I'm sorry, I see you are the OP (hey, again!).
I need to do a better job of keeping up!....
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New MM Stingray Special 4HH failure
- Thread starter Play that Fish
- Start date
I need to do a better job of keeping up!....
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,793
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
I had a similar problem, but it was not battery box, it was the batteries!
The box is designed for batteries of particular size in matters of 0,5mm.
In my case it works with Duracell 9V, but it will not work with Thomann 9V batteries.
The box is designed for batteries of particular size in matters of 0,5mm.
In my case it works with Duracell 9V, but it will not work with Thomann 9V batteries.
It's what came on the MIJ Heartfield (Fender off-shoot) basses. Don't know who the actual box manufacturer may have been, or if they were ever available as "unbranded" units. No doubt they were more costly than the plastic ones, though. Pretty much all the components on those Heartfields were hi-grade.
It's not like you are changing a battery every week. Should the failure rate be this high?
My ex s.i.l. had a Hartfield super strat with the same battery box, I remember it as being really nice and the only neck through I'd ever seen with a Fender sticker on it.
It seems that nobody makes a really good 9V or 18V battery box. I use Gotoh 18V flip-up battery boxes, which eventually die when the solder joint between the leads and the terminals fails. You can resolder them, but it tends to melt the plastic clips holding the terminal strips in place. Either that, or the copper-clad steel wires fatigue and break.
$2,000 Bass… Thirty cent battery box. I had a few fail on my EBMM basses over the years. No biggie. It’s an easy fix.
How in the world are people putting enough strain on these Gotoh battery boxes to break the wire connections? Is it too much force or too many cycles?
In my case, possibly it's the crappy design which makes the boxes really difficult to open and which puts strain on the flimsy box.
The design issue is that the attachment of the wires bends the wires at an acute angle when the battery holders are fully opened. After a number of cycles, the wire fatigues and breaks where it's soldered to the battery box. The steel wire used isn't really suitable for repeated flexing as it fatigues more quickly than copper wire.
Haven't had that issue with any of my Stingray Specials or my older SR5. The only battery box issue I ever had was with a used Bongo 6 that I bought which had very corroded hardware and the battery box looked like someone left batteries in it for years unused so I think they leaked a bit on the terminals. Was a pretty easy fix to clean up though luckily.
I like that. I wish Warwick used something like that as opposed to the battery lying loose in a holder in the service bay with the old style transistor radio male-female 9 volt terminal connector at the end of a pair of wires.
Ahhh, that’s a good point….
I’m just nerdy enough to go in there and replace the steel wire with copper wire.
One of these days….
For about 18 years Musicmans came with a simple 2-screw chrome battery cover and an old style battery harness. Simple and lasted decades. My 78 and 93 have those.
And then the complainers nagged they wanted a quick change box, well it came with reliability offset!
My Man.
I was reading that thinking 'that never happened with the screw-down covers on the old ones'. Reliability Offset applies to so many NEW, IMPROVED products.
