1.Duct tape if its a beater...take it to a good luthier if its your baby(or somewhere in between)

2.Are they mono outs/ins/connectors/adapters?I'm actually having a similar problem...after recording a guitar track,if I try to 'pan' the sound to the right,the sound dissapears...the track also goes out of sync with my drum track...NUTS TO RECORDING!!!

3.ease off the gain or play with his(gain)

4.Me too...just dont pee.