If you’ve owned a Taylor guitar long enough you might have heard of or experienced one common problem with the battery compartment.
Many Taylor owners have reported that the battery compartment isn’t great.
How to fix a Taylor guitar with a stuck battery is a good thing to know if you own a Taylor.
Batteries are necessary for your acoustic Taylor to be amplified.
Over time batteries can die, or much worse, they can corrode or swell, causing the battery compartment to get stuck.
Both corrosion and swelling are not normal for batteries or guitars, but it can happen.
So How do we fix a Taylor guitar with a stuck battery?
Battery compartments can sometimes be removed as a whole unit, and then the batteries can be pushed out.
However, it is important to know which style of compartment your Taylor guitar has, so we know how to approach the job.
Taylor Guitar Battery Compartment Styles
There are two different style of battery compartments on Taylor acoustic guitars.
The older style that takes AA (double A) batteries, and the newer expression system cartridge that takes 9 volt batteries.
While both problems exist for both style, the older AA battery system was far worse for this.
The 9 volt cartridge makes a big difference, but it can still get stuck.
AA (double A) Battery compartment
The AA or double A battery compartment is an older style of cartridge.
AAs are much more likely to corrode that 9 volt batteries, and this cartridge has them stacked on top of one another which makes the problem much much worse.
If you have one of these types of compartments and are seeing repeated issues, you can actually upgrade your compartment to the newer 9 volt style, but it is a pricey upgrade.
Pricey that is for something that you shouldn’t have to fix.
9 volt Battery compartment
The 9 volt battery cartridge aimed to alleviate the issues with the AA batteries, and it did a really good job doing so.
However, if you’re using batteries you can still run into problems.
Usually the problem with the 9 volt cartridge is cause by swelling of the battery.
For the most part, a Duracell, 9 volt battery will be the best fit for most guitars.
However, some owners have reported that Duracells cause a buzzing or shaking.
Those who have had problems with Duracell also mention that an Energizer brand 9 volt works to fix the problem they had with Duracell.
So use a Duracell 9 volt, and if there’s any issues try an Energizer.
How do you change the batteries in a Taylor guitar?
To change the batteries on a Taylor guitar you need to:
- Locate the battery compartment near the bottom strap button
- Push the latch on the compartment cover
- Pull out the battery cartridge, or remove cover
- Push the 9 volt battery out of the cartridge’s, or gently shake your guitar so the AA batteries fall out.
- Insert the new batteries and replace the cartridge and cover back into place.
How do you get a stuck battery out of a Taylor guitar?
Sometimes changing the battery isn’t so simple and your battery gets stuck.
This is a known problem with the batteries in Taylor guitars getting stuck.
AA Batteries Stuck in Taylor Guitar fix
Remove what you can, you should be able to take the cover off no problem.
The first battery should fall out or can be easily removed with pliers.
The second battery is the real problem here.
First try gently tapping the guitar to see if you can knock it loose.
If you have small and long enough pliers or tweezers you can also try to remove it this way.
If that doesn’t work you may want to attempt drilling a small hole in the battery, and inserting a screw in the hole. (best to leave this to the professionals.)
You can then pull the stuck battery out.
Ensure you clean up any corrosion inside of the cartridge, before inserting new batteries into the compartment.
If this is a reoccurring problem, consider only putting batteries in the cartridge when you need them, or changing them more frequently.
Here’s a video helping you through the process:
9 Volt battery stuck in Taylor Guitar Fix
Thankfully, the 9 volt cartridge is much easier to deal with.
The likely problem here will be that swelling has cause it to get stuck.
Try taking the cartridge out, if you hear or feel a bit of gridding, it may just be corrosion.
Attempt to wiggle the cartridge to loosen the corrosion, but note that the battery may be both corroded and swollen at the same time, making it hard to wiggle.
If it will absolutely not budge, you can drill a small hole through the compartment cover, and into the battery.
Be very careful doing this, and I recommend you leave this to the experts.
With a hole drilled, you can insert a screw and pull the entire cartridge out.
Pop the swollen battery out and clean up any corrosion.
Then replace the battery and insert the cartridge back into the guitar.
