Strange Rattle in an EF-500RCCE

[Richard-H]

I recently purchased a used Masterbilt EF-500RCCE from MF. I absolutely love this guitar BUT there's a strange springy rattle when the open B string is played, or when ever any B is played. This really stands out when playing the second string 12th fret harmonic.

 

Anyway, I found that when I plugged into the Nanomag jack the rattling stopped. I pulled the jack out to have a look and found that when I tapped on the side of the jack with my fingernail I could hear the springy rattle. Unfortunately this isn't a simple jack. It appears to be some type of mono dual switching jack (See below):

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-0056055000-Jack-Output-Fishman-Switch-/171269864178?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item27e07abaf2

 

 

My questions are:

 

1. Has anyone else reported this problem with the EF-500RCCE?

2. If I stick a plug into the Nanomag jack to stop this rattle, will it drain the battery?

3. Can this be replaced with a simple single switchjack? (i.e. does the output wire to the 'mix out' jack have to be grounded when the NanoMag jack is used?.

 

BTW- this jack has 'CHUNGSEN' stamped on the surface of the plastic casing.

[cliffmac]

Other than changing the jack nothing you can do. Plug the jack in and yes the battery will drain. I've not heard this complaint yet. bring it to a good luthier and have it replaced.

[TommyK]

Other than changing the jack nothing you can do. Plug the jack in and yes the battery will drain. I've not heard this complaint yet. bring it to a good luthier and have it replaced.

 

Possibly a lose wire.

 

Possibly a suspended ball.

This happens when a, usually, b or e string gets grabbed by the bridge pin during the install. The ball end can get shoved down the hole with the wire, higher up, gets wedged between the pin and hole. Then ball is then just hanging free. It would seem that the vibrations associated with a particular note, or a finger tap anywhere on the guitar, sets this string end and ball to vibrating either the ball just against the loop of wire which holds it or is vibrating against the underside of the sound board or against the pin itself.

 

Get a mirror and flashlight to check it out. I had a suspended ball once. The rattle bedeviled me for months.

 

Properly installed the balls should be snug against the underside of the soundboard. In fact you should be able to gig the thinner strings up and down in the bridge pin slot after the pin is pushed 'home'.

 

Check, too, the thicker strings. They are usually too snug to gig up and down. This means they could be shoved away from the soundboard by the pin, leaving the ball to rattle. BTW, the low E string on my main player sits up a little higher than the other pins, as the low E string is too big for the slot. The pin just has to be 'snug' enough to not fall out The leastest little wedge action is needed. Don't put the "hurt" on bridge pins. It just makes them harder to remove and widens the holes.