How to Replace a Damaged Guitar Jack

An electrical guitar’s output jack, which also functions as the input jack on acoustic guitars, is an integral part of the signal chain that connects your instrument to the amplifier. A guitar jack that is worn out or damaged can cause crackling in the sound or even silence when you plug in your guitar cable, usually at the worst possible time. Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to replace the guitar jack yourself, and save some money in the process.

The most common type of output jack in use is the mono jack, which has two tabs, or lugs, on which to solder a positive and negative wire. These wires connect to the bent flange that makes contact with the tip of the guitar cable plug. The flange is typically made of metal, but some plastic flanges are used on cheaper guitars. The most common reason a guitar output jack becomes faulty is that the flange wears out and no longer makes a good contact with the plug tip. This often happens with older guitars that receive a lot of playing time but not much maintenance attention. Another common problem is that the jack contacts become corroded.

Some acoustic guitars have stereo output jacks, which provide more flexibility and functionality than a mono jack. One advantage of these jacks is that they can accept a mono guitar cable with a splitter, which allows you to send separate signals to the amplifier from each of your dual pickups or from an acoustic guitar piezo pickup and regular pickups. The other advantage of a stereo output jack is that it can accommodate a guitar that has an onboard LED to control the status of the power and ground wires connecting to the jack.

There are also a number of different types of barrel output jacks available, such as the switchable type that has an additional prong to allow you to use it for both mono and stereo connections. Other specialized output jacks include the TRS jack, which has four prongs in total and can be used to send a single mono or stereo signal from an instrument to the amplifier.

Once you’ve soldered the hot (signal) and ground leads to the corresponding tabs on your new output jack, it’s time to install it in your guitar. If you’re replacing an existing jack, the first step is to remove the nut that holds it in place, then unscrew and remove the jack plate from your guitar.

Once you have the jack free from the jack plate, inspect it for damage and wear. If the jack is in good shape, use your wire strippers to remove the old jack wires from the lugs. Once the new wires are attached, carefully reinstall the jack plate in your guitar. If you’re installing a new jack, be careful when tightening the securing nut so that you don’t accidentally stress or pull the wiring connected to the lugs and possibly break it off.