NGD turns into switch question

[KenC]

OK, this should be a New Guitar Day post. Unfortunately:

1. My wife or kids put the USB cable for the digital camera somewhere it shouldn't be, so I have no way to post pictures; and,

2. Something is wrong with the electronics.

The guitar in question is an F-100 with dates from Dec '80 and Jan '81. Everything is original AFAIK. It has a mahogany body, ebony board, and a SaddleLock bridge. Right out of the box, it sounded great slightly overdriven through my Blues Jr. Then I switched from the bridge to the neck pickup, and got total silence. Repeated selector switching eventually brought the neck pickup in, with possibly a little bit more volume than the bridge pickup, but I am getting some sudden volume losses (fixable by switch jiggling) and intermittent slow fading and returning of the neck pickup's volume. The phase switch also caused complete loss of sound in the out-of-phase (toward the nut) position, but a bit of jiggling seems to have fixed that. I could not see any loose connections under the control plate.

What I'm wondering at this point (besides "where's the $#&@ USB cable?") is whether this is just a problem with switches, or if I need to be concerned about the neck pickup itself. Having two switches going bad after thirty-one years isn't unusual, especially since the guitar appears not to have been played since the early 80s (case candy was a trade-in receipt from 1983, a tuner from 1983, and a list of method books to buy). My concern for the pickup is that it wires to both of the switches that were having problems, and the issue with the phase switch only seems to happen when the selector switch is cutting out. It's too late and my electrical skills are too weak for me to reach any conclusions right now...

On the bright side:

1. The bridge pickup sounds great pushing the Blues Jr. With the input volume up about halfway, this thing wails. It's a touch on the shrill side and muddy in the bass with the controls wide open and the amp's EQ flat, but I expect some experimentation when I can turn up the volume will fix that.

2. The neck pickup is gorgeous when it's working. It has plenty of volume, but doesn't hit the amp's input as hard as the bridge pickup for some reason. I had high hopes for the combination of neck pickup, 'hog body and ebony board, but so far this is exceeding my expectations. It is the sound I've had in my head for jazz/chord melody styles for a long time.

3. I pulled the trigger on this one due to a really good price, and was thinking of it more as a missing piece in the collection. Instead, this is probably going to be one of my main players.

Enough for tonight. Any thoughts on the control/pickup issues would be greatly appreciated!

Ken

[darwinohm]

Ken, this is an indication that the switches have not been used for a long time. Using a TV contact cleaner such as RadioShack Contact Cleaner And Lubricant may solve the problem. The issue is whether it is oxidized or corroded. This cleaner will remove oxidation but corrosion may not be fixable. I will bet this guitar has not been used for a long time. Nice find by the way and your collection of vintage G&Ls continues to grow weekly!!!!! -- Darwin

[blargfromouterspace]

Ken, if the contact cleaner doesn't work you could try isolating the pickup from the switches. Wire it straight to the output jack and if it's still intermittent then you know its bad. I doubt it though, its almost certainly a switch/pot/dodgy connection somewhere.

Good luck with it, I'm looking forward to some photos!

[Fred Finisher]

Ken,
I'm with Darwin and Jamie on how to test, then clean the switches. You can also put an ohm meter on the pickup leads to check the connection. The switches are most likely oxidized and not corroded so they should clean up with contact cleaner/ lubricant. The switches are a bit harder to get the cleaner in because the backs are sealed but you should be able to shoot some down the shaft and it will work its' way down to the contacts. If you are planning on removing the neck please make sure to get some good shots of the neck pocket so we can see the overspray pattern. This will help identify the finish tint if there is any. I can't remember if we shot the intermediate tint from the tobacco sunburst on the natural Mahogany bodies or if we left them completely natural with clear only ( I think we tinted them.). Look forward to seeing this one,
Fred

[Miles Smiles]

Look forward to seeing this one

While Ken is preparing his pictures, you may have a look at theese: http://i.wuell.net/gallery/view_album.p ... =G-L-F-100

On the last page is a picture from the neck pocket. Click on it, until you get it at full size.

[Fred Finisher]

Miles,
That is one cool guitar. It looks like it has been played hard. Do the tuners still work well? The tobacco sunburst has three colors involved. The natural bodies should only have one tint if I remember correctly.
Fred

[Miles Smiles]

Miles,
That is one cool guitar. It looks like it has been played hard. Do the tuners still work well? The tobacco sunburst has three colors involved. The natural bodies should only have one tint if I remember correctly.
Fred

Thanks. Yes, the tuners are working still weil. I've got another F-100, which hasn't been played a lot and the tuners are in the same good condition.

I'm the third owner, got it from a guy in Germany. The first owner lives in New York and played with it a lot, he wrote me.

I found him, because that guitar still was registered with his e-mail address in the registry here.

[KenC]

I just got back from an unplanned trip for my job, and was happy to see the discussion on this. I haven't been able to get contact cleaner yet, but just working the switches has the neck pickup playing consistently.

If you are planning on removing the neck please make sure to get some good shots of the neck pocket so we can see the overspray pattern. This will help identify the finish tint if there is any. I can't remember if we shot the intermediate tint from the tobacco sunburst on the natural Mahogany bodies or if we left them completely natural with clear only ( I think we tinted them.)

Fred: I took the photos before you posted, but anyway here are the two I have of the neck pocket:





Here's one of the controls, which shows a bit of the cavity:



With the caveat that I'm somewhat color blind, the finish on this guitar looks exactly like the center of the sunbursts on my mahogany '80 L-1000 and '81 L-2000E.

All of the body shots I took came out a lot lighter than this guitar looks in real life. This is the closest of them to what the finish really looks like:



I will try to get some more shots in sunlight tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Ken

[Fred Finisher]

KenC,
I remembered correctly, we did tint them. The overspray in the neck pocket verifies that quite well. The paste wood filler has a tint in it to resemble the color of the natural mahogany but without tinting the entire surface, the mahogany bodies would have looked inconsistent and boring.
Fred

[KenC]

A couple of blasts of DeOxit seems to have fixed all of the switching problems. This is a seriously sweet guitar. I have no idea why these don't have a better reputation.

Ken