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Anyone else have this SX problem?

malthumb

malthumb

Mar 25, 2001
6,436
4,536
The Motor City
#1
Anybody have problems with solder point on the input jack wire??

Last year I bought an SX short scale Jazz Bass for the music department at my kids' school. After about 9 months it stopped working, so I brought it home and found that the solder joint on the input jack had come loose. I took it to a tech that I do business with (I suck at soldering) and he re-soldered the wire and put a nut on the inside part of the jack to keep the jack from twisting and breaking the solder again.

For Christmas, I bought and donated an SX 5-string to one of the churches I play at so that they have an instrument for someone to play the Sundays I'm not there. I played it one service and it was fine. The next Sunday, someone else played it since I was at a different church. When I went to rehearsal this past Thursday, it kept cutting out. I took apart the jack and saw that the same solder point had broken on this one, too. My tech made the same fix. I played it in today's service with no problems.
 
#5
This is not an unknown or rare problem, even with basses costing much more. Let's face it, Sx is a great bargain on the market today, but it's weak link is it's electronics.
Most folks who buy them often replace the pots and modify the electronics to prevent this. Even then, it is still a bargain.
 
#6
Something weird I've noticed on some SX's is that the solder they use seems to have a higher melting point then the one I use. Once I soldered a connection thinking my solder was just fine when in actuality, I had not melted the original solder yet. It caused a weakpoint and a cold solder joint. I don't know if this is really true, but it seems to be my perception.
 
#7
GassieBall said:
Something weird I've noticed on some SX's is that the solder they use seems to have a higher melting point then the one I use. Once I soldered a connection thinking my solder was just fine when in actuality, I had not melted the original solder yet. It caused a weakpoint and a cold solder joint. I don't know if this is really true, but it seems to be my perception.
Click to expand...

All new stuff has to use lead free solder, which has a MUCH higher melting point as regular solder, as well as being more brittle
 
#10
GassieBall said:
Something weird I've noticed on some SX's is that the solder they use seems to have a higher melting point then the one I use. Once I soldered a connection thinking my solder was just fine when in actuality, I had not melted the original solder yet. It caused a weakpoint and a cold solder joint. I don't know if this is really true, but it seems to be my perception.
Click to expand...

Lead free solder has a higher melting temp than leaded solder.
 

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