How To Clean The Footswitch In Your Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer

[Hardrock69]

*ahem*
*taptaptap*

Attention class! Today's lecture is on how to clean the footswitch on a TS-9 Tube Screamer (or any similar Ibanez stomp box) in one easy lesson.

I googled this procedure 5 ways from Sunday last night, and all I could see in many cases were supposed "gurus" claiming that it could not be done.

Well SCREW YOU to all those "knowledgeable" idiots. Buncha lazy sacks of shit. :umm:

*Disclaimer - the will work only for those of you who have some sort of Ibanez stombox whose switch has been infected with dust, dirt, scum, mildew, mould, infectious disease, mange, gangrene, bad breath, or any one of many other maladies which may simply prevent the switch from making contact properly. If the switch in your Ibanez stompbox is dead, buried, has taken a vacation, a leave of absence, is broken, bored stiff, alcoholic, or otherwise unreliable, the steps outlined below may not help you.*

The Victim, or otherwise known as "The Candidate For Surgery":
http://i56.tinypic.com/2i0tzl1.jpg

*Background Info*

I was having trouble with the damn thing, having to stomp on it several times just to get it to engage. Instead of rending mine garment, or tearing out of hair, I decided to figure out how to fix it.

A mind is a terrible thing...

And yes, it is an original TS-9, which I bought at a music shop in Wichita Kansas in 1997 for $75

First step is to remove the battery compartment cover. Remove the battery, or just hang it outside the compartment by the wires to the battery clip. Below the space where the battery lives is a piece of foam. Pull it back, and you will see this:

http://i54.tinypic.com/2whe9fp.jpg

What you want to do is get a medium-sized phillips-head screwdriver, and remove the screws on either end of the circuit board. Then pull up gently on the thing.

Flip the circuit board over, and you will see the actual plastic switch. You can see the slight gaps between the switch itself, and the switch housing, which I have so kindly and with great painstaking care, pointed out for you with much toil, one pixel at a time, using the finest professional painting kit that can be found on Earth, manufactured by a company whose founder's uncle's great-great-great-great-grandf​ather's great-aunt once licked Michelangelo's left testicle. The gaps are your ticket to perfect functionality of this mindless little switch.

http://i54.tinypic.com/54go4o.jpg

***All Kneel Before The Holy Electronic Sacramental Spray!***

All you have to do is spray this stuff into the miniature cracks so amazingly pointed out in the previous image.
http://i55.tinypic.com/xomp2d.jpg

And Lo, after administering The Holy Sacramental Spray into the innermost self of the victim, The Holy Switch hath been rendered divine once more, verily, and can henceforth at the tap of a footpad, awaken The Eye Of Satan!!
http://i53.tinypic.com/fc5ue8.jpg

Thus endeth the lecture.

[jhale667]

Stellar work! :baaa:


:guitar:

[ashstralia]

i concur. magnificent diy!!!:baaa:

[Nitro Express]

I think Deoxit is better than that Radio Shack stuff but it's hard to find. Not only does it clean it leaves a real fine lubricant. It's great for switches, pots, tube sockets, jacks ect... You also can adjust how much sprays out of the nozzle.

[Matt White]

"nozzle"............

UHu huhH huHUhuhHUhuhH HUhuHUhuHUhuh Uhh...............

well done

[ThrillsNSpills]

http://i53.tinypic.com/fc5ue8.jpg

It's the eye of horus.

Gear horus.

It's Alive.

and there was much rejoicing.

[Coyote]

http://www.little.org/blog/content/binary/rejoice.gif

[Diamondjimi]

Great job, HR. Thanks for sharing this.

Does the cleaner you used have a lubricating agent in it as well?

The reason I ask is that I have used "cleaners" (in the past) that didn't have the lube in it. And it wasn't long before the same problems reoccurred.
I was using it on pots and switches as well.

[Hardrock69]

Good call. I am assuming it does not, as it does not say it does on the can. It only says "Leaves no residue".

But then that is no big thing. I had this thing for almost 10 years before I began having trouble with it.

Lol at you guys. :D

I wanted to fix it because some friends of mine asked me to jam with them on 4 songs at a club gig soon. One of the songs is Iron Maiden's "Wrathchild". We had our first rehearsal last night. Went well, though I have not been playing much lately, and as a result got 2 blisters on my fretting hand. Have cut away the loose skin now (Owweeeee) and am letting them heal, while playing (gingerly) to build up my callouses. Gig is not for a couple of weeks...rehearsal again next Sunday, so my fingers will be ok, lol.

[Diamondjimi]

I find , a quick way to build up callouses is to lightly rub the finger tips on concrete (left to right, back and forth) for a minute or so each day 'till they build up. that combined with tapping them on a hard surface for a few minutes at a time
somehow tells the brain you're working the shit out of your fingertips and it needs to produce more skin. (I know, I'm starting to sound like Nitro... :biggrin: )

Trust me, this shit works!

[Hardrock69]

I assume sand paper would do the trick as well. How about combine the two. Put a piece of sandpaper on a hard surface and tap. :D

Dammit....what sucks is that I have better finger coordination on my right hand than on my left, but I am right-handed. Theoretically you should use your more coordinated hand to fret with.

Oh well. I did not ask for this body when I was born. Someone gave it to me and said "Here you go kid".

[jhale667]

I find , a quick way to build up callouses is to lightly rub the finger tips on concrete (left to right, back and forth) for a minute or so each day 'till they build up. that combined with tapping them on a hard surface for a few minutes at a time
somehow tells the brain you're working the shit out of your fingertips and it needs to produce more skin. (I know, I'm starting to sound like Nitro... :biggrin: )

Trust me, this shit works!


:baaa: Nice!

[Nitro Express]

I find , a quick way to build up callouses is to lightly rub the finger tips on concrete (left to right, back and forth) for a minute or so each day 'till they build up. that combined with tapping them on a hard surface for a few minutes at a time
somehow tells the brain you're working the shit out of your fingertips and it needs to produce more skin. (I know, I'm starting to sound like Nitro... :biggrin: )

Trust me, this shit works!

The zen of callouse building. Wax on. Wax off. But master I'm shit tired of rubbing this concrete. I wanted to learn how to fucking play the guitar!

[Hardrock69]

LOL. I worked for an hour a little while ago trying to nail a bass track to a high-energy punk-rock song I am re-mixing. My wrists finally told me to stop or they would die. Oh and my fingertips are pretty much ok now. I am not a bassist. I am just some guy who can play bass. I am not in physical shape to be a bassist, though if I were to play bass all the time, that would change. Talk about physically demanding! :umm:

[Nitro Express]

I actually bought a cheap bass to use as a callouse and hand strength tool. It worked well in that regard but then when some friends found out I played bass I got recruited in their band as the bass player. I can relate to not being in shape for a seriouse long night of playing bass. I have really strong hands now. I have a friend who is a physical therapist and he had one of those calibrated hand sqeezers that measures how strong a person's grip is. Everyone was playing around with it and then I grabbed it and maxed it out. Nobody else could do it. They were amazed and I just said I play bass. I don't think people really get how much hand strength it requires until they actually do it.

[rocknrolldork]

I actually bought a cheap bass to use as a callouse and hand strength tool. It worked well in that regard but then when some friends found out I played bass I got recruited in their band as the bass player. I can relate to not being in shape for a seriouse long night of playing bass. I have really strong hands now. I have a friend who is a physical therapist and he had one of those calibrated hand sqeezers that measures how strong a person's grip is. Everyone was playing around with it and then I grabbed it and maxed it out. Nobody else could do it. They were amazed and I just said I play bass. I don't think people really get how much hand strength it requires until they actually do it.

Agreed on the hand strength for bass. I started playing bass in 1998 or so. Primarily because I wanted to play out more and everyone in town was looking for a bass player. My left hand is far stronger now than it was prior. Playing bass has been a love/hate thing for me. It's given me a better sense of timing and how everything should truly intertwine, but it has reduced some of the speed I had as a guitarist. It also made me a bass player around town when I am a much better guitarist than bassist. But I get to gig so that is good. Like I said... love/hate with it.

[jhale667]

LOL. I worked for an hour a little while ago trying to nail a bass track to a high-energy punk-rock song I am re-mixing. My wrists finally told me to stop or they would die. Oh and my fingertips are pretty much ok now. I am not a bassist. I am just some guy who can play bass. I am not in physical shape to be a bassist, though if I were to play bass all the time, that would change. Talk about physically demanding! :umm:

Also, always keep in mind something my first teacher told me - unless it's a scenario where it's mid-song mid-gig and you literally CAN'T - if you're ever in pain, STOP PLAYING for a few minutes. To continue to do so seriously damages the muscles in your wrists and hands, sometimes permanently!

[Diamondjimi]

For sure. Bass can have that effect if your strength and endurance aren't up...
My old bass player bailed before we (my band) began tracking our latest opus. I ended up taking on bass duties.
I found myself having to give myself breaks to let the muscles in my hands relax. I put my "bass player" hat on and got the job done.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Subsequent (bass position hopefuls) have commended me on my bass abilities.
Guess I did a good job! :biggrin:

[jhale667]

For sure. Bass can have that effect if your strength and endurance aren't up...
My old bass player bailed before we (my band) began tracking our latest opus. I ended up taking on bass duties.
I found myself having to give myself breaks to let the muscles in my hands relax. I put my "bass player" hat on and got the job done.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Subsequent (bass position hopefuls) have commended me on my bass abilities.
Guess I did a good job! :biggrin:

Every once in a while I'll borrow a friend's bass to track guide parts on my tunes...people like you have complimented my note-selection, but to my own ears I sound like a guitar player on bass...:lmao: I only want whoever re-does them to keep the basic ideas rhythmically and any unison lines I've tracked with the guitar parts, but there's really only one tune I'd want someone to replay nearly verbatim...which happened to be the last one you complimented me on the bass track for....lol. THAT one I like! But yeah, I have to take breaks between tracks to give my hands a breather since I don't practice on bass regularly.


Speaking of pedal repairs, though - think I need to take a look at my Vox Wah...either the output jack has a slight short in it, or it's become a direct line to Satan's talk-radio station...:devils: I hear (really demonic sounding if the overdrive is on!) voices over it when engaged...fortunately the voices SHUT UP when I start playing (at least they're polite demons)... :lmao: Voice-volume gets louder or softer if I rotate the plug on the connector cable...switch out the cables, same thing...:umm:

[Diamondjimi]

Every once in a while I'll borrow a friend's bass to track guide parts on my tunes...people like you have complimented my note-selection, but to my own ears I sound like a guitar player on bass...:lmao: I only want whoever re-does them to keep the basic ideas rhythmically and any unison lines I've tracked with the guitar parts, but there's really only one tune I'd want someone to replay nearly verbatim...which happened to be the last one you complimented me on the bass track for....lol. THAT one I like! But yeah, I have to take breaks between tracks to give my hands a breather since I don't practice on bass regularly.



One thing I did have going for me was that the drums had been laid down and I had a good kick drum to follow and work with. While doing the tracking I threw out virtually all of my "guitarist" instincts and transformed my mentality into that of a bassist. (Insert bass player joke ______ < here! ) LOL!

[jhale667]

One thing I did have going for me was that the drums had been laid down and I had a good kick drum to follow and work with. While doing the tracking I threw out virtually all of my "guitarist" instincts and transformed my mentality into that of a bassist. (Insert bass player joke ______ < here! ) LOL!


Yeah, in my case w/o the drums tracked yet, I just turn up the click track REALLY LOUD...lol

[Diamondjimi]

:biggrin:

[Hardrock69]

:biggrin: