My gods, the wiring horror! (Short comment about the stock (?) wiring in my Jackson)

[bubkus_jones]

So, a little over a year ago I purchased a Jackson Dinky (2h, floyd, maple fretboard with offset dots). Worked fine. Eventually swapped out the stock licenced floyd for an OFR I had for a project guitar (which is pretty much dead).

 

The last couple months have given me a lot of issues with the electronics, but I couldn't really be bothered to fix them (had no amp so I played acoustically anyways). Got my amp back, and decided to fix it up so she's all good and playable.

 

Open up the damn thing and the wires are tangled and spread everywhere, it looks like a freakin birds nest. Worse than that, several of the wires are spliced together from shorter segments, as if they couldn't find the proper length and had to scrounge for scraps. It's no wonder I've been having issues.

 

No pics, as I have no camera, I just had to vent. I'm really hoping that one of the previous owners decided to open it up and rewire it for some messed up reason.

 

Anyways, has anyone else encountered such a rather substandard bit of wiring from a decent quality production instrument?

[craigny]

Did you buy it new? Any chance if you got it used that someone messed with the electronics and did that to it.

[bubkus_jones]

That's the only thing I can think of to explain it, unless Jackson in the early-mid 90's (I'm pretty sure it's a 93-94) had some wonky quality control

 

Also, does anyone know of a colour diagram for the stock jackson pickups (I'm assuming they're stock, can't find any IDs/logos to say different)?

 

EDIT::

 

Ok, scratch the rewiring for today. I just took out the pickups to check for any sort of model/brand info again, and there was even more shoddy splicing done. Looks like a previous owner trimmed the pickup lead 2 inches from the pickup and then said "Oh, {censored}e!" and tried to tape the rest back on. Looks like I'm going to need to order all new stuff.

[craigny]

Better off to do it all new anyway...that way you know its done right and to your liking.

[tiltsta]

Hmm. I swapped the neck single coil in my Japanese dinky and the wiring looks about the same as any stock guitar I've opened up. Everything was very neat inside, with clean soldering, proper wire lead lengths, and so on. Sounds like someone {censored}ed with yours before you got to it.

[bubkus_jones]

I was trying to do it on the cheap, but oh well. Not like it should be that difficult anyways, I don't want any fancy coil-taps or phase switches or whatever else you can do.

Now I get the fun () of trying to figure out what to get.

[aliensporebomb]

That's weird. My '97 USA Soloist has what I call "anal electrician wiring" like they thought some magazine was going to photograph it and publish it everywhere so it's very neat.

[Angry Tele]

you bought an almost 20 year old guitar why would you assume the factory messed up the wiring? i thought this thread was about new guitars with messed up wiring. My 52RI tele came from the factory with no sound (broken solder on the jack)

[billybilly]

C'mon bubkus, anyone could have owned that. Probably some kid who was experimenting.

[AxAxSxS]

the jackson I opened up was imaculate inside. I was very impressed and almost didnt do the mod I had planned.

[*BLEEP*]

Open up the damn thing and the wires are tangled and spread everywhere

 

 

Did the control compartment look anything like this? If so, it's part of Jackson's renewed commitment to nature.and dual-use of resources.

 

 

[Angry Tele]

if this was a Gibson guitar this thread would be 15 pages by now about thier QC. Instead, its like a fart in the wind....

[caveman]

if this was a Gibson guitar this thread would be 15 pages by now about thier QC. Instead, its like a fart in the wind....

I"ll start: Bought a Gibson 57 DC at a yard sale for $3..........had a broken string........Gibson QC sucks.

[bubkus_jones]

Did the control compartment look anything like this? If so, it's part of Jackson's renewed commitment to nature.and dual-use of resources.

 

Yeah, kind of looked like that. Just with fewer birds.

[cephus]

Seems far more likely he changed the pickups out to something decent and then changed it back before he sold it.

[Angry Tele]

 

Seems far more likely he changed the pickups out to something decent and then changed it back before he sold it.

 

 

yup.

[scolfax]

I can't wait to see pics of this monstrosity!

[bubkus_jones]

 

I can't wait to see pics of this monstrosity!

 

 

Sadly, no camera, and I've junked the old electronics.

[Armitage]

Many mid '90s Jacksons had a built in Q Filter, maybe someone removed it and added extentions to the existing wiring...

[smorgdonkey]

 

That makes sense. Eh, probably going to toss the neck and body on craigslist or something. Sadly, no camera, and I've junked the old electronics.

 

 

The pickups could still be fine...all you have to do is extend the leads on them. The pots should also be fine. Wire is cheap. You have to solder perhaps 10-15 connections to have it all working. That is not too hard.

[Masta' C]

There's no way the wiring was stock that way. I've owned tons of Jacksons from 1988 to current and even the cheapest heaps I've come across still had quality wiring jobs inside (even if the components themselves were rather budget oriented).

[bubkus_jones]

The pickups could still be fine...all you have to do is extend the leads on them. The pots should also be fine. Wire is cheap. You have to solder perhaps 10-15 connections to have it all working. That is not too hard.

 

 

If I was going to, I'd replace the pots and switch, anyways. They're cheap enough, and it'd give me a cleaner point to start with. However, it was generally the last guitar I picked up, and the one that spent most of it's time in it's case. It was mainly the body. The 7/8 scale size, with the light-weight basswood, and the overall cut of it, it just felt, umm, dainty (?), insignificant (?). It just felt like there wasn't much there. I've found I like something with a little more heft and substance. It was a nice guitar, just not for me.

 

So, I'll probably just sell the neck and body, use the proceeds to either upgrade some parts on my Strat clone(new bridge, new tuners, non-plastic nut) or put it towards the Epi LP I've been looking at (or maybe one of those Sterling Axis', played one the last time I was out browsing).

[smorgdonkey]

Sounds fair enough...people seem to like the bodies and LOVE the necks (if it has the compound radius fingerboard).

[Canadian Jeff]

There's no way the wiring was stock that way. I've owned tons of Jacksons from 1988 to current and even the cheapest heaps I've come across still had quality wiring jobs inside (even if the components themselves were rather budget oriented).

I've poked around a few Jacksons of varying age and my experience has been the same, they're always pretty neatly wired.