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MCK - Knob/Ribbon cable Repair Instructions / Repair manual?


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Posted

I threw the dice and picked up a Robot SG off eBay for $700. It was advertised as not being able to take a charge and probably needed a new MCK.

 

After looking at it, I think its just something related to the ribbon cable and the knob; not the entire MCK unit.

 

I'm puzzled about the ribbon cable and how it attaches to the knob of the MCK unit. It disappears through an opening in some black pastic inside the knob and you cant see where it plugs in or is soldered.

 

Anyone know of a document on how to go about replacing just the knob and the knob ribbon cable? Any info on replacing the entire MCK would be good too even though the MCK looks easy. Its that ribbon that disappears up into the knob that puzzles me.

 

Any info is appreaciated. Thanks.

 

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Extra info about this guitar if you are interested:

 

MCK doesn't light up when you pull it out.

 

Knob on MCK is loose and the tiny allen wrench hole has been filled with who knows what. There was a tiny bit of this material extending past the surface of the knob that I was able to scratch off with my finger nail.

 

Guitar plays when the MCK is in and does not play when the MCK is pulled out (Lights just dont function) and you have to pull the knob off to pushed the shaft back in with your fingers so the guitar will play again.

 

My guess is that the ribbon cable going to the knob has been damaged from over turning the loose knob. Turning the shaft using your fingers seems ok and stops turning in the places it should.

Posted

the guitar should have come with 2 allen wrenches, one of them the smallest is used on the small allen screw in the side of the MCK, it tricky to get it on in the right spot. The ribbon cable for the MCK goes threw and connects in the back of the MC, the ribbons are not soldered they go into connectors. Turn the guitar over and take off the rear cover of the vol & tone control cavity. There are 3 ribbon cables that go into the MCK, 1 from the bridge, 1 from the stoptail and one from the MCK. The manual has a section on how to charge a dead battery. If

 

this site is for robots the sg is the same as the les paul http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/guitar.html

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Update.

After getting the guitar; I found that in addition to the known MCK problem; 4 of the 6 turners had stripped servo motor gears and two had a little bit of play. So I took a $300 refund on the bad tuners.

 

The MCK Control CPU is probably ok but the MCK knob was toast. Somebody really did a number on that thing.

 

I ordered a complete Robot "Kit" off ebay and replaced the 6 tuners and the MCK-Control CPU and Knob today and now the guitar is fully functional again.

 

I got about $925 in this one and about $150 worth of spare parts (and maybe two tuners) to put towards another Robot.

 

A note about robot tuners - The tuners (push in - servos engaged) will have a very slight amount of play/wiggle to them until they come under string tension and the servo motors are activated. Once the servo motors have been activated; the tuners will have no play in them at all.

 

As far as the subject of this thread goes...

Can you disassemble the MCK-Knob (not the MCK-Control Cpu) ? I don't think so.

If the ribbon were to somehow pull out of the knob; I think you are hosed.

The end of the knob ribbon that connects to the MCK-Control CPU is the end that is designed to be disconnected and reconnected.

Posted

dbod999,

 

you can´t disassemble the MCK-knob, unless you completely destroy it.

All the parts are glued inside the MCK-housing. It´s impossible to disconnect the ribbon cable inside the MCK because its part of the LED-PCB.

The ribbon cable is designed to be connected to the main Body-CPU (black electronic box) only.

 

Tronical

You play. We tune.

  • 10 years later...
Posted

Hello greetings from Chile.  I have a problem with the MCK knob, because it turns all the lights red and sometimes when I move the flex cable it changes to other states, so I guess it is bad.  Where can I find and buy the knob and cable to replace these complete parts?  Thank you.

  • 3 years later...
  • 9 months later...
Posted
44 minutes ago, Kenn F said:

No one seems to care that we have this tech and the need repair...

This is a forum made up of users not Gibson the manufacturer 

the manufacturer has moved on from this tech. Many’s users such as yourself also have

probably you will have to too

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