Please help troubleshooting PC-1 sustainer

[rjohnstone]

rj, have you ever seen any issues with the wiring harness/connections to the board? The back plate really pushes down on mine and kink the wires a bit because the route is just mm's not quite deep enough. I'd hate to diagnose it as the board, if perhaps it is one of the harness connectors or a bad wire. Not sure how to diagnose that. Although, wiggling isn't fixing intermittantly, (Like it has in the past).

I doubt it's the harness as the pickups are still wired to pass signals through the board even when it is powered down.

The easiest way to diagnose a bad harness is to remove the board but leave everything connected.
At this point you will do the old Ford proven "wiggle" test.
With the unit on, start wiggling each connection one at a time to see if anything changes.
You can meter the leads and test for signal pass through.
Not sure how comfortable you are with a meter, but it's pretty straight forward. The pickups are wired to the board, not the 5-way.
The 5-way switch is wired on the lower edge of the board. You should be able to match up the in and out and test with it on and off for a signal break.

[Mesaboog]

Thanks for your help rj. I'll keep you posted how this all works out. Cheers.

Scott

[SausageofPower]

This is one reason I prefer the Sustainiac as opposed to the Floyd Rose sustainer. I love the PC1, but I'd hate to shell out for one then lose functionality and just be out of luck.

[rjohnstone]

This is one reason I prefer the Sustainiac as opposed to the Floyd Rose sustainer. I love the PC1, but I'd hate to shell out for one then lose functionality and just be out of luck.

Yep... JCMI should really make it easier to get one of these repaired or replaced outside of the warranty period.
I can understand not wanting to sell the board by itself, but they should allow you to make a board swap for a dead/defective unit.

[ps43203]

Another thing to try, is to look with a magnifying glass and see if you can see any cold solder joints on board itself and/or connecting wires. A bad joint will look cloudy and dull, or GENTLY tug on wires, like RJ mentioned, coming to from board, and see if they move within the solder joint itself. If so, get a soldering iron and just touch and reflow, just an option for you. Hope you get it straightened out. Good Luck!

[Mesaboog]

Another little tidbit of info that may be helpful in troubleshooting. My first symptoms that something was wrong was the sustainer was working perfectly when engaged WITH sound in all positions of the 5 way switch with exception of the middle position. I pulled the board and inspected jiggled wires, etc. to no avail. I figured I could live with that because I used the sustainer mostly with the bridge pick-up anyway. So, I reinstalled the board and then had lost sound from all pick-up positions when the sustainer was engaged. It still vibrates the strings, but no sound.

Based on the advice in this thread, I pulled the board, looked it over very closely...don't see anything amiss. Reconnected everything, did the wiggle test on all wires and still no sound. Doesn't seem that the wire harnesses are bad. Can't get any intermittent throughput.

All signs point to a bad board. BUT, is there any chance there is a problem with the input jack? Do these ever go bad and could it be the culprit? I would hate to overlook that if that is the case. BTW the connections look good.

[rjohnstone]

Another little tidbit of info that may be helpful in troubleshooting. My first symptoms that something was wrong was the sustainer was working perfectly when engaged WITH sound in all positions of the 5 way switch with exception of the middle position. I pulled the board and inspected jiggled wires, etc. to no avail. I figured I could live with that because I used the sustainer mostly with the bridge pick-up anyway. So, I reinstalled the board and then had lost sound from all pick-up positions when the sustainer was engaged. It still vibrates the strings, but no sound.

Based on the advice in this thread, I pulled the board, looked it over very closely...don't see anything amiss. Reconnected everything, did the wiggle test on all wires and still no sound. Doesn't seem that the wire harnesses are bad. Can't get any intermittent throughput.

All signs point to a bad board. BUT, is there any chance there is a problem with the input jack? Do these ever go bad and could it be the culprit? I would hate to overlook that if that is the case. BTW the connections look good.

As I mentioned earlier, all signs point to a bad board.
The "output jack" (remember the signal goes out, not in ) would not have any impact on the switching issue. It is only used to enable power to the board.
The board is getting power since you can feel the sustainer actually vibrating.

[Jacksons Rock]

I wonder what the failure rate is on these sustainers. I just ordered a solar PC-1 (the shop says it will be a three to four month estimated wait). Hopefully the sustainer lasts and if it breaks outside of the warranty it can be fixed - however it's a waste of time to worry about such things, so I won't. On the bright side I hear the PC-1 is an outstanding guitar even without the sustainer. I hope you get yours remedied. Please let us know the final result.

[coloradoman25]

I am 99.9% sure I have an entire sustainer setup wrapped up and put away if your interested pm me ill make ya a deal I think I paid 225 sihpped and you can have it for that. I went with a sustainiac setup in mine instead.

[Chris atkiss]

Sorry to bump a old thread but does anyone have a PC1 Sustainer PCB they can put there hands on? I need a part number from the transistor marked Q6 on the board its the one underneath the smaller switch.

[MartinBarre]

I ended up selling my PC-1 simply because the sustainer was flaky from the day I bought it (second hand). I knew it would eventually break completely and I'd be left with a guitar that had suddenly plunged in value, so I sold it for almost double what I paid, and bought a Slash Anaconda Burst Les Paul with the cash. So glad I did, I much prefer the Les Paul and I know nothing will break that can't be replaced!
Jackson should really be making these sustainer units much easier to fix or replace.

[Number Of The Priest]

I much prefer the Les Paul and I know nothing will break that can't be replaced!

Except the headstock.

[MartinBarre]

Except the headstock.

Well, yes, but one of my Les Pauls and my SG have had their headstocks broken at some point before I bought them. So it was possible to fix them, unlike trying to replace a broken Sustainer on a PC1 lol