"Static Noise" what to do

[DR Ron]

Hi,

I am rewiring a ESP LTD for a friend. It has two humbuckers (JB, PearlyGates).

He hadn't played the guitar in 5 years.

I gutted everything (except the pickups) and started from scratch. I shielded the body and pickup cavities, and ran shielded cable from the pickups to the 3 way. I always create a star ground, this was no different. I checked my work and tested it. Sounded great except for a persistent static sound...kind of like a white noise. I triple checked everything and made sure all my grounds were solid...but the sound remained.

I checked 3 other guitars in the same exact place with the same exact settings and cable and those were absolutely silent (I had rewired them as well).

So I started removing things from the circuit. No change. I ultimately got to the point where I wired the pickup directly to the output jack (and included the bridge ground in the circuit) and it was still there! So I replaced the jack and used shielded wire, but the noise remained.

Where is this coming from? Spare the bad cables, static in the air responses...remember three other guitars had zero noise in exactly the same situation with exactly the same settings, cables.

Thank you very much for your time,
Ron

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: "Static Noise" what to do

Did the guitar formerly have EMG's? If so, there may not be a wire grounding the bridge, and therefore the strings, and your body when you touch the strings. Without that, you become an antenna.

 

[DR Ron]

Re: "Static Noise" what to do

Thanks for the reply.

It didn't but there is a ground wire coming out of the body that looks like it is running to the bridge...I can pull on it and it doesn't budge so I believe it is attached to the bridge.

 

[Guitaraxz]

Re: "Static Noise" what to do

Thanks for the reply.

It didn't but there is a ground wire coming out of the body that looks like it is running to the bridge...I can pull on it and it doesn't budge so I believe it is attached to the bridge.

Check with a multimeter if the wire to the bridge has continuity. On more than one ocation I have run into bridges that are painted black and this prevented the wire to make electrical contact with the bridge. I mean that the wire was there but there was no continuity so the multimeter gave me zilch. All I did was file off a bit of black paint and the problem was solved.

I am talking about guitars with black hardware original and new from the factory with bad non conducting black paint on the bridge. I think the last one was a Jackson, but I'm not sure. Just check for continuity because a wire being there does not mean that it works.