Humbucker noise

[Purplelespaul]

Hello chums.. I have just spent 3 days in HELL.... I have a sh8b which I have wired to one 500k volume pot as the diagram on the SD site. All the grounds are good, all connections correct But... the thing is alive ..alive I tell you... there is a lound noise when I touch the south coil on the pole pieces, the noise/hum is there on the north coil but not as bad.. sd have not replied to my many emails about this so I need your help guys.. Any one else have problems with this p/up? I see a guy on youtube who has a similar problem. I have wired in another old el cheapo humbucker and that worked fine.. that only had a hot and a ground wire. The sh8 has (yea I know) 4 but I can read a wiring diagram and have wired enough guitars in my 56 years to know when I have F'ked up... I guess this Humbucker could be shot... help guys Help...

[Jeff_H]

Re: Humbucker noise

Any way you can post a pic of your wiring job? Just to verify, since different pickups use different wire colors for hot, ground, split, etc. Black is your hot. Green and bare wire twisted together or soldered together and connected to ground (back of pot). Red and white wires twisted or soldered together and taped off (not connected to anything).

If you bought the pickup used there is a chance that one of the coils is damaged, ungrounded or otherwise messed up. If you can post some detailed pics someone may be able to help you sort it out.

[75lespaul]

Re: Humbucker noise

Hey, welcome to the forum. I've got a purple les paul as well, although it's a Jay Turser.

Try wiring the pickups directly to the jack and see what happens. Just a quick check even though you've said you know how to wire--sometimes a second set of eyes helps. White and red are twisted together and taped off. Green and bare are soldered to the back of the volume pot for ground. Black is hot and gets wired to the hot lug.

Do you have another guitar to try the pickup in? If it is new, contact Duncan and return it withing 21 days if you determine the pickup is bad. I know I've probably been no help, but I wanted to give a shout to a new bro. Good luck and I hope you get'er up and running.

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Humbucker noise

I've seen that exact problem before. This guy had a strat and had to reverse polarity of the humbucker, but when he reversed the wires he left the baseplate ground connected to the green and attached it to the hot terminal on the pot. Double check and make sure the bare wire is going to ground regardless of which wire you're using for hot (green or black). If it's going to the switch or a lug on the pot you will need to move it to the back of the pot (ground) with the green/black from the pickup.

[ehdwuld]

Re: Humbucker noise

I've seen that exact problem before. This guy had a strat and had to reverse polarity of the humbucker, but when he reversed the wires he left the baseplate ground connected to the green and attached it to the hot terminal on the pot. Double check and make sure the bare wire is going to ground regardless of which wire you're using for hot (green or black). If it's going to the switch or a lug on the pot you will need to move it to the back of the pot (ground) with the green/black from the pickup.

yep
and check that hot /ground to jack isnt reversed

that does this too

insert guitar cable to jack

meter set to ohms

tip of exposed end of jack should be hot

sleeve of exposed end should be ground
(sleeve is the part just below the black ring on the jack)

test sleeve to bridge
should read continuity

turn volume all the way up
select pickup
test tip to bridge
should read pickups resistance value or thereabouts

[Purplelespaul]

Re: Humbucker noise

Well chums... No photos but believe me when I tell you..(isn't that a song?)
That this guitar is wired up right. I did wire the duncan direct to the jack, in fact I even used two different jacks in case I was going mad... naw... this is a bad pick up... So just to reiterate... The green and bare are soldered to the base of the pot.. the black is the hot, the ground from the bridge runs to the base of the pot... the red and white are soldered and taped off, if I reverese the jack connections it's so bloody obviious even to a baboon that things are wrong.. The noise is a pig, I think the ground is bad in the duncan. It's going back. Thanks for your welcome and thanks for your input..I shall as we say here in England.. keep ya' posted. cheers

Steve

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Humbucker noise

You can verify that the baseplate ground is bad by running your meter between the bare wire and the baseplate.

[Purplelespaul]

Re: Humbucker noise

You can verify that the baseplate ground is bad by running your meter between the bare wire and the baseplate.

Thanks but still nothing, I wired up this guitar to an old gibson pat applied for... it worked fine... this invader sucks... I have tried all my guitars and none, none of them have a hum when I touch the pole pieces of the p/ups, one makes very slight audible noise but it's nothing. This SD Invader.. Holy cow what a bad noise.. I hate it... it's going back.. now where is that dimarzio brochure??????? I hat duff kit and this is duff kit...

[ehdwuld]

Re: Humbucker noise

is the noise like when you grab the end of a exposed guitar jack?

if so your ground and hot are reversed some where

this is why we asked for pictures

[Purplelespaul]

Re: Humbucker noise

is the noise like when you grab the end of a exposed guitar jack?

if so your ground and hot are reversed some where

this is why we asked for pictures

No, it isn't that bad. I know when the ground is reversed. My dog could tell me that. (no offence me old mucker...) Like I said, I took the SD out and replaced it with twice with 2 other makes and they worked fine, no noise... SAME WIRE JOB, SAME DIAGRAM. I have wired guitars for over 30 years chaps, been playing them for 40... Made a few, repaired hundreds but this ***** has me beat. I have now chucked the sd and have wired up an old paf which works fine. So I shall leave it at that.
Roger over and out.

[Coma]

Re: Humbucker noise

Figured it was better to just revive this than start up a new thread: I'm having this exact problem with this exact pickup, which I'vreadly psoted in my most recent threda (been getting a bunch of help there, but no-one has adressed this specific issue yet. South coil's pole pieces make a nasty-ass hum when I touch them, but nothing when I touch the north poles. The problem has never been there before, but last night I wax potted both my pickups (Gibby LP w/ PGn, SH8b) and now the nosie is there. Please note I did not desolder the pickups prior to potting them. The wires are long enough to just pull them out of the guitar and have them hanging over the edge of my wax boiler. I've checked all connections and solder points, and they're still intact. I even removed the stopbar posts to make sure the ground wire was properly connected (oh yeah, the guitar seems to be having ground issues now too) , turns out it was full of saw dust. So to sum things up:

1. Guitar works fine.
2. Pulled out pickups, potted them in paraffin wax, placed them back in guitar.
3. ????
4. Ground noise when not touching strings or metal parts or pole pices on neck pickup or inner bobbin on bridge pickup, MASSIVE increase in ground noise when touching the pole pieces in bridge pickup's outer bobbin.
5. Sad Coma