Need some help with a "New-to-me" DCE-5

I sit validated ;]

"Did they say it worked in the listing?

Is there anything wrong with your cord?"

Guildedagain said:

I sit validated ;]

"Did they say it worked in the listing?

Is there anything wrong with your cord?"

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Your self-validation noted and agreed with.

But over the years I have had many cords that worked in one situation but not in another. The solution usually involved fixing an input jack and not the cord. The question was how much time did I spend checking the cord's continuity and solder joints at the plug and so on before I decided that the cord, like the Kids, Are Alright.

awerking said:

the date reads Nov 5, 1996. The SN is 17050932. The last 6 digits fall within the range of the 1996 DC5 SNs in the list you posted, however the "17" prefix on my SN is a departure from the "AD" prefix in your referenced list.

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Couple of quick final comments.



Regarding the "leading 17". That's not a 17 but a "FC" and very sloppy written... So it's FC050932 ! Which is indeed late 1996 as I wrote at the end of my post #14 above. Not sure where you saw a AD serial number in the S/N list?

And in 2012 we had discussed that very guitar already when she was owned by somebody else:


Ralf

Yep, it can be downright weird. Only certain cords work in my vintage Pignose, vintage USA Switchcraft yes, vintage Japan coily cords no.

Output jacks on guitars can be suddenly or not so suddenly problematic, and can be devastatingly problematic as we're seen here.

Good thing this wasn't on a gig.

A gig is where if anything can go wrong, it will ;]

Guildedagain - you are 100% correct. I wasn't considering at all that my cord (which works perfectly well in the electric) would not work in the DCE5. Definitely learned something there...

fronobulax - what should I be looking for/fixing with respect to the input jack? I'm inclined to let it roll until there's an issue now that I have a cord that works with it. My daughter is not gigging (yet) so not ultra critical.

SFIV1967 - thank you for the info! You are correct. I misread the SN list that adorshky linked in one of his posts - https://guildguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/history_of_your_guild.pdf . If you look at the row above the entry for 94-96 DC5's you'll see that the SN's start with an "AD" prefix. This is a product of my "read the entire page all at once rather than one word at a time" affliction - fine details can get missed. My apologies for introducing the confusion there! Also, I never would have read the "17" prefix written on my DCE5 as "FC" - but now that you point that out it's very clear.

Lastly, it's super cool that this guitar has been the subject of previous conversation on this forum. Now you all know where this guitar ended up - it's now owned by my daughter, a 16-year-old aspiring singer/songwriter in Apex, NC. I'm proud of the fact that she asked for "an old Guild like yours" for her 16th birthday. She knows a great sounding guitar when she hears one...

The specifications for 1/4" jacks are pretty loose, so sometimes you get tolerances stacking up and creating problems. The solution is to make jacks as tight as possible, but over time, the tolerances will open up again, and then you get the "this cable doesn't work in this guitar, but it works in that guitar", which is the scenario we have here. The only real solution to is replace the stereo output jack with a high quality jack, which will close up the tolerances again, for a while. Same thing happens with RCA jacks in stereo equipment, again, because the specifications are from an older period of time, and were not very tightly defined.

kostask said:

The specifications for 1/4" jacks are pretty loose, so sometimes you get tolerances stacking up and creating problems. The solution is to make jacks as tight as possible, but over time, the tolerances will open up again, and then you get the "this cable doesn't work in this guitar, but it works in that guitar", which is the scenario we have here. The only real solution to is replace the stereo output jack with a high quality jack, which will close up the tolerances again, for a while. Same thing happens with RCA jacks in stereo equipment, again, because the specifications are from an older period of time, and were not very tightly defined.

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Kostas you may have been talking "generically", but in this case, stereo jacks would only have been used in the the later Pro-Blend equipped guitars, as that earlier pre-amp was not a dual source system, so no use for a stereo jack.

Even then I'm not sure they routinely installed a stereo jack, it was just something the Pro-Blend pre-amp could accommodate if desired. Pretty darn sure my Pro-Blend equipped F65ce's output is mono, for example, although truth to tell I never tried a stereo cable in it.

Didn't even know it was an option until that time Hans mentioned it regarding another F65ce, as the instruction pamphlet was missing when I got it..

Al:

While the statement was generic, applying to both the 1/4" mono and stereo jacks, as the dimensions for both are the same, note that stereo jacks are commonly used in mono applications as well, not just in stereo audio output applications. Almost all mono output onboard active preamps use stereo jacks, not because there are two active sound channels, but for an additional reason.

In almost all the active, on board pre-amps, there is no power draw on the battery if there is no cable plugged in. When the cable is plugged in, the pre-amp is powered up (note, we are plugging in a mono 1/4" cable). This happens because a stereo jack is used, in which the tip carries the signal (as in a regular mono jack), one of the stereo connections carries the signal ground (doesn't matter which one, ring or sleeve) and the pre-amp ground, and the third connection carries the battery ground. When the mono 1/4" cable is plugged in, the audio signal is at the tip, the audio ground and preamp gound is say the ring, and the battery is the sleeve. When plugged in, the battery ground/sleeve, and the audio & pre-amp ground are shorted together by the outer barrel connection of the cable, and the preamp is powered up. Remove the 1/4" cable, and the the ground between the preamp and battery are broken, powering down the preamp, and eliminating all power draw from the battery. While I cannot say that all acoustic guitar active preamps are powered up this way, all of the ones I have seen are. It is a neat, convenient way of both powering up the preamp, and eliminates any need for otherwise switching the power on and off. There are other ways of doing it, but nothng is as simple, cheap, or reliable.