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Spent 4 hours chasing a phantom short in a vintage receiver
Turned out to be a single strand of wire from a braided ground lead had frayed and was intermittently touching the chassis. Anyone else run into something this subtle on old gear?
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angelarivera2mo agoTop Commenter
Ugh, that's the worst. Have you tried hitting the whole chassis with a bright light and a magnifier to spot those tiny stray strands?
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phoenix_bailey2mo ago
Ever think a full rewire was overkill for a simple fix? I used to, until I found a single hair-thin strand on a 70s amp causing the exact same thing. Now I just assume any weird ground issue is a tiny wire ghost until proven otherwise.
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the_thomas2mo ago
That is the absolute worst kind of fault to find. Those single strands are basically invisible unless you catch them at the perfect angle. A bright light and a careful touch with a plastic tool can sometimes find them by feel. Makes you want to re-sleeve every single wire in the whole unit just to be safe. The patience it takes to hunt that down is unreal.
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