Advice needed - crackling jack

AlexC

 Side mounted jack on one of my Pacificas has developed an intermittent loose connection (I’m guessing) crackle with a straight lead but not a right angled one. What’s going on there then? Can I spray WD40 in there? Would that actually achieve anything, or just do nothing? 
I bow to your knowledge in advance, people.
cheers!

guitars4you

Assume the jack socket itself is tight and the hexagnol nut is tight

Generally dirt - I get some fine wet and dry - roll it into a small 'fag' and feed in/out and round/round - Clean its up and removes any tarnish/ozidization - make sure you get both the inside rim of the socket and the 'spring loaded' elongated part that holds the 'live contact' of the plug - Hope that makes sense 

Assume the jack plug feels snug/tight when in the socket 

Assume it is not the cable as well

gringopig

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Danny1969

Is it  a long barrel type jack socket ? These often go wrong and being a barrel connector you can't get to the contacts to tighten them up. Cleaning by squirting contact cleaner on a jack plug and inserting in and out a few times  might help

Another trick is look on the inside and see how many contacts it has. Often standard 3 contact TRS type one's are fitted to passive guitars and only the sleeve and tip used  .... but if the guitar is passive and there is a TRS type fitted you can bridge the earth to the ring contact on the socket and that will cure it if the poor connection is earth side

Gagaryn

gringopig said:

Don't use WD40! That's  for expelling moisture. get some Servisol or better still De-Oxit.

Not this again! If all you have to hand is WD40 no harm in trying that rather spending more ££ on another can of stuff.

WD40 is not just for expelling moisture. Amongst it's other myriad uses, it is also an excellent cleaner and protects against corrosion so very likely will well work - for a jack socket may well work better than both Servisol or De-Oxit - neither are miracle products.

ICBM

If it's the original jack, replace it with a Switchcraft - all other open-frame jacks are crap, sadly. You *could* try Servisol or WD-40, but frankly it's a waste of time unless it's a complete emergency for a gig, because it will just go again sooner rather than later...

robgilmo

Most crackling jacks I have had didn't respond well to cleaning, or even bending the connections to make them tighter, they only cost four quid so I just swap them out.

AlexC

Thanks for all this, people.