Really frickin' noisy guitar

[erogenousjones17]

Hey all, I recently relocated my practice/jamming area, and now my Jackson is even noisier than it was before. It hisses and hums like mad, but the hissing pretty much stops when you touch any of the metal parts on the guitar except for the strings. However, it still hums like a stereo or amp that's turned up really loud with nothing playing through it.

It's a JS20 with a Duncan TB5 in the bridge (did not install it myself - guy still didn't do a great job...). I'm playing with the tone all the way up, volume @ about 3/4 on the guitar, and through a Crybaby, a Boss Octave and DS-1, into a 15-watt Peavey, not even turned up very loud. The hiss/hum is still there even if I mainline the guitar right into the amp.

What gives? Grounding problem in guitar? Wiring in house? In either case, what can I do?

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Hey all, I recently relocated my practice/jamming area, and now my Jackson is even noisier than it was before. It hisses and hums like mad, but the hissing pretty much stops when you touch any of the metal parts on the guitar except for the strings. However, it still hums like a stereo or amp that's turned up really loud with nothing playing through it.

It's a JS20 with a Duncan TB5 in the bridge (did not install it myself - guy still didn't do a great job...). I'm playing with the tone all the way up, volume @ about 3/4 on the guitar, and through a Crybaby, a Boss Octave and DS-1, into a 15-watt Peavey, not even turned up very loud. The hiss/hum is still there even if I mainline the guitar right into the amp.

What gives? Grounding problem in guitar? Wiring in house? In either case, what can I do?

Wow, I had the exact same problem with my Jackson JS20.

Solution:

Slash and burn, then start from scratch.

I chased and chased the problem with a multimeter and pickup swaps for about 2 years and finally tore it down to nothing (pictured) and started from the pickup out to the jack as simply and logically as I could, now it's fine.

And without 2 of the original 3 pickups, but only because I am chicken and afraid to read schematics.

 

[DonP]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

I've helped fellow guitarist with wiring issues. Maybe someone lives close by? You need to update your profile to indicate your location.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

BTW, my guess is grounding in the guitar, as it was with mine. It was the plain steel wire ground to the trem I think.

Chase the problem with a multimeter: jack, pot, pot, switch, pickups, ground wire to trem

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

This may sound pretty lame, but what exactly am I doing with this multimeter? I know what they are (and I have one), but what am I looking for deep in the bowels of my guitar?

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

first make sure you ground wire from the pots to the trem claw in the back is still connected...

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

where is this ground wire supposed to be attached to the trem claw? I have the back panel off, but don't actually see any wire...

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

where is this ground wire supposed to be attached to the trem claw? I have the back panel off, but don't actually see any wire...

well there should be a ground wire from the back of your pots to the Trem's Spring Claw..... your Electronics need to be grounded thru your strings and thru yourself.. that is why when a guitar is working normal when you take your hands off the strings the noise gets loud as you the ground has let go.... (this is also important to know as since you are part of the grounding system that it is important for your amp to be in quality working order to avoid shocks...)

but ya there should be a ground wire from your pots to the strings somehow... and on guitars with trems the easiest way is to solder it to the trems claw

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Makes sense...there is a hole between the control cavity and trem cavity, but no wire passes through it. The only other wire(s) leaving the control cavity are thicker black ones and skinny red ones, coming from (I assume) the pickups into the pickup selector and a screw attached to the side wall of the cavity.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Makes sense...there is a hole between the control cavity and trem cavity, but no wire passes through it. The only other wire(s) leaving the control cavity are thicker black ones and skinny red ones, coming from (I assume) the pickups into the pickup selector and a screw attached to the side wall of the cavity.

Yup this sounds like he has forgot the ground wire... is there any signs of there being solder on the trem claw as well? should of been from the factory...

only time i don't think there is a ground wire to the strings is when it's EMG style Active PU's... but don't quote me on that... i've never installed Actice PU's

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Don't see any solder on the top side...would it have been underneath?

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Don't see any solder on the top side...would it have been underneath?

na... most likely it would of been soldered on the claws face in-between the 2 screws that hold it into the wall....

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Yeah there's nothing there...I can't believe the wiring on this thing. Plus the job the guy who installed my pickup did is all kinds of crappy. So how should I go about adding a ground wire? Where exactly should the non-trem end be soldered?

Also, would a Hipshot Tremsetter be a good investment for this guitar? I really love the way it plays and sounds, but the trem is useless and it's really fussy about tuning. Is it even compatible with this kind of bridge? I'd always kinda planned on slowly improving this guitar; would a TremSetter be a good place to start?

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Yeah there's nothing there...I can't believe the wiring on this thing. Plus the job the guy who installed my pickup did is all kinds of crappy. So how should I go about adding a ground wire? Where exactly should the non-trem end be soldered?

Also, would a Hipshot Tremsetter be a good investment for this guitar? I really love the way it plays and sounds, but the trem is useless and it's really fussy about tuning. Is it even compatible with this kind of bridge? I'd always kinda planned on slowly improving this guitar; would a TremSetter be a good place to start?

sounds like you may want a tech to look it over anyways to make sure it's done right.. but that being said you could solder a ground wire in yourself.. Use a 25-45 watt soldering iron with some good solder... make sure you use the right solder for electronics.. one end of the wire goes to the back of your volume pot and the other end goes to your trem claw..

if you want to make a temp job of it before you take it to a tech/shop you could just warp a wire around the base of the volume knob ontop of the guitar and run it over to the bridge... warp the wire around the trems post... it may work for a while and cut the noise for a bit until you get it looked at... if the guy forgot the ground wire it makes me wonder what else he may of messed up... so having a tech fix it may be worth the expense...

as far as the tremsetter idea.. na it's an in-expensive axe... you are most likely better to "block" the trem so it only goes down in pitch.. i did this on my Jacksons... i used a small piece of wood and glued it in the trem cavity wall infront of the bridges trem block... under the springs area basicly... then you can tighten the springs so the bridge's block rests on the wood shim you glued in...

or even easier is to set the guitar up so the trem sits flush on the face of the guitar... all of this may require a complete set up of the guitar so when you take the guitar to the tech to check on the wireing you may was well have him set it up for ya

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

If you have big globs of solder that have been reheated and reheated that would be a bad ground. Ground all the post to each other. Make sure the bridge is grounded.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Alright sounds good, I think I will just have someone take a look at it. It may be an inexpensive guitar, but it's actually surprisingly good; I have gotten compliments from other people who have played it...but I've also heard bad things about these guitars. I guess this one is just one of those "special" instruments, lol.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Really frickin' noisy guitar

Alright sounds good, I think I will just have someone take a look at it. It may be an inexpensive guitar, but it's actually surprisingly good; I have gotten compliments from other people who have played it...but I've also heard bad things about these guitars. I guess this one is just one of those "special" instruments, lol.

ya they can be pretty good for the price for sure... the necks feel good and they have a nice sized fret on them... i have always liked the Jackson tiltback headstock...

good luck sir