Strat is noisier after installing push/pull pot

[Geddy Lee]

I have an HSS Mexican strat that has been heavily modded (JB in the bridge, Cool Rails in the middle, Hot Rails in the neck), and I have just installed a push/pull pot to split the humbuckers like this diagram:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/choosing-installing/tech-tips/more_versatilit/

I have a problem though. Since Ive installed the pot the ground buzz on the guitar has increased. There was a buzz before but it was very slight and didn't bother me much. The electrical outlet I plug my amp in is not grounded but that wasn't an issue until I installed the pot. Plugging it into a grounded outlet stops the buzz completely but would making a better ground on the guitar even matter if the outlet was not grounded? Theres only one grounded outlet in the house and Ill ground the one I use now if I must do so to stop the noise. I've resoldered the ground and made it look real nice but the buzz is still there and now its really bad when playing with distortion.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Strat is noisier after installing push/pull pot

hmmm... are you 100% sure your wiring is right? i've spent hours looking for issues believing my wiring was correct and in the end find i made a stupid error and never saw it sitting in front of my face.... or maybe you have a bad pot/switch... i don't have much faith in the quality of a lot of the pots sold today...

as for the buzzing from an ungrounded electrical plug i say be very carefull! sounds to me you should have someone look at your electrical... remember when you play an electric guitar you are the ground and if something goes wrong with your amp you will take the zap!

that being said most vintage amps were 2 prong power cords... but todays modern standards are all amps should be grounded with a 3 prong power cable...

 

[uOpt]

Re: Strat is noisier after installing push/pull pot

Photo?

The last 38393 times something like this was posted the "I know the wiring is correct" part had accuracy problems.

 

[Geddy Lee]

Re: Strat is noisier after installing push/pull pot

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4013/1001347yu6.jpg

The white wire on the left to ground is shown on the diagram as the terminal bent back and soldered to the pot. The terminal looked to short to bend back and solder so I just wired it to the ground on the volume pot.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Strat is noisier after installing push/pull pot

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4013/1001347yu6.jpg

The white wire on the left to ground is shown on the diagram as the terminal bent back and soldered to the pot. The terminal looked to short to bend back and solder so I just wired it to the ground on the volume pot.

i really can't see the terminals on the pot well enough in the photo but i think you have the wrong terminal on the pot being grounded and the wrong one going to the switch.... but i may be wrong and eyes are playing tricks...

also how good is the contact to the back of that pot's switch with that large solder joint with all the ground wires?

and one final note what type of soldering iron are you using..? is it a 25-40watt max iron? never use those solder guns that you pull the trigger for guitar electronics... if it gets too hot it could cause issues

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Strat is noisier after installing push/pull pot

not that it matters at all but why is there 2 black ground wires running from the back of the middle tone pot to the volume pot? just wondering...

and some of the wires i just can't see where they are coming from and or going too... i'm no expert but i was wondering why there is a red and white wire on the knife switch soldered to the same terminal?

 

[Geddy Lee]

Re: Strat is noisier after installing push/pull pot

I think the terminal being grounded is the correct one. Its the terminal closest to the top of the picture.

The contact looks ok to me but at first I had a hard time getting any solder to stick. I used some sandpaper on the pot and now the solder sticks pretty well. Im using a 25W iron (no trigger).

I didn't even notice the extra wire from the tone pot to the ground. That was left over from the original HSS wiring.