Musician problem

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Author Message   Adstar Username: Adstar Registered: 1-2007 Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 4:34 pm:    Hi, I'm having a problem with my musician (79 MC200) and I don't have a clue on why it's happening. I can't seem to get a decent clean tone out of the guitar (still has the original super 88s). The sound quality is getting worse and worse, I want an nice clean sound, but all I'm getting is a slightly distorted pretty crappy tone. It kinda sounds like I'm using a some poor quality overdrive with way too much high end, but the guitar is plugged straight into the clean channel of my amp (and it even gives this crappy tone at low volumes). My other guitars don't give this kind of trouble with the same amp, so it's definetly something with the guistar. Anyone have an idea why this is happening or what could be the cause? Cheers and thanks, Alex   Mrblanche Username: Mrblanche Registered: 1-2006 Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 8:40 pm:    I'm no expert (and others here are!) but here's a shot in the dark. Those pickups may need to be repotted.   Mr_roadstar Username: Mr_roadstar Registered: 6-2002 Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 9:49 pm:    Sounds like a dead battery. Does it have active EQ? The Bear   Snowjays Username: Snowjays Registered: 9-2004 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 12:59 am:    No battery in an MC200. It should be staright LP style controls, 2 vol 2 tone, no active. I had something similar with one of mine, and it turned out that I had worn out the slide part inside the volume pot. Does it happen on both pups or can you isolate it to just one?   Adstar Username: Adstar Registered: 1-2007 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 2:07 am:    Thanks guys, Indeed no active eq in an MC200, and it happens on both pups.   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 7:59 am:    Did you narrow it down to the guitar itself? I know it may sound dumb but did you try an alternate cable and amp also or the sma egear and a differnt guitar?   Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 5-2006 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 8:42 am:    Good point, Freak! Ginger   Farfelu Username: Farfelu Registered: 7-2007 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 11:04 am:    Hi, if you narrow it down to the guitar, the two PUs dont generally go bad at the same time (or it's really bad luck). A dirty/damaged/corroded pot can make some crackling distorted sounds but most often you can tell it's a pot because the crackle changes when the pot is turned. It doesn't hurt to check the wiring and spray contact cleaner in the pots anyways. Regards, Greg   Adstar Username: Adstar Registered: 1-2007 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 1:13 pm:    I tried 2 different guitars on the same gear with no problems, and switched cables on the mc200 as well. It just keeps sounding bad. The pots don't crack when I turn them, but I'll check the wiring and see if there's a bad contact or something. I hope to get it fixed   Guitarwhisperer Username: Guitarwhisperer Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 4:03 pm:    Since it's both pickups, it's probly the jack or the 3 way toggle switch. Corrosion or dirt cause bad electron transmission, especially corrosion, because the valence electrons in the metals become unavailable, as the are bound to oxygen or whatevers corroding them. Dirt causes contact issues, diminished contact causes diminished signal.   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 5:58 pm:    I agree Whisp. Check out that stuff.   Guitarwhisperer Username: Guitarwhisperer Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 7:10 pm:    PS if you do happen to want to spray the pots out, there's two types of electronics spray, contact cleaner and tuner cleaner(as in tv tuner, IE a potentiometer). The tuner cleaner contains a lubricant (usually mineral oil) and is useful for potentiometers, as the lubricant smooths and protects the carbon path that the potentiometer wiper glides across. Contact cleaner without the lubricant is good for switches where there's no wiping or carbon paths involved. If you use the wrong spray in a potentiometer, depending on the composition of the wipe path, the pot could be damaged further. Radio Shak actually makes a good Tuner Cleaner, that sprays forcefully into the pot and blows out dirt. I don't get a lot of stuff at the Shak but that is one item I like of theirs.   Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 5-2006 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 7:22 pm:    I say it's likely to be your CABLE. I had this once with a Vester cable. I was afraid that my Polytone 104 was damaged or something until Eric, who's now representative of EMD, said: "and what if you try this Cordial by Neutrik Cable?". I THOUGHT I had a good cable, but I was wrong. When I took a closer look at the jack plug, I saw that the insolation ring between the tip and the shaft was thinner than the one on the Neutrik jack plug. This means that it won't fit that well in every input or output. Another thing was that I had used the same cable for ten years or so, and there was a obviously a hitch that caused distorsion while I was playing clean. So, I would advice you to take your guitar and cable to a musical instrument shop and "try an amp with your own guitar", once with your own cable, and then with a very good cable from the shop. I'm a Neutrik fan, so I'd advice you to try a Cordial cable of 6 metres, and if you're smart, you try one with one angled and one straight jack plug, so that it is suitable for Ibanez AS guitars. For Strats: switch plugs. Anyway: if the problem disappears with your own cable on a different amp, the problem's probably in your amp; if the problem disappears with the other top quality cable, the problem was your cable. If it's still there, it's your guitar. I think -and hope for you- that it's your cable. You could measure the resistance - on the lowest level possible - from tip to tip, from shaft to shaft, and from the first tip to the second shaft and from the second tip to the first shaft. Huh? Why should you do these last two measurements? Well, there SHOULD be an ENDLESS resitance between them, because there SHOULD be NO CONTACT AT ALL, but when there is a hitch in it, short circuit is possible. The results of the first two measurements should be under 3 Ohm (NOT KILO-OHM BUT OHM!). In a very good cable of 6 metres of length the resistance is about 1 (ONE) Ohm. I just checked and measured 0.9 OHM tip to tip and 1.2 OHM shaft to shaft on a 9 years old Cordial. The shorter the cable, the lower the resistance. So, cheap cables of 10 metres of length just have to suck, because you loose signal because of the resistance. 3 metres results in a VERY low resitance, but you would have to sit too close to your amp, which could damage your hearing. IMO 6 metre cable is ideal, but it has to be of a high quality. And I have once tried a VERY GOOD and VERY EXPENSIVE cable of 4.8 metres of length, but I forgot the brand. Anyway, I googled some Cordial cables in the UK, in Germany they're probably cheaper, because they're made there. But at least you'll have the info in English: http://www.ukguitars.com/buy_online/cordial_cables .htm Thomann has them too, but I don't see that angled jack plug for jazz boxes. I have the one you see here for 12.50 euros, but I paid 70 guilders for 2 cables (one angled and one straight) back in 1998 I think. I don't know about the REAN range, they're assembled in China and quite new to me... http://www.thomann.de/gb/instrument_cables.html Note: these are UK prices, with UK VAT. German and Dutch VAT are higher. I'd go for quality and buy the German one. Actually it's ridiculous that we spend 1 or 2K on the guitar and 1 or 2 K on the amp and link the two with a 3.5 dollar cable, because the chain is as strong as its weakest link. Ginger   Adstar Username: Adstar Registered: 1-2007 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 8:04 pm:    Thanks for the tips guys! I will probably get this guitar in store for a fix up, as I'm no hero with guitar electronics and I'm quite sure now that the problem is in my guitar. Ginger: I'm quite sure it's not the cable, as my studio (ST100) works just fine with the same cable and it has the exact same size of input. I also tried three different brands of cable (Bespeco (angled), Planetwave (6 and 3 m (angled and straight) and some cheapo brand (straight)) and they all give the same problem on teh MC200 (but no problem on my other guitars). (The Bespeco is a very high quality cable, and the plantewave cables are quite high in quality as well (I have quite some different cables and I've tried quite some brands over the years and I must say I am very satisfied with the planetwave cables (esp. their lifelong garantee)) I still will try checking the resistance and try some more cables, just to be sure. :D Thanks.   Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 5-2006 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 8:57 pm:    Now you have eliminated the cable as the cause, switch the lights off, especially when you have a TL. How does it sound in the dark? If the problem is still there, Guitarwhisperer is probably right about the jack output or the toggle switch. If you buy new ones, buy Switchcraft. I don't know the Radio Shack contact and tuner cleaners, because the Dutch division (Tandy) was closed down years ago. I use Kontakt60 from Kontakt Chemie (Germany). Ginger   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 9:58 pm:    Ginger the radio shack stuff isn't that good. But its really hard to get anything good here in the US since they banned CFC's. Even my friend who owns several TV and electronics repair shops said the same thing about the enviroment friendly cleaners. By the way here in the States, Tandy was a affiliate of Radio Shack but sold leather goods.Its interesting to here they used the name oevr there. They dropped it here 20 years ago.   Guitarwhisperer Username: Guitarwhisperer Registered: 6-2007 Posted on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 10:32 pm:    I've been using the radio shack stuff for years. It comes out more forcefully than the other brands, which I like. You have to shake it up really well because of the lubricant. Every one I know who works on guitars likes a different brand, and they each SWEAR by it. I HATE their switches! Switchcraft is the best, and most cable companies seem to be optimized for them, as far as crimp shape and diameter is concerned.   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 8:16 am:    It may be ok for guitar pots that are closed by a cavity cover but I've used it on stuff that was exposed to dust and moisture and had only temporary results. I used to use this product that was made by CRC. I can't remember what it was but it came in a blue can. it was from the 1970's I had it up until 3 years ago when I used the rest. They used to use it on Navy ships for switches and controls that were malfunctioning from salt water exposure. That stuff was awesome and a permanent fix for dirty controls. In fact it got so old that the can wouldn't spray so I punctured a hole in it and emptied it into a jar and used it with a syringe to apply it. Sryinges work well for hard to reach pots and also keep the cleaners away from surfaces you don't want treated. Some switches and pots may be beyond the spray remedy point and may need replacing.   Talajuha Username: Talajuha Registered: 11-2006 Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 12:42 pm:    This one? http://www.crcindustries.com/marine/content/prod_d etail.aspx?PN=06102&S=N Juha   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 1:47 pm:    Juha, thats probably todays equivelant. Thanks for the link. I'll have to look into that!!   Talajuha Username: Talajuha Registered: 11-2006 Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 1:59 pm:    CRC has many excellent stuffs for many purposes. Nice to know which is useful for guitar maintenance. Juha   Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 2:01 pm:    I agree!

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