Tips on cleaning old 1/4” jacks.

[Stevem]

On my 54 Gibson GA 77 I have had 2 out of the 4 input jacks be intermittent for the 25 years I have had it and I decided to correct that today.

These two jacks I have cleaned in the passed and bent the tip holders to create more side pressure to load the jack shank harder in the bore, but even after scrubbing out the guide bore with electromotive cleaner on a Q tip they where both still intermittent .

Today I glued a flap of 320 sand paper on a Q tip and loaded it in my drill.

After a polish out and an application of Deoxit that has lube in it also the connection is like new.

So I don’t think it was a tarnish condition on these two jacks making for the issue as the electromotive cleaner on a Q tip did remove a bunch of crap from the bore.

I think on these two jacks that something was spilled on control panel and got down into them.
Then some type of cleaner like Fantastic was used and just dried and made a film that a chemical cleaner was useless on.

Yes, I am cheap as I have plenty of new switchcraft vintage jacks I could put in, but these 4 where all wired ground wise to each other with nice heavy 3/16” steel bar that I did not want to mess with.

[testing1two]

For open panel jacks you can speed up the process using an inexpensive .25 cal bore mop or this equivalent kit from the good people at loothtool: https://loothtool.com/product/the-signa ... ning-tool/

For closed panel jacks (like Cliff jacks) you can clean the contact tabs with a thin, fine burnishing tool like this: https://jonard.com/contact-burnishers-b ... iles?v=354

In either case the last thing you want to do is blindly squirt a bunch of contact cleaner in the hole and hope for the best. That just leaves a mess inside the chassis for the next guy.

[LOUDthud]

To clean the switch contacts on an old Switchcraft type jack my high school electronics teacher recommended using a piece of paper from a grocery store bag. It is kind of rough, maybe use a drop of De-oxit on it to remove any light oxidation.

One clown I know uses a circular wire brush designed to clean the barrel of a 22 caliber hand gun. IMHO that removes too much plating from the jack.

[nuke]

Back when there was a Radio Shack in just about every town and strip center, they sold a "burnishing tool" for switch and relay contacts.

It's a very thin, small file, with extra-fine grit on it. They do a good job at cleaning and smoothing contacts.

You can still find them. They're not 90-cents any more, but there are inexpensive ones out there.

[Stevem]

For the jack switch contacts I use wire wick wetted with D oxit D5.

[martin manning]

If using abrasive paper, I would go really fine, like 1000 or 1200 grit, with contact cleaner. Polishing through the plating will expose the base metal, which will then corrode much faster.

[Smitty]

I cut up old file folders into strips about 3" x 1/4". I then run a crease down the center about 2/3 the length. I wet the flat end with DeOxit D100 and go to town on the contact. Hold the contact open while pushing the card stock in. Close the contact and pull. Repeat a few times.

For the barrel I use a nylon .25 caliber barrel brush, then followup with DeOxit D5 on a Q-Tip.