Help! Battery leak inside JP

[Vadauco]

This is a 2012 standard JP, which spent most of its life inside the case. When we plugged it yesterday, the tone was all muddy, weak and crackling. Fact is that the owner had forgotted a battery inside the guitar all these years... after removing the rather old battery, we took off the battery box, and then we found out that the battery leaked...



We plugged the guitar after removing the battery, and the magnetics still sounded weak and muddy, so we unplugged the guitar and set it aside. Then we cleaned the battery box the best we could.

After a couple minutes, we plugged the guitar again, without the battery, and the magnetics apparently sounded fine: all controls working. Then we inserted a new battery, and the sound was as bad as before: weak, muddy, crackling. The piezo sounded fine, intriguingly. Then we removed the battery: magnetics still sounding bad.

Then we unplugged the guitar, and set it aside. After a couple minutes, still without the battery, we plugged it again... magnetics sounded good again! Then we inserted the battery... all bad as before.


Question 1: So it seems that after we remove the battery, we have to wait a couple minutes until the guitar sounds good again. Is that an expected behavior? That's very, very strange!

Question 2: It seems that we'll have to replace the battery box, which seems to be a Gotoh BB-04 part, is that correct?

Question 3: Do the symptoms above indicate anything else beyond the battery box problem? Could it have another problem?

 

[DrKev]

Re: Q2, yes I think it is (it is on my Silhouete Special, and that looks just like it).

If the battery didn't leak and corrode anywhere else, replacing the box may solve the issue but there may be something else wrong. Get in touch with Music Man customer service (links in my signature). They are there to help.