Semi hollow body loose nuts

[Hogfullofblues]

When I was trying out DOTs at GC, I noticed a few of them had loose controls or jacks. The salesman said that was a known issue with hollow bodies. Now the jack on the one I have has gone and gotten loose.
So with no real access to the inside of this thing, it seems to me the whole jack assembly can spin or twist along with the nut on the outside as it is tightened. Probably no big deal if it spins a bit, but I'm sure too much of that can lead to problems down the road. Maybe thats why some of these hollow bodies show wiring thru the f hole - the pots near it have spun around enough so the leads are on the wrong side now.
Any experience, theories or ideas on this out there?
Thanks!

 

[t_ross33]

Not sure how to get in there and work on anything, but once you're there, a dab of Loc-tite on the threads will keep the nuts from backing off.

 

[Fingers]

You need a Gynacologist..........you know, the sort of bloke that decorates his hall and stairs through the letterbox!!!!!!!!!

When I removed mine I pulled fishing twine through each of the holes to help guide them back in place.....and held them through the f holes with a pair of long nosed surgical forceps.............."ooh mama...."

 

[duhvoodooman]

Working on the electronics on Dots and other 335 style guitars really isn't all that bad, though it's definitely more of a challenge than a Strat or LP. As Fingers mentioned, if you have to actually take some or all of the electronics out, an excellent way to do it is to tie fine string or fishing line to the exposed end of the component(s) before disconnecting them and pulling them out through the f-hole. (And before anybody rolls out the old joke--no, the difficulty of this task is not why they call it an "f-hole".) Then, when you're done with whatever you're doing, you can stuff the pieces back through the f-hole and pull the components back through the mounting holes with the string. I've done the hole wiring harness on my Dot this way a couple of times. Just takes some time & patience.

However, if the problem is just a loose pot, switch or jack, there really shouldn't be a need for all this. The trick is to hold the exposed end of the component in place with your finger tips or (gently!) with a pair of needle-nose pliers, and screw the hex nut back down "finger-tight". For the pots, you'll need to remove the knob to do this. Once the nut is as snug as you can get it by hand, that generally provides enough friction against the guitar body that you can tighten it up a bit more with an adustable or open-end wrench. These do NOT require cranking down like you were tightening the lugnuts on a car wheel! A quarter turn or so past finger tight should be plenty. The pickup switch and the input jack really shouldn't be having torque applied to them as part of normal use, and the pots (unless there's something very wrong with them!) turn very easily, so applied torque should be very minimal. If you're spinning your knobs hard enough to rotate the pot itself in the mounting hole, you should be trying out for Mr. Universe, not playing guitar!

Actually, on a Dot, for three of the pots and the 3-way switch, they are located close enough to the f-hole that you should be able to get a finger through and hold the component in place from behind with your finger tip. That's not possible for the 4th pot (neck tone) unless you have very long, slim fingers, and the input jack is way too far away to reach through the f-hole. So you'll need to learn the "finesse" technique described above to handle those....

 

[Hogfullofblues]

Got it. Thanks for the excellent advice.

 

[Big_Rob]

He should have said it was a problem with Epiphones. Every time Ive ever picked up a Dot (or a cheapie Jackson) all the nuts were loose (unless they were brand new out of the box)

I had an old Epi Strat copy and was forever having the problem of loose nuts.

I dont have that problem with my Ibanez AS73. Sometimes the jack nut becomes loose and I tighten it back up promptly. Other than that the nuts stay secure.

 

[Hogfullofblues]

Hmmm...

Maybe some lock washers would do the trick. Course I would have to find pretty thin ones and maybe gold at that, at least on the jack since it shows.

 

[Tim]

Lock washers will have the tendency to chew away the wooden part of the guitar’s body. Over time this will remove wood and leave a round depression in the wood. This will become a weak spot and could cause the pot to pull through. Make sure you place a thin solid washer between the guitar and the lock washer.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Maybe some lock washers would do the trick. Course I would have to find pretty thin ones and maybe gold at that, at least on the jack since it shows.

I'd try just tightening things up as I described above as a first step. You can always go to lock washers if that doesn't do the trick. But I'll bet you find that it does.