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Yamaha - recessed jack socket - any ideas??


guyl
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The recessed Jack socket on my longtime Yamaha TRB has been problematic over the years. I took it to Ged Green who has been asked to fix quite a few - he suggested it’s a bit of a design flaw. Ged fitted a “surface mounted” plate and socket which has been trouble free ever since. (Photo below - the orange bass).

 

I also own a Nathan East model which one is fab in every way except the same problem. Lead/socket is always under some kind of bad tension due to the angle of the recessed jack. Unlike the TRB it will be impossible to fit a surface mounted socket. (Photo attached of the white bass) 

 

Has anyone managed to overcome this, or is it a case of replacing socket every few years…? 

FFEEA7A7-31F4-4E00-A095-E4A218711450.jpeg

B75285BE-D0F2-4313-A16C-3D2E5993E5EB.jpeg

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I don’t have either of these basses but it is good practice to loop the cable around the strap so you have some slack if the cable is pulled. Martin at the Gallery once advised that right angle plugs are much better for the Jack socket after having issues with a Warwick.

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I love Yamahas...guitars, basses, saxophones - but their jack sockets aren't the most long-lasting.

 

It isn't the plate - it's the socket itself.

 

Some Yamahas are fitted with barrel jacks...and, as your luthier rightly says, they are a bit of a design compromise.  They look like this :

7e5BlL5l.jpg

The design is flawed, but te best of a bad bunch are the ones made by Switchcraft...so if you have to have a like for like replacement, ask for Switchcraft to be fitted.

 

Much more reliable are this type of socket, which is, I think what your luthier has adapted and fitted to your TRB:

 

Otyp1JRl.png

...and this is probably also fitted (or the stereo equivalent) to your Nathan East.

 

Again, the 'industry standard' for these is Switchcraft (and we're only talking a few £'s each).  Honestly, a Switchcraft jack like this should last you out.  Other makes last between 1 and 10 years max...  In my experience, the ones Yamaha fit (and in all other aspects, I love them) are towards the lower end of that range.

 

So, the jackplate itself on tbe Natan East is fine.  But get someone to fit you a Switchcraft jack onto it and I don't think you'll have any more issues.

 

 

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10 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

It’s a open stereo Jack like the bottom one in @Andyjr1515s post … the contacts are like springs that touch the cable - before you fit a new one open it up and pinch the contacts closer … that could be all in needs

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1072092/Yamaha-Bb-Ne2.html?page=2#manual

Yes...but while that is correct, that is also what is different between the commercial-quality (and in this respect, Switchcraft are broadly in that camp) and more general consumer quality.  The point is that spring steel shouldn't lose its spring.  So if it does, it is not good spring steel...and neither is it if you can bend the contacts closer - good spring steel would just spring apart again ;)

 

So yes - just before a gig with nowhere else to go - then it is definitely a get-out-of-jail card.  But if it's lost its spring once, it will lose it again.

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