Jack".
That's what it was supposedly about. It sought advice about repairing and reinforcing wood cracks on an arch-top guitar near the input jack.

Now on to your comments:

#1. Yeah. I know. So I didn't do that.

It wasn't the tip. I should have used a more precise word. I wrapped
electrical tape where the metal meets the cord. The tip, (which I would
seldom touch anyway because it was plugged deeper inside the guitar).

Ergo, the tip was not wrapped in tape to prevent it from shocking me. The tip was not wrapped at all.
The metal part of the cable was wrapped in electrical tape at the point where my fingers came into contact with -
the metal conductive part of the cable. So to answer your question, it worked fine. Still does.

But that was not the topic of my thread. I asked about repairing and
reinforcing wood at the jack point of a guitar.

So in my case,I had figured out: A bad guitar cable for my set-up looks like this:



A good guitar cable for my set up looks like: (I don't buy metal ones anymore.)



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The idea about a Les Paul-style jack was an interesting one. I might buy one to try it.

On another piece of gear, a few days ago I wrapped a metal stereo compressor box (top and sides),
completely in wide green electrical tape. It's a (Joe Meek). I'd taken it
outside the rack and used it w/my pedal box. It worked perfectly after the
taping. It no longer zaps me when I touch it. So the tape may not be to your liking,
but it works quite well when applied on the correct places,

Your observation #2. Yeah, I know about the current problem. I live in an Asian City of about 15-18 million population running on DC current.
I've been here about 10 years. I've had this problem in every one of the dwellings I've resided in. It is not an isolated phenomenon.
It's everywhere. Sadly, my wife lost a good friend working at a restaurant - about eight years ago. She was electrocuted doing normal restaurant work.

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Your observation changed the entire subject of the thread BTW. Back on topic, the guitar cracks have all been repaired and reinforced rather inexpensively.
And the jack works fine with taped cords. The cords are only taped if - as I said earlier - the connection between cord and the tip are metal and
my fingers frequently come into with the metal. That's why the topic was about fixing wooden cracks - not DC current problems in a rig.

The people who recommended glue are on to something. My luthier used it.

The best solution for the electrical current problem thus far has been rubber-
ended non-conductive cables and patch cords. some metal devices really
give me a zap, my mixer for instance. Thus I use copius amounts of electrical tape.

Also for the record, in the event there are some who want to explore the hijacked wilderness of this thread more. Here is the rig in question.










As for me, the problem I asked about has been solved.