Getting hum when I touch my strings, help please.

[wasteofo2]

I have a strat (3 single coils, wired with a superswitch so that pos. 2 and 4 are in series instead of parallel, 1 volume and 1 tone control, if that matters), and when I touch my strings, bridge tone control or the metal on my pickup selector, I get an annoying buzzing hum. When I touch my volume control or output jack, the hum goes away almost completely. I've checked my grounds, and they all appear fine. Perhaps there's a problem with the wiring I'm using? This is how my guitar is wired up: http://img13.imageshack.us/my.php?lo...eswithpots.jpg I realize that this way makes the tone and volume operate in opposite directions, that was my fault, I left that error in there incase it makes any difference.

Thanks for any help,
Jacob

[HolyDirt]

Re: Getting hum when I touch my strings, help please.

I have a strat (3 single coils, wired with a superswitch so that pos. 2 and 4 are in series instead of parallel, 1 volume and 1 tone control, if that matters), and when I touch my strings, bridge tone control or the metal on my pickup selector, I get an annoying buzzing hum. When I touch my volume control or output jack, the hum goes away almost completely. I've checked my grounds, and they all appear fine. Perhaps there's a problem with the wiring I'm using? This is how my guitar is wired up: http://img13.imageshack.us/my.php?lo...eswithpots.jpg I realize that this way makes the tone and volume operate in opposite directions, that was my fault, I left that error in there incase it makes any difference.

Thanks for any help,
Jacob

...that is VERY strange... in your schematic, did you wire the ground TO the hot output that goes to the output jack? if you did, i dont think that'd cause the problem, but it is wrong none the less.

basically a bump...

[rspst14]

Re: Getting hum when I touch my strings, help please.

...that is VERY strange... in your schematic, did you wire the ground TO the hot output that goes to the output jack? if you did, i dont think that'd cause the problem, but it is wrong none the less.

basically a bump...

Not necessarily, I'm pretty sure there are certain wiring tricks that require you to do that. To be honest, I'm not familiar with Strat wiring or superswitches, but it sounds like you do have a grounding problem somewhere. Did you by any chance shield the cavities with copper shielding tape? I had a problem similar to that once, and it was because the copper foil wasn't grounded.

Ryan

[Cory_Dylan]

Re: Getting hum when I touch my strings, help please.

The tone pot isn't grounded. Try moving the wire on the tone pot on the 1st lug to the middle lug. Then ground the first lug. (sorry i'm not much help) if that doesn't work, move the wire to the 3rd lug instead.