Odd grounding issue HH to HS Jackson Kelly

[Diocletian]

In the ongoing saga of my Jackson Kelly, I removed the neck pickup, so it just had the JB in the bridge (it only has a volume control and three way switch, no tone). I have black plastic covers on the pickups anyway, so the neck looked as if there was a pickup in it anyway.

But I was bored yesterday, and decided to try something different. So I put a single coil from a Squier Affinity in the neck. My thinking is, it would be good for cleans if nothing else.

And it really is. It sounds great! :naughty:

The only problem is there's a fair bit of buzzing coming from somewhere. The guitar has wires screwed to the cavity under each pickup which, I assume, are some extra form of grounding.
My question is this - if the bottom of the single coil (the ceramic magnet) is touching this ground wire, could it be causing an issue?

Or is it more likely I just have a bad solder joint somewhere?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Odd grounding issue HH to HS Jackson Kelly

The most likely cause of hum and buzz is the single coil PU.

If the ground conductor of the single coil touches the cavity screening, that just creates a ground loop.

If the signal conductor of the single coil touches the screening, it shorts the signal directly to ground. Silence!

As for the HB/SC PU combination, that is pretty much what I have in my Ibanez RG321MHBK, only I used EMG-81/-H pickups and added a midboost. It certainly has its uses.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Odd grounding issue HH to HS Jackson Kelly

Thanks for the info Funk. I'm getting hum even when only the JB is selected, so is it more than likely down to a bad solder joint somewhere?

HS is a cool pup config - I don't like the LOOK of it in most guitars, but since mine still looks like HH it's all good.