Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

[igere]

Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Hi, new to forum, so apologize if this has been covered before, did a search and didn’t find a direct answer.

I just installed a new set of SL’s with Mojotone 50’s style wiring harness in my early 90’s LP Studio. Immediate difference in tone, clarity and dynamics - great! Unfortunately, I now have what sounds like a bad ground, quite a bit of hum which goes away when I touch pickups, output jack, etc.... I’m not sure that my grounds are hooked up correctly?

- I kept the factory cavity plate installed for ease of mounting and used the stock stock toggle switch and output jack - which I wired back per original stock wiring.
- I soldered the bridge ground wire back to the neck volume pot per original stock wiring.
- When I touch or wiggle the black wire coming from the 3-way toggle to the ground post on the plate the noise increases significantly.

The Mojotone kit came with a Switchcraft toggle that I didn’t useb as my stock toggle is smooth and quiet. I could install direct to the output jack and bypass the ground plate if that would help. Of note, the guitar was dead silent with stock 498/490 pups and factory wiring. I’m a fender guy and used to 60 cycle hum, but this seems excessive.

Here is a pic of my install, anyone see any immediate problems? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks

 

[igere]

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Bump. The ground wire from tailpiece to volume pot checks out fine with continuity tester. I suck at electronics though so I'm sure I'm missing something simple.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

quite a bit of hum which goes away when I touch pickups, output jack

this is perfectly normal.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Does the hum go away when you touch the strings? It should.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

I wrote a piece about this problem a couple of years ago and I still believe it is relevant to this day. Please read this and if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask!

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/background-noise-closing-the-loop

OK, the TL;DR version is:

you are the cause of the noise. You, as a human being, are a big bag of water and act as an antenna. You pick up the noises, radiate it outwards and the pickup picks that up. By shorting out yourself as the antenna, you eliminate the noise. Voila. Some pickups are more sensitive in picking this stuff up than others. The better the pickup, the more sensitive it is in general and also, thus, to noises.

Don't stress out over this. it's no biggy.

I wish people would more often realize this: I guess that this questin comes by at least once every three months.

 

[igere]

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Re: Grounding issue after Seth Lover/50’s wiring install

Thank you for the replies. Yes, the hum goes away when I touch the strings, bridge, pups. And I do get the part about being a human antenna, this hum just seems louder than I would have expected.

What I find confusing is that the guitar was dead quiet with stock Gibson pups (albeit poor sounding) and wiring. Since the Seth Lovers are unpotted PAF style pups, are they inherently nosier than the 490/498 that were stock in the guitar? Does moving from 250k pots to 500k make a difference in noise too? Sorry for the rookie questions, just trying to figure out why this LP is now much noisier than my strat, tele, 335 though same amp. Anyway, thanks for helping me troubleshoot.