My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

Also, I just cut the bridge ground in my LP100, and the noise Dali has sounds a lot like the noise my guitar has… which goes away when I reconnect the bridge wire.

I measured the DC resistance of my bridge ground. Between the stop-bar and the sleeve of the output jack, 24 ohms. After cutting the ground where it solders to the volume pot, "1 - -" meaning open-circuit. You can measure this with a simple multimeter, with the guitar sitting unplugged by itself, without even taking any covers off.

The cavity on that guitar has some kind of black paint that might be conductive. I noticed that I'd covered the inside of the plastic cover in copper tape, overlapped and soldered the joints. (Sometimes I do that because I'm bored. Go figure.) Having it on or off didn't make a lick of difference. I used to think I had to shield the pickup cavities in my guitars. Eventually I did it with my RG550. All it did was make the thing sound a little duller.

Your saying with the grounding wire connected, the resistance between the output jack ground and the stop bar is 24 Ohms?
It should be 0 Ohms. Any resistance means you have a bad connection.:scratchch
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

Your saying with the grounding wire connected, the resistance between the output jack ground and the stop bar is 24 Ohms?
It should be 0 Ohms. Any resistance means you have a bad connection.:scratchch

and who was the first one to call the bridge ground? that's right... ME :friday:
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

and who was the first one to call the bridge ground? that's right...goosnles
SFW. It's is contended a grounding issue and was before you piped up. It hasn't yet been ascertained if it is the bridge grounding. Chances are it's not.

My post you quoted refers to JG and his guitar test. Not the LP in the OP.
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

Your saying with the grounding wire connected, the resistance between the output jack ground and the stop bar is 24 Ohms?
It should be 0 Ohms. Any resistance means you have a bad connection.:scratchch

24 ohms, and it kills that high buzz when it's connected.

That's not bad for a chrome-plated piece of pot metal. My meter leads clock in at 0.4 ohms. Every non-ideal conductor (meaning the ones in guitars) has a non-zero resistance. Compared to the DC resistances of the pots and pickups, 24 ohms is very small. Ever measure conductive paint used for shielding control cavities?
 
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Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

Dali can you post a good pic of the cavity and wiring and maybe a diagram of your JP wiring scheme?
That sounds exactly like a ground issue and not an RF issue, so shielding won't help it.

Is your ground wire to the bridge still attached/making contact?

Are you *sure* you don't have any ground loops, because that's easy to do with a JP wiring scheme.
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

24 ohms, and it kills that high buzz when it's connected.

That's not bad for a chrome-plated piece of pot metal. My meter leads clock in at 0.4 ohms. Every non-ideal conductor (meaning the ones in guitars) have a non-zero resistance. Compared to the DC resistances of the pots and pickups, 24 ohms is very small. Ever measure conductive paint used for shielding control cavities?
No, but it isn't part of your ground path, it's attatched to it?

The ground path from bridge to jack plug should be 0 Ohms, as with the grounding to your pups , pots and anything else that is grounded. Anything above about 2 Ohms is heaps. My Epi LP and My Framus are both Zero Ohms.
You should be able to measure between any grounding points and get 0 Ohms. Any resistance = a bad connection.:scratchch
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

everyone keeps going on and on about the bridge ground when there's no way in hell it's the bridge ground.


i'd like to see if the ground lug on each pot is actually grounded to the case of the pot. some people overlook that with push/pull pots. also if one of the pots just does not have a ground going to it.

it's gotta be one of those, because my 496R doesnt have any shielding at all, and it's quiet.
 
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Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

The ground path from bridge to jack plug should be 0 Ohms, as with the grounding to your pups , pots and anything else that is grounded. Anything above about 2 Ohms is heaps. My Epi LP and My Framus are both Zero Ohms.
You should be able to measure between any grounding points and get 0 Ohms. Any resistance = a bad connection.:scratchch

That Epi was a pretty bad example after all. :lmao: It isn't especially quiet, but it's quiet enough. My Faded V is the quietest humbucker guitar I own, and it's 0.3 ohms. I'm not measuring the bridge, though, I'm measuring the top of the treble-side post for the stop bar, on those.

I just measured a bunch of my guitars, and most of them were under 2 ohms. None of them were 0.0 ohms. Typical readings were 0.3, 0.1, 0.5, 1.1, 2.1. There were Superstrats with Floyds, a Squier Strat, ones with Gibson-type hardware and electronics, a hardtail Ibanez with a lot of plating on the bridge (3.5).

All of these readings are with 0.4 removed, which I'm considering my meter offset. (I wish I had my better meter that I keep at work.) The readings were pretty repeatable, though. The champ was my USA Jackson with the TOM bridge; it was the 0.1.

(Yeah, I don't know about that Epiphone. Must have some rubber bands in there for wire, or solder made out of Teflon and JB Weld.)
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

the fact that the noise stops when he touches the strings shows that everything is in perfect working order, but it simply lacks proper shielding.


dali, you know what you have to do bro. on my old strat i used the copper foil tape stew mac sells. you could use regular foil and spray adhesive, but since it's a real LP classic i would use the good stuff.

i'd like to see if the ground lug on each pot is actually grounded to the case of the pot. some people overlook that with push/pull pots. also if one of the pots just does not have a ground going to it.

it's gotta be one of those, because my 496R doesnt have any shielding at all, and it's quiet.

:dot:
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

(I wish I had my better meter that I keep at work.)

Seems like the one your using is a pretty accurate M.M.. I'm using an Analog
one which does not have the level of accuracy you have.

What is this job that you use a M.M. at?:cool2:
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

Seems like the one your using is a pretty accurate M.M.. I'm using an Analog
one which does not have the level of accuracy you have.

What is this job that you use a M.M. at?:cool2:

I'm a short-order cook at a truck stop outside of Gary, Indiana.
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

i talked to him between those 2 posts. the fact still remains that it's not the bridge ground.

But it's still definitely the lack of proper shielding, right?
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

But it's still definitely the lack of proper shielding, right?

it still isnt shielded with ground wires, but he did install shielding foil. i'm going to talk to him monday and do a step by step ground check.

as quiet as it goes when you touch the strings, it's hard to pinpoint anything other than bad shielding without actually looking at it with my own eyes.
 
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Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

Have we tried midgets yet?
 
Re: My Les Paul is noisy! Video!

he may just have a bunch of bees inside his pickups.

bees_heschel_05lrg.jpg
 
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