I plugged my guitar in, strummed a chord, then it died.

It's not the cable or any of the equipment. Every other one of my guitars works fine.

I was sitting completely still, struck a guitar, and in about 2 seconds it just cut out.

I really have no idea what the problem is. I tried everything I could think of with the knobs and switch and I even jiggled around some wires inside, which all seem to be connected and intact.



Any ideas?

Depending on what kind of amp you have, could be a fuse or a blown tube.....The internal wiring could have become disconnected and need resoldered...I'd take it somewhere to get fixed, shouldn't cost too much

its a sign from the pagan gods of olympus to give up

No, it's not any of the equipment, it's the guitar. When I plugged my other guitars in, everything worked fine. It's not my only guitar but it is my favorite, so I have to figure out whats wrong with it. Hopefully I can try to diagnose the problem before I have to resort to taking it to a music shop and getting raped.

Could be that you mistreat the input on your amp, (ex. unplugging your cord from the amp by yanking the cable from across the room) that or it could be the input pot on your guitar...it's really common for people to tighten the bolt on the outside on the input pot without unscrewing it and holding it in place, this results in the wires on the inside of the pot twisting with each turn of the bolt, and eventually disconnecting. If that's the case it's no big deal, just needs to be soldered, could be a shit input pot though that needs to be replaced, in which case it would cost about 13 bucks for a new input pot, then you can solder it yourself if you feel comfortable, or have it repaired for more money

its probably the internal wiring or the tubes like that dude said.

don't yank the cord out when your done and don't set the guitar down with the cord still in it.

For the third time, it's not my equipment, my amps, or the cables. Like I said, if I plug any other guitar into it, it works fine.

Hallowed is probably right, it's probably a shitty pot that went bad. It doesn't appear that any of the wires inside the guitar are disconnected or damaged in any way.

I had a pot go bad on an amp once, real pain in the ass to replace manually, being on a circuit board and all, but I'm sure its much easier to replace on a guitar.

It's just really weird how it happened. I plugged in, picked up the guitar, turned on the gear, struck a chord, THEN it just cut out for no apparent reason. I don't know much about what causes pots or anything to go bad suddenly, but I guess the only thing really to do is have the music shop test it out. I don't have extra pots or electronics for guitars lying around.

Replacing the pot on this guitar should be an easy fix, just make sure you draw yourself a schematic of the current connection so you know what color wire goes where when you install the new pot, and make sure you get the right one for your guitar.

Thanks, I'll see if I can order one then. Is there a way to test other than simply replacing it?

What kind of guitar is it? If it's a Les Paul(or has that type of output jack) it's not too easy to see the jack itself. Did you pull it out to make sure the wires are still attached alright? Are any of the pots scratchy when turning them? Have you tried jiggling the knobs themselves around a bit(sounds stupid, but the post coming out of a pot is what turns the wiper in the pot)? Tried all the pickup positions?

I've never heard of a pot just going like that.

If you do order a pot, keep in mind: 250K for single coils and a 500K for humbuckers.

Actually man I have a Les Paul and a few years ago the switch pot just went out like that , and I had to replace it. It was a pain in the ass because the music store closest to me sold me a faulty one, and once installed you can't return it, so the faggots jipped me...but other than getting the part, it was an easy fix. *edit* now that I think about it, it'd probably be your switch if anything...try changing between your rhythm and treble channels to see if you hear anything.

No sound regardless of what I do. Plus all wires appear to be attached.

I have a semi-hollow body Ibanez.

Could be a bad ground, sometimes the ground is under the bridge and the connection can brake.

Yeah so anyways the input jack was messed up. It's fixed now.

It's always the input jack, slack, back, crack, cack, zac, whack, tic tac, big mac, slack, track, back pack,

Might be a blown tube or a problem with the wiring connected to one of your pickups, check it in to your local dealer.