Stereo (barrel) jack socket terminals

[Trevor Davies]

The active and ground terminals for the PBG Stereo Jack Socket used in the IB-5 kit have created some confusion in the past so I thought I would post a thread.

The shortest terminal is the active terminal. The middle length terminal is the ground terminal. The longest terminal is the Power terminal (which is not used in the IB-5 kit).

[fender3x]

Thanks, TD. This will be very helpful, particularly for people who use the hardware from the kits.

I think it is worth mentioning, that barrel jacks are inherently more fragile than open frame jacks.

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/472...y-problematic/

A part of the problem is that jack shafts tend to very slightly in width. If you use a cable that is slightly bigger it can cause problems when you go back to normal sized cables. They are also just inherently more susceptible to wear and tear. Even high quality jacks like the Switchcrafts that I used to have in my G&L bass go bad. When it happened to me a second time, I replaced it with an open frame jack mounted on a Les Paul jack plate.

Before you have finish on the guitar seems like a good time to drill out the hole so that it will accept a standard open frame jack. This is relatively easy to do with a step drill bit like this:



Once you have the hole the proper size you can use an open frame jack one of the new Telecaster style jack plates, a "Les Paul" style or a a "football" style jack plate.



Not as elegant s the barrel jack, maybe, but more durable. Also much easier to do before the electronics are installed than after.