Argh Sound!

Here's my story,

Several months ago, I believe it was in August actually, a pair of headphones broke inside my iBook G4. Now, the tip of the jack, or the part of the headphones that you put into the input, actually broke off and has been stuck there ever since. Around November, a friend of mine and I tried to get that tiny piece out of the input, but to no avail; before the two of us tried tampering with it, sound would still come out of the built in speakers, but in our attempts to get that **** piece out, we ended up pushing it further in, making the computer assume that there is a pair of headphones permanently connected. I have taken it to The Apple Store, and two other Mac Resellers (Red Tag Computers in Missisauga and CPUsed in Toronto) and at ALL THREE places, they told me that there was nothing they could do about it other than replace the entire logic board, costing me a great deal over 1000$, or they told me to buy a Griffin iMic USB for $70, which is essentially a headphone input that connects through USB. Well, that iMic broke, and now I am soundless, so I'm wondering if anyone here has any suggestions as to what I can do about my %#*&ing sound without spending a trillion dollars on buying a new logic board.

PLEASE HELP ME!

Does anyone know a way I could get that stupid piece out? I've tried everything from ultra tiny tweezers to super glued tooth picks! But the bugger is so far in there and trapped on a slant! ARGH

Get a fine tipped soldering iron. Heat it up, put a bit of solder on the end. Stick it in the hole, turn it off to let it cool, then just pull it out.

At least thats what I would try.

Might be safer to use a piece of wire with hot glue on the tip. Depends on how strong the spring is.

Those plugs are hollow, could use a stiff wire with a hook on the end.
Even if that doesn't work, you don't need a new board. Just find someone really good at soldering and replace the jack.