Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

[buzzing]

Edwards guitar with SD JB bridge and SD 59 neck, buzzes like there is no tomorrow, on high gain settings it is louder than the guitar playing. Even with clean and low input level i get some buzz.

Touching the strings makes no difference or instead of the typical decrease in buzz it increases the buzz, the only pieces of metal(and only thing) that reduces the buzz is holding the jack output or the pickup selector very firmly, which is where i believe all the grounds are, simply touching them won't do it. Touching the volume or tone knobs in the back cavity will decrease the buzz.

Electronics cavity https://i.imgur.com/quTENKS.jpg

Input jack https://i.imgur.com/0lhU5Gy.jpg

The sound of the buzz on high gain recorded with a smartphone mic: https://instaud.io/26R9
Turning the tone knob all the way down makes it a musical buzz(00:40).

Any help is very appreciated, the guitar got unplayable.

 

[buzzing]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

By the way what is that thin black wire that comes alone from a very small hole on the right side and soldered in the volume pot? That hole is in the direction of the guitar stop tail piece. Is it supposed to be a ground to the bridge? Touching/holding the bridge or stop tail does nothing.

 

[Blille]

Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

If there is an increase in buzz when you touch the strings it means they are not grounded. You ground them by grounding the bridge. The little wire you mention should go from the bridge to the pot where you ground and all those grounds to the output jack. Test running a wire (no need to solder) from the bridge to the pots to see if it stops the buzz. If it does then resolder the little wire between bridge and ground pot.

if not, report back [emoji4] the other issue I could think of is with the output jack.

Edit: I had a similar issue a couple of weeks back in case it’s helpful
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...om/forum/showthread.php?t=327858&share_type=t


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[buzzing]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

If there is an increase in buzz when you touch the strings it means they are not grounded. You ground them by grounding the bridge. The little wire you mention should go from the bridge to the pot where you ground and all those grounds to the output jack. Test running a wire (no need to solder) from the bridge to the pots to see if it stops the buzz. If it does then resolder the little wire between bridge and ground pot.

if not, report back [emoji4] the other issue I could think of is with the output jack.

Edit: I had a similar issue a couple of weeks back in case it’s helpful
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...om/forum/showthread.php?t=327858&share_type=t


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Thanks! I pressed a copper wire(energy cable) against the volume knob and touched the other end in stop tail piece and it reduced most of the buzz, not all but most. (same effect in a tone knob).

 

[Blille]

Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

Thanks! I pressed a copper wire(energy cable) against the volume knob and touched the other end in stop tail piece and it reduced most of the buzz, not all but most. (same effect in a tone knob).

Cool! It’s a bit annoying to have to remove the bridge but it feels like it will be worth it to resolder it to ground it properly.

Before you do though you may want to resolder the ground on the pot, it may just be a cold joint. If that doesn’t do it, I would encourage you to run a new wire between bridge and pot.

Sorry I didn’t ask before. You just rewired things or swapped pickups and it started happening or there were no issues before and it happened out of the blue?

 

[buzzing]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

Cool! It’s a bit annoying to have to remove the bridge but it feels like it will be worth it to resolder it to ground it properly.

Before you do though you may want to resolder the ground on the pot, it may just be a cold joint. If that doesn’t do it, I would encourage you to run a new wire between bridge and pot.

Sorry I didn’t ask before. You just rewired things or swapped pickups and it started happening or there were no issues before and it happened out of the blue?

It seems it happened out of the blue. this guitar is 12 years old already but saw very little playing and stayed most of those years in a wardrobe. Decided to play it after several years and realized it was impossible due to the massive buzz. It is a Les Paul copy, i don't know if it was soldered to the adjustable screw of the tailpiece or to that piece around it that does not move at all, or even the bridge itself but i have adjusted tailpiece height before and the bridge. At first it thought it was anything but the guitar, but it happens it is the guitar.

 

[Blille]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

It seems it happened out of the blue. this guitar is 12 years old already but saw very little playing and stayed most of those years in a wardrobe. Decided to play it after several years and realized it was impossible due to the massive buzz. It is a Les Paul copy, i don't know if it was soldered to the adjustable screw of the tailpiece or to that piece around it that does not move at all, or even the bridge itself but i have adjusted tailpiece height before and the bridge. At first it thought it was anything but the guitar, but it happens it is the guitar.

Cool. That makes sense. It may have lost contact for some reason then. Let us know if resoldering the bridge works for you.

And welcome to the forum BTW!

 

[buzzing]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

Cool. That makes sense. It may have lost contact for some reason then. Let us know if resoldering the bridge works for you.

And welcome to the forum BTW!

I removed the tailpiece screw from the stud the wire was supposed to be connected. Looked inside it with a flashlight, i was not able to see if it was soldered but the wire was there very well positioned as if it were soldered. I tried to remove the stud but as it was refusing to move 1mm up i placed the screw back in the stud all the way down, a creased towel over it, got a big hammer and hammered down all i could.(that happened to be just a few mm). The hammering reconnected the wire to the tailpiece. I did not restring the guitar yet, but running only one string thru the tail piece/bridge/tuner removed about 90% of the buzz volume. I believe after fully restringing it, plus the slight noise gate i already used to use for high gain the noise should be completely gone. But if you have any tip on getting rid of any remaining buzz tell me. Thanks for the help!

 

[Blille]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

I removed the tailpiece screw from the stud the wire was supposed to be connected. Looked inside it with a flashlight, i was not able to see if it was soldered but the wire was there very well positioned as if it were soldered. I tried to remove the stud but as it was refusing to move 1mm up i placed the screw back in the stud all the way down, a creased towel over it, got a big hammer and hammered down all i could.(that happened to be just a few mm). The hammering reconnected the wire to the tailpiece. I did not restring the guitar yet, but running only one string thru the tail piece/bridge/tuner removed about 90% of the buzz volume. I believe after fully restringing it, plus the slight noise gate i already used to use for high gain the noise should be completely gone. But if you have any tip on getting rid of any remaining buzz tell me. Thanks for the help!

Cool! No problem. I would think of the usual things like shielding, isolated power etc


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[buzzing]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

The irony, i still have a grounding problem. After restringing the guitar i realized i got about 90% buzz reduction i previously mentioned because i was touching the test string. The bridge is grounded but the guitar still depends of grounding to my body for this ~90% reduction, i get the reduction touching the tailpiece/bridge, strings or tuners. Another thing i noticed is that touching any metal thing in line with the guitar(i.e. a pedal) also reduces the noise but not by that much, before grounding the bridge it would not behave this way. Any ideas?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

You could try shielding and adding a ground wire to a screw mounted in the body. Last resort would be rewiring. Is this noisiness with gain? Cuz that will do it to you even with humbuckers.

 

[Blille]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

The irony, i still have a grounding problem. After restringing the guitar i realized i got about 90% buzz reduction i previously mentioned because i was touching the test string. The bridge is grounded but the guitar still depends of grounding to my body for this ~90% reduction, i get the reduction touching the tailpiece/bridge, strings or tuners. Another thing i noticed is that touching any metal thing in line with the guitar(i.e. a pedal) also reduces the noise but not by that much, before grounding the bridge it would not behave this way. Any ideas?

Oh man.

Just to confirm. Before you got more buzz when you touched the strings. Now you get less? That would mean the strings/bridge is grounded properly, so you got that down.

Next on my list would be the output jack, double checking the common ground from the pot is soldered properly to the jack.

Agree on the shielding tip. Now I would be more open to other sources for the noise. Does this happen with other guitars? Does it happen with this guitar when you’re plugged in somewhere else? With any cable?




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[buzzing]

Re: Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

Thanks for the tips. Don't know if it will get off topic but to report i tested direct recording via USB with a BOSS amp modeler: guitar -> audio cable -> boss device -> USB cable -> computer. No speakers.

The guitar after the bridge ground fix is actually completely noiseless. The issue is the guitar can't deal with my powered studio monitors for some reason. I have tested the monitors connected to the BOSS device or my audio interface and it results in the same buzz. A mic with pre amp level to the max produces no buzz using the same audio interface and monitors.

 

[Blille]

Super loud buzz, i believe i have a serious ground problem i can't identify.

Thanks for the tips. Don't know if it will get off topic but to report i tested direct recording via USB with a BOSS amp modeler: guitar -> audio cable -> boss device -> USB cable -> computer. No speakers.

The guitar after the bridge ground fix is actually completely noiseless. The issue is the guitar can't deal with my powered studio monitors for some reason. I have tested the monitors connected to the BOSS device or my audio interface and it results in the same buzz. A mic with pre amp level to the max produces no buzz using the same audio interface and monitors.

That's great!

I assume the studio monitors are fine otherwise when used and the guitar is not plugged in?

The noise is when you plug the guitar in or when you turn the Boss on? (No pun intended)


It may be a ground loop.

Can you try to plug everything in the same outlet or try different outlets?


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