So, where is the red wire go?

Got a couple of issues on this bass, one is the red wire is loose, and I’ve no idea where to connect it back up to, the second is interference when I set the bass to the trebly side, it’s fine when on full on bass.

And thirdly, I need a new input jack, i need to have lead slightly pulled out of the guitar for it to get a signal. Any idea on where to buy, advice on that? Cost?

Anyhow, relevant pics, any thoughts appreciated, got everything else set up nice on it, (string height, relief and intonation)it’s playing well, just need to sort these electics issues!

cheers 🙂

I had a new input jack fitted to my musicman sub a few years ago. I remember it being around £30-£40 supplied and fitted

Often with minor jack isses you can resolve it by cleaning the contacts or bending them around. Replacing a jack barrel is really easy, as long as you can find a compatible one, which is sometimes really hard depending on where and when the guitar’s from, but that sort usually aren’t that tricky.

Is it a Vester? The electronics and neck bolting are different to the genuine Warwicks I remember (and my old Rockbass). Reason that might matter is just compatibility/knowledgebases.

TBH unless there’s obvious witness marks for the loose cable, or you can find an image of an intact one, that’s going to be tricky… I’m not liking the look of that electrical tape either, never a good sign. I used to spanner guitars for pocket money and even so, I’d have probably kicked this job to a better shop than the one I worked in 😆

red wire looks like earth, so will go to the jack. new jack is an easy install. Where abouts in the country are you? any one with a soldering iron can fix it, for peanuts.

It’s just an old vintage bass I bought about 16 years ago or so no, tbh I’ve never really played it till recently, hence wanting to get it fixed!

I don’t know the specific modal as it’s not marked anywhere on it, (I bought it on a clueless whim! 😆 ) but google suggests it’s a vintage v950B, so not a great guitar, so I don’t mind experimenting on it myself.

yes nothing obvious on it to suggest where it might go unfortunately!

Aye the lecky tape was me, when I rescued it from my brothers house, the battery was disconneted, so that was just me as a quick fix to get it working again!

I intent to sort it myself, just need to know the location of where that wire goes, and the correct jack to buy and then, i’ll just need to learn to solder properly! 😆

jimbobo – Member
red wire looks like earth, so will go to the jack. new jack is an easy install. Where abouts in the country are you? any one with a soldering iron can fix it, for peanuts.

I’ve got a soldering iron kicking about somewhere, so I should be able to sort it. I was thinking it might be an earth myself, hence the noise when I turn the nobs to the trebly side.

Where abouts on the jack should it go? (same as the other red already going into the jack?) guess I could just quickly tape it to to correct bit see if that solve the noise issues? (before soldering anything)

It’s hard to see from the pic but that wire doesn’t appear to be tinned, is the loose end bare copper or has it got solder on it? Being soldered to the back of a pot would suggest it’s a ground, but it looks like the components are grounded via the PCB and the string ground (also soldered to the same pot) looks to be going through just above the PCB. I can’t see any real reason for it, if the back cover has any metallic backing it may have been used to ground that for extra shielding. I doubt it’s for the jack as if you’re getting signal out then you have an earth to the jack.

Does the bass make a buzz that goes away when you touch the strings or other metal parts? If so that’s good as it means that the bass is grounded ok.

tried to touch it to all the jack points, doesn’t do much, shorts out when i go red to red, and it doesn’t do anything when I go red to black or white on the jack, I still get the buzzing.

Yes the wire isn’t tinned and there is some shield on the back of the plate I took off. For the timebeing, I’ve just taped it to the back of that to keep it out the road of anything.

Here’s how the guitar sounds at the extreme of all the knobs being turned, i’m also touching off and on the string at the start of this, no difference to the noise.

https://soundcloud.com/seosamh77/untitled

Any thoughts? Not going through anything here other than the focusrite 2i4 preamp.

You think it may just be because the jack is iffy?

Hmmm, on to plumbs, just took the whole thing apart, pickups and even the bridge off, the pickups are connected with the white wires, one going to the bridge pickup and one going to the 2 neck picks, neck wired in series, 2 cores on those, so live and ground, actual tells you this on the board, d’oh! Doesn’t look likes there’s anything disconnected in there anyway, only the white wires connect to the pickups and they aren’t soldered, they’re straight in, which makes sense for off the shelf picks I guess.

The black wire coming from the same pot as the loose red wire is earth to the actual bridge, which makes me think the red wire is an earth aswell, maybe it is just right to attach to the foil shielding on the plate cover?

So, I guess next port of call is just to replace the jack and see if that solves the problems, hmmm tbh, might just take it to a shop, i’m stumped.

Whilst it’s a bit noisy, well, not all is lost…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulxoIly3jt4[/video]

My guess is that the red wire attached to the pot. body has just been trapped under the control cavity cover, to earth the foil shielding. Odd choice of colour to use, but……

A bit of interweb searching should get you a jack socket?
eBay item no 190816570970