Suddendly noisy guitar ??

[Thames]

What would produce this suddend noise? I mean a friend called me yesterday "hey, strange, I get this kind of grounding noise that disappear when I touch the strings!"..


What would be the culprit ? I never had such "sudden" noise with my guitars. BTW, he tried different amplifiers.

 

[NathanCahill]

Re: Suddendly noisy guitar ??

If it goes away when he touches the strings. Most likely a grounding issue. I recall something about RP single coils having this prob on some guitars PM LEW. As for it just showing up wire could have just recently come loose etc. At the moment I want to say bridge ground but I'm not sure.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Suddendly noisy guitar ??

Definitely check the grounding; also, make sure everything is soldered tight. In the past, I used to solder without getting it hot enough to really mold together and it resulted in cold solder joints that, while working, were noisy. Rewiring top to bottom making sure I could tug hard without anything coming undone ensured that I had done a good job.

If the guitar is stock, make sure whoever did the wiring did a solid job. It sounds stupid, but I've seen some retarded soldering on my G&L and some bridge ground wires should have been in a completely different area :smack: It's now very silent.

 

[Thames]

Re: Suddendly noisy guitar ??

Well I know his guitar is a cheap (read "cheaply" made instrument somehwere in Orient (GK brand... you see?!) Basically a Les Paul copy. I changed the bridge HB for a DD a while ago, and suddendly he has this hum. Usually, my soldering is rather good, Ive built/modified lots of gear over the years, anyway we'll have to check this out, I havent seen the guitar yet.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Suddendly noisy guitar ??

It sounds like either a dry solder joint, and a ground wire has come unattached, (hard to tell without actually seeing/hearing the problem) or that a volume or tone knob was turned too hard, and the pot moved, and tugged a wire loose.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Suddendly noisy guitar ??

Pots can also go bad and cause this issue and unfortunately it's not a problem you can meter. If all else fails, change the pots. I've seen this on a few guitars over the last couple of years. After checking the grounds and wiring and if you still can't find the problem try hard wiring the bridge pickup directly to the output jack along with the string ground. If that cures the problem change out the pots.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Suddendly noisy guitar ??

Wow, funny guys mention that, b4 i got new pickups my guitar was grounding to my hand, every time i let off the strings it was noisey and when i touched anything metal on the guitar it poped then sounded right.