First time working on a crackling guitar

Gear & Tools Talk 🎸 Guitars, Instruments & Maintenance
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I haven’t played my Washburn for about 5 years. Even then it had a bit of a crackle I could work around, now it’s virtually unusable.
It has 3 pickups and a 5 position selector and only one position seems to produce any output. The volume and tone knob produce a lot of crackle.

I’ve not ever worked on an electric guitar before. I know basic wiring and the theory and am reasonably DIY proficient but am not sure where to start. For instance I guess the knobs need new potentiometers but how do I know which ones.

How do I begin? Thanks for any help. All my electric guitars and basses are in sad condition after years of non use so it’s worth my time getting to grips with it.

2

get some electronic contact cleaner spray and give all the bits a good spray and wiggle etc.

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Yep, Rob’s advice should absolutely be step one. I haven’t worked on guitar electronics yet, but I have worked on various electronic peripherals over the years. Cleaning up contacts and potentiometers can work wonders, as it’s amazing how much crud can get into them over time. A can of spray is significantly cheaper than replacing parts which may well just be dirty, rather than worn or broken. :+1:t2:

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Thanks… I haven’t tried that yet but some of the crackles were resistant to it a few years back so I expect to need some repairs.
But you’re quite right I should try this first.

Question stands though. Does Justin or anyone else have a good resource on DIY maintenance?

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There’s this:

Cheers,

Keith

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Phil McKnight on YouTube ‘Know Your Gear’ will probably answer any question you will ever have on guitar maintenance.

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