Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

[johnniz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yejb60TNKfg

Hey guys.

I recently started this guitar project on my first electric (Yamaha pac 012) replacing the bridge and neck pickup to Seymour Duncan JB and Dimarzio "the cruiser bridge" in the neck. However when I put it together realized that there was quite a bit of hum when playing with some gain, even when I disconnected the middle stock pickup It is still the same. This is happening with the pickguard mounted and when detached.

I am suspecting it is the ground from the jack input, but I have tried to ground it to the tremolo block, the volume pot (in the video) and even tried to push the bare wire to the bare volume pot (ruling out problems with the solder), but nothing makes a difference. I even tried to connect the bridge pickup directly to the volume pot (ruling out the pickup selector) without any better results.

I also made sure that I re-soldered every ground connection from the 4 conductor wires of the pickups with no luck. I am also aware that Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio uses different color codes on their wires, but I also tried as the diagram suggested, and switched between the green and black wire on the humbucker, still experiencing the same issue. What am I doing wrong here?

I read on some other forums that these things might be the cause of poor shielding, but that does not explain why the neck pickup is far more quiet. And there where no hum from the stock humbucker before I started butchering the electronics.

Just to make a few points: I own 5 electric guitars, and none of them are humming (at least not noticeably) so I don`t think it is because a "noisy environment" The components should be top notch. I purchased: switchcraft mono jack input, CTS 500k volume pot, original fender 5 way switch and solid 22 AWG guitar wire. I also used some copper tape on the backside of the pick guard where the controls are.

I have spent almost two days trying to resort this, but with no luck
Any input at this point would be greatly appreciated

Thx

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

Some good clear photos of your wiring would be a great help.

Definitely sounds like a grounding issue, but can't say for sure what to do about it without taking a look at it.

 

[DeathMetalRob]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

It might be a disparity between SD and DiMarzio pickups.

I've got an Invader and an X2N and I wired it according to each pickup wiring schematic and I got noise both times.

I want to say that a phase inverter might help but, that'd be a guess only.

 

[johnniz]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

Some good clear photos of your wiring would be a great help.

Definitely sounds like a grounding issue, but can't say for sure what to do about it without taking a look at it.

""For what I fear comes upon me..."
I guess it was only a matter of time until I had to show my "handy work" with the soldering iron (the irony is strong).

I will have the pictures ready later today (11:47 AM here in Norway)

 

[johnniz]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

It might be a disparity between SD and DiMarzio pickups.

I've got an Invader and an X2N and I wired it according to each pickup wiring schematic and I got noise both times.

I want to say that a phase inverter might help but, that'd be a guess only.

The strange thing is that I tried to solder the black wire of the JB directly to the volume pot, bypassing the selector and the Dimarzio and it was still just as loud humming noise. The only thing I could think of affecting the JB from the Dimarzio would be the ground connections. Is that possible? Because I left the ground of the dimarzio on the volume pot while the JB was the only pickup giving signal to the volume pot and jackinpot.

 

[johnniz]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"


I know I will probably get comments regarding the amount of solder I used, but please keep in mind that It is a good 10 hours of re-soldering on the same volume pot in my futile attempts of trying to get rid of the humming noise. (And I`m just starting out doing pickup swaps on my inexpensive guitars) Also as you can see, at that point I had taken the middle pickup out. Before I added that much excess solder, i also tried to ground it directly to the volume pot while the amp was on just to see if that made any difference, which it didn't`t.

Hopefully, aside from my horrible soldering technique it should pretty much follow the HSS 1 volume 5 way selector diagram from the SD website.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

OK, so the first and most obvious thing I see is the horrific amount of solder on the back of your pot. It doesn't matter that it isn't pretty, or that it shows that you aren't very adept at soldering. That's not a problem at all. BUT, with that much solder on the back of the pot it is going to take an aweful lot of heat over a long period of time to get it to melt enough to get a good connection. Which means...you probably fried your pot.

 

[johnniz]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

OK, so the first and most obvious thing I see is the horrific amount of solder on the back of your pot. It doesn't matter that it isn't pretty, or that it shows that you aren't very adept at soldering. That's not a problem at all. BUT, with that much solder on the back of the pot it is going to take an aweful lot of heat over a long period of time to get it to melt enough to get a good connection. Which means...you probably fried your pot.

The thought had crossed my mind. But prior to my soldering attempt, I watched this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUVX_RTS-Z8&t=11m43s and as you can see he is heating the pot for a good minute or two, and that is way longer than I ever did at any one time, and that is supposedly the "correct technique".

I'm guessing that I have to get another volume pot at least, and try it again. Would you suggest that I buy a few cheaper ones or should I still purchase quality like CTS? Because me living in Norway, the only way I can find them is places like ebay etc, and the shipping is more expensive than the pot itself.

 

[njstoehr]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

I would recommend that you get what ever is available to you at a reasonable cost. Personally I prefer CTS pots but Alphas are perfectly acceptable and probably a lot more reasonably priced and readily available to you. Second, I would get 22awg stranded wire. I prefer the "Vintage" style cloth covered wire, but any good stranded wire will do. If you can find it at a reasonable price, the wire with Teflon insulator is great because you can't heat the wire enough to actually melt the shielding. Stranded wire is way easier to work with inside a small area like a guitar or stomp box.

As far as technique goes, there are a few things to remember. First, if you are using anything other than CTS pots, you need to rough up the surface of the pot a bit. Alpha, for example, puts a light clear coating on their pots to presumably keep them from tarishing or whatever. Removing this coating will make it 10x easier to solder. CTS on the other hand does not do this and the outer casing is tinned making solder application easier. This video shows good soldering technique. I realize that it shows wiring up a Les Paul but the principals are the same. In the long run it is best to only use as much heat as needed to melt the solder onto the component so that the solder flows and does not pool in a blob on top of it. And to use only enough solder to secure the wire to that witch you are joining it too.

For what it is worth, all of us have been "beginners" with respect to soldering. The more you do it, the better you will get. There are lots of video tutorials on the web. Some are pretty good and show great technique, some are pretty darn terrible. Just remember, as in so many things, less is more.

Good Luck.

 

[925SS]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

It's not a bad idea either, to turn the pot all the way down to 0 before soldering. Less chance of burning the tract inside

 

[johnniz]

Re: Ground issues, Seymour Duncan JB and DiMarzio "the cruiser"

Thanks for the advice. I just thought of something. Maybe I should try to connect everything with alligator clips before I start soldering. This method should ensure that I get all the wires right, and should produce the same results as soldering right?