hum issue....*&@#

black sunshine

black sunshine

New member
just wired a project guitar,2 humbuckers 1 volume 1 tone and 3 way toggle.
i have a bad hum,however it goes away when i turn the tone pot all the way down...wtf?
oh,i should note that when i bought the neck pu off of ebay the seller told me the wiring is the same as a duncan.

however when i received it the white and green wires were solder together,that leaves red and black,i then asked which is ground and he said black was.not at all like a duncan.

just wondering....if the hot and ground neck are mixed,will it hum in all switch positions?
any help would be appreciated thanks.
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

Any markings on the bottom of it? I haven't seen many off-brand pickups that use the same color scheme as Duncan (though I also confess I haven't seen any recent off-brand import pickups i.e. BC Rich BDSM, etc). I've seen older 90's import pickups that use the Red/Green/Black/White, but the Green had a slight metallic/pearl tinge to it.
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

Back to basics time.

Disconnect all of the conductor cables from each other. Test with a multi-meter for continuity between the conductors. Then, at least, you will know which pair is from which coil and, hence, which colour code convention to follow.

EDIT: There should also be a bare grounding wire somewhere. Forgetting to connect that would definitely increase the likelihood of hum problems.
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

Funkfingers said:
Back to basics time.

Disconnect all of the conductor cables from each other. Test with a multi-meter for continuity between the conductors. Then, at least, you will know which pair is from which coil and, hence, which colour code convention to follow.

EDIT: There should also be a bare grounding wire somewhere. Forgetting to connect that would definitely increase the likelihood of hum problems.
Click to expand...

yea,bare wire is connected.
i grounded the wire from bridge to the volume instead of tone,would that make a difference?
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

oh btw,why does the guitar not hum when the tone is turned off?
tone off,no hum tone on,hum.
anyone ever have this?
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

high frequency hum?
double check for any ground loop, every 'minus' must be connected to a general single ground.
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

I think most of the hum I hear is due to the ungrounded *OLD* outlets in my *OLD* house. If you defeat the ground there is nowhere but the output signal for the hum to go, even with hum"buckers". Are you certain your outlets are properly grounded?
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

IanBallard said:
I think most of the hum I hear is due to the ungrounded *OLD* outlets in my *OLD* house. If you defeat the ground there is nowhere but the output signal for the hum to go, even with hum"buckers". Are you certain your outlets are properly grounded?
Click to expand...

naw it's not the house wiring my other guitars don't do it,just this p.o.s
arghhhh!!!!! getting p.o just thinking about it.
man i would love to smash this thing :smash:
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

The Tone control
Does it happen on both pick ups/individually?
Do you get any tone response or does it just add/remove hum?

It seems like the tone is wired incorrectly or missing its ground.
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

GoldenVulture said:
The Tone control
Does it happen on both pick ups/individually?
Do you get any tone response or does it just add/remove hum?

It seems like the tone is wired incorrectly or missing its ground.
Click to expand...

wat up golden...yea i get it in both pu,in all 3 positions of the toggle.
doesn't stop until i turn the tone off,at this point i'm thinking i fried the tone pot somehow,or it's defective.

the only thing i did differently with this guitar then my other ones is that i soldered the bridge to ground wire to the back of the volume pot instead of the tone,but i don't think this would cause the hum:dunno:

i will check the output jack to tone ground again.

something just came to me,would a faulty tone cap cause a humm?

i want a ukulele never a hum,and always looks cool :laugh:
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

something just came to me,would a faulty tone cap cause a humm?
Click to expand...
Maybe, more likely to produce crackle or nothing.
As it does it in all positions I'd go for the tone wiring. If not the grounding, the signal path.
Any treble/bass variation in it now? If not , the wiring and/or the pot or cap.
;)


Edit: I've got a thunderstorm coming over so i'm going. We tend to get surges and lose our power during these. Catch ya later.
 
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Re: hum issue....*&@#

Any treble/bass variation in it now? If not , the wiring and/or the pot or cap.
;)

yea there is a variation in the treble/bass it does work,but just like i say it's got that annoying hum:gurmpy:

i'll take a look at it tomorrow and try some more open heart surgery,really looking into the tone side of it hope it works.
thanks golden
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

black sunshine said:
Any treble/bass variation in it now? If not , the wiring and/or the pot or cap.
;)

yea there is a variation in the treble/bass it does work,but just like i say it's got that annoying hum:gurmpy:

i'll take a look at it tomorrow and try some more open heart surgery,really looking into the tone side of it hope it works.
thanks golden
Click to expand...

That pretty much eliminates the pot and cap.

Check your ground continuity from pickups to output jack.
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

The tone control is fine. Turning the control down appears to reduce the hum because it has filtered most of the affected frequency range away to ground.

The original problem could be a ground loop.
 
Re: hum issue....*&@#

The original problem could be a ground loop.[/QUOTE]

i hear ground loops are bs,no?
star grounding.....could it work?
 
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