Author Topic: Jack plate material? (Read 120 times)

crgaston · « **on:** January 27, 2009, 07:39:52 PM »

I dropped my Starfire and busted the jack out.

(DOH!!!)

I am going to fabricate a plate since it's a pretty large broken area, and I am wondering if I should use brass, aluminum, or mild steel. Should it be conductive, not conductive, or does it matter?

Any suggestions appreciated...

edwin · « **Reply #1 on:** January 27, 2009, 09:12:31 PM »

I'd probably go with brass, but that's just because I like brass. I love a Starfire with all kinds of brass on it! Good luck with it!

Edwin

terryc · « **Reply #2 on:** January 28, 2009, 03:26:22 AM »

I would go with Edwin, aluminium dulls and mild steel will rust if not coated. Brass can be polished to a high lustre and coated with laquer to prevent tarnishing.
Mind you..how about gold plating??

crgaston · « **Reply #3 on:** January 28, 2009, 12:17:16 PM »

Well, if it were to match the rest of the hardware it'd have to be chromed. Since the jack is on the side I'll probably just paint it black.

So what I'm getting is that the matierial is non-critical with regard to potential grounding issues?

David Houck · « **Reply #4 on:** January 28, 2009, 02:06:36 PM »

Nice picture! If the plate isn't attached directly to any wires and if it's not attached to shielding, in other words if the plate itself is not grounded to anything else, then my guess is that it probably doesn't matter.

tbrannon · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2009, 02:23:47 PM »

I've always liked that picture Charles-

The grass looks like it needs some water though... =)

bsee · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2009, 02:25:56 PM »

Agreed, Dave. Some sort of wood piece might even be an option. Getting the bend right so it matches the side of the instrument could be interesting no matter what you use. Does anyone think it might be appropriate to add some sort of block on the inside of the instrument for the plate to mount to rather than counting on just the thinnish side of the instrument?

crgaston · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2009, 06:37:54 PM »

Toby, it probably did, or else it was just a protective layer of pine straw

Thanks Bob and Dave, that answers my question. Bob, a block would be good, but how would I get it in? I plan on making it relatively large and using a mess of tiny screws to distribute the stress. The curve will be no problem. I'll just find an apropriately shaped log in the woods behind the house and commence to whacking.

bsee · « **Reply #8 on:** January 28, 2009, 08:00:24 PM »

The block could even be another piece of drilled/threaded metal. Just something to spread the stress of holding in the jack around a little bit. How big a hole was left when the jack pulled out? If it didn't really grow the hole any, then you might be able to insert something through the F-hole and manage getting it into position. Otherwise, you might just be looking at a small piece of strapping. Maybe a professional repair person could do a better job. My simple concern was that screwing something in to a weakened area on the side of the guitar could result in things pulling apart again down the road. You're in a much better position to determine if that might be an issue than we are.

terryc · « **Reply #9 on:** January 29, 2009, 01:46:52 AM »

very nice bass indeed, as far as grounding, but tell me if I am wrong, the jack socket is grounded to the plate by it's own attachment and then to the grounding circuit of the pu's.
Mind you chrome would look nice too!