Stop the hum!

[The Dali]

Hi everyone... just made this quick video about making my PRS S2 quiet! There has been a long-standing argument among guitar players that hum is caused by ground issues... if the hum goes away when you touch the strings or bridge it IS NOT A GROUND issue. It drives me crazy every time I hear someone say "have you checked the ground?". GRRR!!!

Anyway, here is a video, hopefully it helps people in the future!

 

[NegativeEase]

When people say it's a ground problem they mean either the EMF shielding or tuner/strings/bridge inducting EMF doesn't have an effective drain to ground or a broken path. -no need to get irritated -they are not incorrect in describing it as a ground issue -all EMF needs to get effectively mitigated via shield to ground and that is what they are describing by checking this solution -not describing the root cause -as you are -it's 2 sides of the same coin. If you are not grounding your EMF shield to a pot, other component grounded, or 1/4" jack (preferred) -you are making you guitar into an antenna once you are on stage with lights, PA, and 20 circuits.

Nice video, consider miking your amp or go use an IR DI or something, all of those guitars sound super thin and ultra tinny from your camera/cell mic.

 

[Kac]

Nicely done! I’m gonna order some more copper shielding tape and go to work on some of mine.

 

[ErikH]

Nice video. Very helpful. One tip on using shielding tape, not all of them have a conductive adhesive so it may be necessary to connect the individual strips with either solder or even a staple. Something that will guarantee connectivity. Easy to know with a multi-meter after overlapping a few pieces.

That made a huge difference in that PRS. I have dual-humbucker guitar I made back in the early 90's that is quiet as a mouse and the only shielding is on the back of the pickguard. The body cavity is bare wood.

 

[The Dali]

When people say it's a ground problem they mean either the EMF shielding or tuner/strings/bridge inducting EMF doesn't have an effective drain to ground or a broken path. -no need to get irritated -they are not incorrect in describing it as a ground issue -all EMF needs to get effectively mitigated via shield to ground and that is what they are describing by checking this solution -not describing the root cause -as you are -it's 2 sides of the same coin. If you are not grounding your EMF shield to a pot, other component grounded, or 1/4" jack (preferred) -you are making you guitar into an antenna once you are on stage with lights, PA, and 20 circuits.

Nice video, consider miking your amp or go use an IR DI or something, all of those guitars sound super thin and ultra tinny from your camera/cell mic.

I understand what you are saying, but the majority of people I run into just say something like, “is the bridge grounded?” Or similar. Ive had numerous issues like this and if the guitar us wired properly it is always the shielding. But people always think there is a missing ground.


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[The Dali]

I should say... i know people are trying to help but usually the issue is not a broken ground.


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[NegativeEase]

I understand what you are saying, but the majority of people I run into just say something like, “is the bridge grounded?” Or similar. Ive had numerous issues like this and if the guitar us wired properly it is always the shielding. But people always think there is a missing ground.


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BTW -I'm an animal when it comes to shielding my guitars -it's something of a passion for me to get in their and doll it up with faraday paint/copper clad tape etc etc -especially before LED stage lights when it was a super huge issue to stand it certain parts of a stage at seemingly every venue.

Nice work!

 

[The Dali]

Nice video. Very helpful. One tip on using shielding tape, not all of them have a conductive adhesive so it may be necessary to connect the individual strips with either solder or even a staple. Something that will guarantee connectivity. Easy to know with a multi-meter after overlapping a few pieces.

That made a huge difference in that PRS. I have dual-humbucker guitar I made back in the early 90's that is quiet as a mouse and the only shielding is on the back of the pickguard. The body cavity is bare wood.

Agree! I think this tape happens to have conductive adhesive, but I did fold the tape over in places to ensure conductivity and then checked with multimeter.


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[ehdwuld]

Hum is sometimes caused by the jack being wired backwards

 

[The Dali]

Hum is sometimes caused by the jack being wired backwards

That hum doesn’t go away. When you touch the guitar and hum disappears, it is from interference not incorrect wiring.


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[Top-L]

Hi everyone... just made this quick video about making my PRS S2 quiet! There has been a long-standing argument among guitar players that hum is caused by ground issues... if the hum goes away when you touch the strings or bridge it IS NOT A GROUND issue. It drives me crazy every time I hear someone say "have you checked the ground?". GRRR!!!

Anyway, here is a video, hopefully it helps people in the future!

I have fought with this kind of noise before and sadly, it is not solved by shielding the guitar electronics. That kind of noise is generated when your body picks up environmental energy and radiates it into the guitar pickups.

The reduction in noise could as easily been related to there being less noise in the envirionment. That kind of noise comes and goes based on time of day, appliances running, phase of moon, etc.

Also, certain guitar pickups are more susceptible. You can't say "this guitar is shielded, its making less noise, therefore the shielding is responsible." Some pickups are less susceptible, ones with less presence. More likely the guitar that was buzzing more had higher value pots.

The solution I have found to solve this when it arises, is to run a wire ground from the amps input, and attach that ground to your body (wrap around ankle or similar). This will ground you body to the amp and not the guitar. The problem when relying upon the guitars ground is that frequently when playing you aren't grounded to the guitar, so that kind of noise will seep through. If you ground your body to the amp's input, that solves the problem. Remember, its not a problem with the guitar, its your body picking up noise and radiating it to the pickups.

You can see this is true because when ungrounded and your hand is close to the strings, the noise increases. If the noise increases when your hand is close to the strings and not touching, shielding the cavity won't make a shit of difference. its better to have a wire handy so you can ground your body to the amp input when the issue arises, and you dont have to shield all your guitars.

I have a wire like this attached to a metal strip on the floor. If my environment is acting up, I just step on the strip. (Playing without shoes or socks at home.) Having read this, I bet you still think shielding the guitar cavity is a "first line" solution for this kind of noise.

 

[ErikH]

Wait. You realize that by plugging an electric guitar in to the amp, the guitar is connected to the amp’s ground plane through the cable, right?

When you touch the strings, noise or not, you are connected to the amp ground (as long as there is a bridge ground), that same ground you are stepping on or attaching a wire to yourself (which is silly, IMO).

The noise that the shielding gets rid of is the EMI interference which comes from the guitar’s lack of shielding as he demonstrated. Not all experience this however.