While it’s not usually worth repairing your gooseneck lamp, especially if it’s the less expensive type of gooseneck desk lamp, there may be times when you’d rather do it. Some repairs are too difficult to attempt, but there are some that you can safely try.
The first repair or maintenance you’ll likely need to do to your gooseneck light fixture is to replace the bulb. If your light won’t come on it’s still plugged into the switch and the power button is pressed, the first thing to check is your bulb. Usually these are ruined. With some lamps, you can easily see if the filament is broken by holding it up to the light. However, it may not be as easy to tell with other bulbs. You should try to keep a spare bulb or two on hand so you can instantly switch to a new bulb if you suspect yours is broken. If replacing the bulb with a new one doesn’t solve the problem, you may need to look further.
If you have the gooseneck type of lamp that clamps onto something, you may have problems if the clamp spring breaks. With a little ingenuity and some basic maintenance skills, it’s often possible to create your own base. You can attach the broken clamp to a piece of 2 x 4. You may need to put weight on the bottom, especially if the lampshade section is heavy. If so, find some heavy metal that you can attach to the base of the wood. That should give you enough weight on your base to keep the lamp in the proper position. Make sure to sand the wood and paint or stain it afterwards.
Sometimes the wiring is broken. This often happens near the plug, especially if you are in the habit of gripping the cord to pull the plug from the outlet, rather than the plug itself. It’s actually quite simple to replace a plug. All you have to do is cut out the old plug, strip the wires, find a new plug and connect it to the wires, carefully twisting the wires around each other so a connection is formed. Wrap the individual stranded wires with electrical tape, and finally wrap some black electrical tape around the wire where it was cut.
Of course, these simple tips can only help temporarily. As gooseneck lamps are fairly inexpensive, you may find it easier and perhaps safer to simply get them out as soon as possible and buy a new one.