Can't track down source of buzz

[pluck]

So I have a simple two humbucker , 2 volume, 1 tone , 3-way switch guitar...When I got it, there was a buzz that went away when I touched anything metal....In the process of trying to understand what was causing that, I tried soldering a single wire from the chrome covers underside of each pickup to the main star point of the grounds on the bottom of the neck volume pot....Now, there is still buzz but it gets even louder when I remove my hand from any metal points! lol...This is driving me nuts, because there are only so many points to check...the ground from the output jack goes to the ground point on the tone pot, from there, a cable goes to the ground point on the bridge volume, and then another up to the top knob, the neck volume , which is the main ground point...The pickups only have the two leads, one shielded and the other bare wire...The cable running to the LP style bridge goes into a hole that I can't see into but I'm assuming it's attached OK to the bridge inside the guitar....I'm pretty certain it's a grounding issue but I've run out of ideas other than to maybe de-solder everything and re-solder..

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

I had that same problem with my P bass. It started out when I swapped the stock pickup for a Duncan and I kept the same wiring. This created buzz that wouldn't go away when I touched the strings. I think that means that it was wired incorrectly. So I went back in and wired it according to the Duncan diagram. After that it would buzz but then quiet up when I touched the strings. I think that situation means everything including your ground is wired correctly. I tried to remove the buzz by improving the wiring but that didn't work. Then I learned you have to shield the pickguard and cavity with copper tape. That quieted everything up. Anyway. I'm pretty sure that if you have noise that quiets up when you touch the metal it means the wiring is good. Maybe others can correct me about that, I'm still learning about how grounding works. But I think the next step is to shield your guitar.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

Welcome to the forum!

Have you tried plugging in your guitar in another room? In another building? Some buildings have sketchy wiring, and I've tried to track it down in my guitar only to find out it is where I was!

 

[pluck]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

I had that same problem with my P bass. It started out when I swapped the stock pickup for a Duncan and I kept the same wiring. This created buzz that wouldn't go away when I touched the strings. I think that means that it was wired incorrectly. So I went back in and wired it according to the Duncan diagram. After that it would buzz but then quiet up when I touched the strings. I think that situation means everything including your ground is wired correctly. I tried to remove the buzz by improving the wiring but that didn't work. Then I learned you have to shield the pickguard and cavity with copper tape. That quieted everything up. Anyway. I'm pretty sure that if you have noise that quiets up when you touch the metal it means the wiring is good. Maybe others can correct me about that, I'm still learning about how grounding works. But I think the next step is to shield your guitar.

I think you are on to something...with the guts laid out like they are in the pick, and plugged into my small battery powered Danelectro amp on the workbench, whenever I blanket my hands over the electronics, the buzz level drops considerably! ...I'm also wondering if it just may the fact that the pickups are Chinese made and cheaper, although they sounds quite nice...

 

[pluck]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

thanks, I haven't tried other rooms, but other guitars I have don't buzz or it's so low as to not be as noticeable..

 

[Hank-]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

I have that phenomenon on my godin strat. The pickups cavities in it are not shielded & i'm using 4 conductor mini-humbuckers too. Some days if i move my hand closer to the control cavity without touching any metal parts, I can hear the buzz get louder lol
Once there was power outage & when power came back my buzz went away but came back next day.

I also get full continuity between all grounds & the instrument cable sleeve. If I ground the hot wire of a non selected pickup of my 5way, the buzz goes away, so it might be my switch as well.

Goodluck on your quest, if any of this helps I think its wired right if buzz goes away when you touch a metal part, if the opposite were to happen & you got buzz when touching the strings then you would have wiring issue.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

There seems to be no shielding on the cover in picture. Cover cavity and pickguard with copper tape (or with any other tape made from conductive material). Even if it doesn't fix the problem, a good shielding is a thing every guitar should have.

 

[EDX]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

shield the control cavity and pickguard, pickups need no shielding as they already have covers, use copper tape or if you don't find any you can use aluminum foil

 

[Jacew]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

shield the control cavity and pickguard, pickups need no shielding as they already have covers, use copper tape or if you don't find any you can use aluminum foil

I used aluminium tape generally used in air condition system repairs, or something like that. Should be available in any hardware store. It works just as well as copper tape and is probably cheaper (I just happened to have roll of it lying around). I woudn't try to glue aluminium foil on my guitar. Sounds a bit too messy cheapskate alternative.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

I used aluminium tape generally used in air condition system repairs, or something like that. Should be available in any hardware store. It works just as well as copper tape and is probably cheaper (I just happened to have roll of it lying around). I woudn't try to glue aluminium foil on my guitar. Sounds a bit too messy cheapskate alternative.

The problem with that tape is that the adhesive isn't conductive. It may still work, which is all that matters, but it doesn't end up being a single, conductive sheet which would be most effective. Could probably remedy that by painting over the seams with conductive paint or cutting some tabs in the strips and folding them over and making sure you had ample overlap of the tape strips. They do make a foil tape with conductive adhesive that should be less expensive than the copper.

 

[pluck]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

I'll give that a try..ordered some shielding tape

 

[Jacew]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

The problem with that tape is that the adhesive isn't conductive. It may still work, which is all that matters, but it doesn't end up being a single, conductive sheet which would be most effective. Could probably remedy that by painting over the seams with conductive paint or cutting some tabs in the strips and folding them over and making sure you had ample overlap of the tape strips. They do make a foil tape with conductive adhesive that should be less expensive than the copper.

When you have layer of tape on pickguard and on cavity + ground wire from wiring to bottom of cavity, it's solid. I also made sure there was some folding between strips to ensure contact. It doesn't really need to be single conductive sheet, as long as you have conductive material wired to ground on all surfaces in cavity, it's good.

 

[jonsick]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

To me, those electronics look a bit nasty. That switch looks like cheap junk from the orient. I have no idea if the pots are of the same quality but if the guitar is stock, then most likely.

Personally one of the first things I would be doing is ordering up some decent electronics. I've had more than a few rubbish switches crap out on me, either not switching properly or being rather poor in it's ability to properly ground.

The shielding is no harm either! I do this on a lot of my guitars too, especially if they're gigging guitars.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

When you have layer of tape on pickguard and on cavity + ground wire from wiring to bottom of cavity, it's solid. I also made sure there was some folding between strips to ensure contact. It doesn't really need to be single conductive sheet, as long as you have conductive material wired to ground on all surfaces in cavity, it's good.

I didn't mean to imply that has to be one, single sheet. Rather, effectively act as one sheet. That should have been obvious when I mentioned connecting the strips with a conductive material (paint) or method (folding under tabs). But what do I know. Maybe it's total bunk that the entire surface of the tape or sheet should be conductive for most effectiveness, and maybe the advertising of a shielding tape product having a conductive adhesive is total marketing bunk. Whatever the case, it's not worth an argument.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

I didn't mean to imply that has to be one, single sheet. Rather, effectively act as one sheet. That should have been obvious when I mentioned connecting the strips with a conductive material (paint) or method (folding under tabs). But what do I know. Maybe it's total bunk that the entire surface of the tape or sheet should be conductive for most effectiveness, and maybe the advertising of a shielding tape product having a conductive adhesive is total marketing bunk. Whatever the case, it's not worth an argument.

Sorry if it came out like I was making an argument. I misunderstood your post and just wanted to open up how to effectively use that particular tape for shielding. I wouldn't say conductive adhesive to be a total marketing bunk, since it's easier, cleaner and more secure to use.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

No, not a problem at all Jacew. I think some stuff is just getting lost in translation, so to speak.

When I built my last amp, I used HVAC foil duct tape in the head cabinet where the underneath of the chassis sits. It's all I had on hand at the time. It didn't dawn on me at the time that there would be no conductivity between the strips because the adhesive was not conductive. But I had no noise from lack of shielding. It later registered with me that there was no conductivity between strips of the foil tape so just to be extra cautious, I applied some conductive carbon paint at a few spots where the tape overlapped. Then it dawned on me that the chassis laying across the individual strips was acting to electrically connect the strips anyway. This experience is the basis for my thoughts on the HVAC foil tape for shielding guitars and electronics. I don't know for sure if shielding needs to effectively act as a single, conductive sheet. It's only what I've read. I haven't used foil of any kind to shield a guitar cavity other than cavity covers. When necessary, I've just used conductive paint because it's easier. For all I know, individual strips of a foil HVAC tape without a conductive adhesive and without some method of electrically connecting the individual strips may still work fine, or not. I simply don't have any personal experience with it. Long way to describe where I'm coming from on this but there it is.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

are you in Colorado?

anyhoo... tracking down this sort of thing isn't fun. maybe try eliminating things down to the bare minimum (pickup straight to jack) and then add in a thing at a time until the issue is revealed.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Can't track down source of buzz

You say there is a wire from the bridge to a grounding point, but you haven't inspected it. Either this or room/wiring/fluorescent lighting is generally the problem. Since you have tried other guitars in the same room without this noise, then that isn't the problem. If you have a multimeter, test the continuity between the bridge or the strings to the back of the vol pot. If there is any resistance (not perfect continuity), that's your problem. You'll need to remove your bridge, pegs, and inserts and check to see if there is bare wire that will make a definite contact to the insert when it is pushed back into the hole.

Also, your pic shows some pretty bad soldering. You could also have a dry solder joint. Try heating up your soldering iron (as hot as it can go, if it is adjustable) and touch each of your solder joints (the back of the pot right next to the solder blob, NOT the solder itself) until the solder flows like water and leaves a thin smooth joint, not a blob.