how to fix an electric guitar that crackles and cuts out (lead and jack)

How to repair a guitar that crackles and cuts out or a guitar with no sound at all.

1. How to replace a jack plug socket with a multi contact one.
2. How to repair a broken lead

In this video we look at how to diagnose a guitar that crackles and cuts out or makes no sound at all. We look at the for most common causes of a bad connection and look at the easiest ways to repair the problem. I will do this repair on a 2016 USA Fender Stratocaster ultra, which shouldn’t really have a problem like this one, and I will replace the standard jack plug socket with a Pure Tone Multi-contact output Jack. This problem is surprisingly common and can happen with any electric guitar or even an electro-acoustic guitar. The most common cause of a cutting out or dead guitar is the lead and the easiest way to deal with this if you don't have a soldering iron is to replace the lead. If the lead isn't causing your guitar to cut out then it is probably the output socket from the guitar.

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[judec]

Watching this at 3AM and this guy's voice is so soothing.

[dinglebarrybonds]

This video saved my old Epiphone Les Paul. It made so much noise it couldn’t be plugged in now it’s pretty good. I didn’t think it was worth a repair shop trip so it saved a guitar

[Slamminbassplayer]

This is great although I have a really hard time with long fingernails on videos like this for some reason…. Thanks!

[akashjkhamkar]

cant belive just moving it back and forth helped me, i was so worried, man thank you so much !

[theshuriken]

cant believe just a simple solution like this 2:10 fix my guitar, thank you so much!

[choowie]

Thank you! My guitar was going mute from time to time. I did the steel wool trick inside the jack plug socket and it worked wonders!

I was worried because my Jackon does not have a standard jack plug socket (the jack is completely encased).

[mkilner]

Had a crackling/cutout problem on my edwards les Paul, unscrewed the jack carefully, all soldor and joints good, so steel wooled the contact points, it’s a single sided contact, plugged it in loose, No crackling or lost connection, so sometimes it’s a simple fix!…thanks for your video! 😎👍

[MrOuija-rrkq]

Finally, someone who shakes just as much as I do when soldering.

[alexandertg]

this was so useful! thank you so much, i was worried that my guitar needed something fixed and that i'd have to bring it in to get fixed but all i had to do was bend the piece of metal and it was done! thanks again!

[joshb]

Thanks for the tip on the Pure Tone input. Just put one in a strat and a tele. No more disturbing crackle.

[AlexM-yeqc]

Wow, my guitar had volume issues, cutting in/out, turning into buzz, going louder and quieter, sometimes playing perfectly for a little bit. I haven’t been playing it over the last year or two as much as I used to. Electric guitar about 10yrs old, used amp about 3yrs old-Roland cube 80XL. The input/output cables less than a few years old! Id move the cables and that seemed to affect the sound. I “learned” to solder land and replaced the output jack on the guitar because I had rotated it without tightening it-a little frayed i found. Fixed-Nothing. Input jack on the amp-taken apart and sharpened my soldering skills-not really- and replaced it. Nothing. Still very choppy audio. Before I watched a handful of videos before all this. Wish I’d seen yours first. I noticed finally my two knobs affected the sound after watching your video. They felt a little crusty while going up and down on the volume/gain knobs. Never knew they affected the electronics. I turned them both back and forth and “broke free” of the crusties and now are smooth to turn. Volume output is perfect. Hey at least I learned how to solder. Thank you man! And voice is great by the way.

[rd]

Thanks alot i had a minor heart attack when my guitar started making weird sounds turned out it was the knobs for me as well :)

[fretswitch]

Hey! Great video on the different ways to identify and repair the issues.
I have an odd issue that doesn't seem to have gotten covered in this. I checked all of the points that you've mentioned for diagnosis and they all seem to work fine.
My issue is that one the lighter strings, individually plucked works perfectly fine or rather minimal noise. The moment I play the fatter strings especially if plucked hard or if I strum a chord, it just clips out. Even at extremely low volumes on the preamp ends up clipping the sound.
Any help would be appreciated. Sometime back I had done a messy rewiring of the guitar. But the problem only started up recently. How can I diagnose this?

[richardsilva]

Our finest craftsman is always appointed to troubleshooting guitars with flaws
Hope you all had a great time during the festive season 👍

[addierenteria]

Thank you this solved my problem pushing the metal together

[simonoosterman]

Thank you. Sorted my crackly Jazzmaster sweet as.

[GeorgeZimmermen]

Every single guitar I’ve ever owned in 18 years has had output jack crackling noise issues at least once. Everything from the import guitars, to the USA ones. My current $3k jackson USA has it bad right now. If you play a guitar long enough, it will happen. It’s like driving a car or wearing pants. Eventually, it breaks down over time from use

[robinbrown]

Thanks for this video guide. Stupid question alert….I have had a couple of amp plugs (like Fender Mustang, NUX Mighty Plug) that fit into my guitar jack snuggly with no problem. However, swept up in the hoohar I bought a Katana Go. It will not latch into the jack fully….like it’s not right in and so pops back out the last couple of mm. Meaning the connection isn’t tight and stable, so the Go spins. Do you think bending the contact in may fix this and hold it in place.
Thanks for your help, and the archive of helpful clear stuff you produce.

[nickgreen]

The wire wool worked for me - thank you very much!!

[keannotandoc]

Whenever I play with high gain the sound cuts off with both the guitar and amplifier. And I hear a buzz coming from the amp but no sound from the guitar even thought the volume on the guitar is full. Also whenever strum the strings I hear a thumping noise coming from the amp. Nice and informative video by the way