[NeighborsComplaint]

Guys, you can't "fry" an input jack on an amplifier. The only parts that aren;t metal are the insulators (phenolic). Have you never soldered? The blue color on the soldering tabs is the plating's reaction to the heat applied by the soldering gun to attach the leads.
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OP, if you are using a known, good connecting cable plugged into the amp, you will get a loud hum when you hold the other plug end in your hand and touch the tip. You're grounding the circuit and causing the hum. If that isn't happening, then the problem is in the cord or the amp. Just make sure the replacement connecting cable isn't also defective by plugging into a working amp at the music store.

If the cable is good, then the jack (receptacle for the plug) in the amp is suspect #1. It should make firm (snap-in) contact with the cable's plug tip and have 2 wires soldered in place. If that is the case, then the issue is deeper in the amp. If the amp-on light is lit, you have power. If not, the switch or transformer is damaged. If you have power and no sound, in all likelihood, the output transformer is burnt out. The small solid state amps use a switching transformer rather than a permanent magnet type because the former is cheaper and that's just how they roll and they are typically the weakest link.

[Jack Gifford]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

... you will get a loud hum when you hold the other plug end in your hand and touch the tip. You're grounding the circuit and causing the hum...

At the risk of side-tracking this discussion-

The hum is due to your body being an antenna for 60 hz EMF radiated by all the AC power wiring in the building. Guitar amps have a very high gain factor to deal with the miniscule signal (a few millivolts) from the instument's pickups. So the tiny 60 hz signal from your body results in an audible hum. If you actually ground the tip (metallic connection to the sleeve) you would hear silence.

Carry on......

[ta6point6]

Well it turned out to be the amp. I went to Denver for the annual Tri-State parts swap meet and found a cheap 15 dollar First Act amp. I guess guitars and car parts do go together. The parts swap meet is three levels of pickers awesomeness. Learned something new and almost bought a car 4 track. I had never heard of such an animal, it was only 20 bucks and came with two cassettes, it was kewl.
Anyway back to guitars cant wait to start jamming on some one note riffs on amp, baby steps. I am using a mix of Rocksmith on PS3 and Youtube to learn how to play guitar right now. I have barely started to learn to play and I am already seeing ways I can add some performance to my guitar and add some bling to it just like a car.
Tremolo/whammy bar, is fine just to remove it or how do I tighten it up so it stays pointing toward the neck? Right now if I tighten it up, it points towards the guitar strap mounting point on the body. Thanks for all the help.

[jamesq]

Originally Posted by ta6point6

Well it turned out to be the amp. I went to Denver for the annual Tri-State parts swap meet and found a cheap 15 dollar First Act amp. I guess guitars and car parts do go together. The parts swap meet is three levels of pickers awesomeness. Learned something new and almost bought a car 4 track. I had never heard of such an animal, it was only 20 bucks and came with two cassettes, it was kewl.
Anyway back to guitars cant wait to start jamming on some one note riffs on amp, baby steps. I am using a mix of Rocksmith on PS3 and Youtube to learn how to play guitar right now. I have barely started to learn to play and I am already seeing ways I can add some performance to my guitar and add some bling to it just like a car.
Tremolo/whammy bar, is fine just to remove it or how do I tighten it up so it stays pointing toward the neck? Right now if I tighten it up, it points towards the guitar strap mounting point on the body. Thanks for all the help.

I bought my practice guitar (Epiphone AJ-1 acoustic) at the Petit Jean AR swap meet a few years back!

The good part about finding musical stuff at car swap meets is the prices are usually pretty low.

James Q

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by ta6point6

Well it turned out to be the amp. I went to Denver for the annual Tri-State parts swap meet and found a cheap 15 dollar First Act amp. I guess guitars and car parts do go together. The parts swap meet is three levels of pickers awesomeness. Learned something new and almost bought a car 4 track. I had never heard of such an animal, it was only 20 bucks and came with two cassettes, it was kewl.
Anyway back to guitars cant wait to start jamming on some one note riffs on amp, baby steps. I am using a mix of Rocksmith on PS3 and Youtube to learn how to play guitar right now. I have barely started to learn to play and I am already seeing ways I can add some performance to my guitar and add some bling to it just like a car.
Tremolo/whammy bar, is fine just to remove it or how do I tighten it up so it stays pointing toward the neck? Right now if I tighten it up, it points towards the guitar strap mounting point on the body. Thanks for all the help.

The Squier Strats rely on an interference fit from the chrome plating on the threads to hold the trem arm in place. Once the chrome on the threads starts to wear, the arm gets loose. On a Fender Mexico Stratocaster there is a small spring that drops in the threaded hole before your screw the trem arm in. It keeps the threads tightly engaged to prevent the arm from swinging or drooping. It usually falls out and gets lost the first time someone removes the tremolo arm to put the guitar in the case.. Fender American Stratocasters also use a ball bearing that is dropped in on top of the spring to provide smoother movement of the arm. This system works on a Squier as well.

Some guys will tell you to wrap plumber's tape around the threads on the arm before threading it in but that works for about 10 minutes. You can get a replacement spring kit from eBay that includes the spring, bearing and a neat little plug to keep them from popping out when using a hard-shell case where you have to remove the arm to close it. You can also just cut down a ball point pen spring to about 7/16"L and drop it in or pull the eraser off the end of a pencil and drop it in the hole. The eraser won't fall out as it expands from being compressed when you screw the arm in.

Spring Kit: