Hello, Seymour Duncan Forum. My name is Nick. I am new here and this is my first post. My guitar setup has a serious buzzing issue that i have been casually trying for years to fix. I've done countless hours of research in attempt to learn and figure this out. I will do my best to include all vital information to paint the full picture of my unique circumstance.
-----Problem as it stands currently-----
Very obnoxious buzz/hum when on gain channel. Not present with guitar volume all the way down. With volume knob all the way up and tone all the way down, i can hear the underlying profile of the buzz, as soon as i crack open the tone knob it comes in full force and even more as the tone knob reaches ten. There is a separate, more subtle and normal hum that does lessen as i touch the bridge/strings/and other ground points, but the loud buzz on the surface of the noise does not change by touching grounds. However, there IS some change in intensity as i rotate the guitar around my room. You would think that would mean that it is simply EMI right? Well that's exactly why i just shielding my guitar, but there was zero reduction in noise. I've tried unplugging everything in my room (tv, lights, fan, etc.), no change, there isn't anything substantial on this circuit that i could think would cause such an annoying level of EMI, there must be something else going on here. Also, on VERY rare occasion, the buzz seems to disappear for a couple seconds at a time, but i don't know why. I've tried poking around in the electrical cavity to see if i can make it happen (like a loose connection or something), but nothing, it just seems random. Strange. I get a louder buzz when i touch the signal wires from the pickups on the switch, and the one going from the switch the volume pot, but obviously that will happen. I thought about replacing the wire from the switch to the volume pot with a shielded one, but it's only 2 inches long, and the electrical cavity is in a shielded Faraday cage anyways, i would think that would handle shielding any outside EMI, right? That just cant be the source of all this buzz. I'll try it if all else fails.
-----MY GEAR-----
Guitar: Ibanez RGA8 (8 string electric guitar) - Seymour Duncan Passive pickups (Nazgul bridge - Sentient neck)
Amp: B-52 LS-100 Tri-channel 100 watts RMS, plugged into an EbTech HumX, then into a wall outlet with proper ground/polarity
Cabinet: Kustom 4x12
Cables: Brand new Mogami Gold 10' instrument cable and 3' speaker cable from head to cab.
I just finished redoing the entire electrical setup on this guitar for the second time. The first time i did it was a few years ago. At that time, i removed the Active stock Ibanez pickups and the useless EQ switch, and added a no-load tone pot, Seymour Duncan passive pickups, and a Seymour Duncan Liberator 500k volume pot to aid in wiring everything up, mainly because that was my first time handling guitar electronics and it seemed to help make things easier. I was sure to do all my research and do my best to do it properly. I'm mechanically inclined so it wasn't too difficult. However, even though i was confident in my work, ever since the first time i plugged it in after that, there was much more noticeable buzz than there was before I made those changes. I was unsatisfied, but i didn't know how to fix it, so i left it, for years. Ugh. I even took it to a guitar shop to see if they could find anything, but they didn't. I'm not convince the guy REALLY took the time to diagnose thoroughly, instead just charged me for the bench time and sold me on an EbTech HumX, which did nothing for my noise :banghead:
Fast forward to recently. I'm finally fed up with the noise. I want a clean tone! Every electric guitarist is force to deal with a bit of noise, but from what i read and here in other peoples setups, mine seems excessive. I started by replacing the cables, spending the money to get quality ones, because i'm fed up, and because they are nice
Then, after that didn't work, i decide to do a BUNCH more research, and try rewiring again. I bought 2 brand new Bourns 500k audio taper pots to replace the Liberator and tone pot. I won't be changing pickups (unless these one are the issue ???) so i won't need the liberator, and i wanted to cross off all possibilities, and stick to the basics, keeping it as minimal and proper as possible. Also got some copper shielding tape w/ conductive glue and some new wiring. I started by removing everything, shielding under the pickups, in the main electrical cavity and in the output jack cavity, connecting them with sections of wire and solder, checking for continuity with a multi-meter. Then i wired up all the components, using this Seymour Duncan diagram as a reference:
The 3 way switch in this diagram is a different style, so I had to find a different resource to tell me how to wire that. Also, i moved the bridge ground and the output jack ground to the volume pot instead of the tone pot, in attempt to achieve more of a "Star Grounding" configuration, as per my research.
This is the wiring diagram I made illustrating my current wiring setup. I spent 2 hours making this from scratch in Paint, so please enjoy lol:
Picture of my setup:
More pics in another post
I have one theory that there is a ground loop going on between the electronics because the shielding is literally grounding everything together, kinda like this picture i found online:
I was wondering if maybe I pull on the tone pot and maybe the switch, and cut out the shielding underneath them so they are no longer grounded to the shield and therefore everything else, and then just add a ground jumper wire from those components to the volume pot, achieving more of a true star grounding configuration. But then I watch a video on youtube from DylanTalksTone where he basically says there is no such thing as a ground loop in a guitar because all points ground to one common ground (the output jack) and the star grounding is just a myth basically. He seems to be pretty confident in saying this, but it conflicts with other sources of information i've found of people talking about ground loops in guitars and how it introduces noise. I don't know who to believe. Something to add though, some guitars (like Stratocasters) have their electronics grounded similarly to the way mine are now, because they are all mounted to the metal shield behind the pick guard, just like mine are mounted to the copper shielding in the cavity. What's the difference? Why does my guitar buzz so badly???
I'm not sure what else i'm leaving out, but I hope this is enough info so that you guys could maybe give me your critiques/suggestions/ideas. If someone knows a way that i can upload my pictures, please share. Maybe i'll look for an image compressor and try that while i wait for some feedback. I'm at a loss. I usually enjoy figuring out this sort of stuff independently, but now i'm crying out for help from the experts and enthusiasts here. Thank you for your time.
EDIT: Figured out how to compress the photos, they are now uploaded.
-----Problem as it stands currently-----
Very obnoxious buzz/hum when on gain channel. Not present with guitar volume all the way down. With volume knob all the way up and tone all the way down, i can hear the underlying profile of the buzz, as soon as i crack open the tone knob it comes in full force and even more as the tone knob reaches ten. There is a separate, more subtle and normal hum that does lessen as i touch the bridge/strings/and other ground points, but the loud buzz on the surface of the noise does not change by touching grounds. However, there IS some change in intensity as i rotate the guitar around my room. You would think that would mean that it is simply EMI right? Well that's exactly why i just shielding my guitar, but there was zero reduction in noise. I've tried unplugging everything in my room (tv, lights, fan, etc.), no change, there isn't anything substantial on this circuit that i could think would cause such an annoying level of EMI, there must be something else going on here. Also, on VERY rare occasion, the buzz seems to disappear for a couple seconds at a time, but i don't know why. I've tried poking around in the electrical cavity to see if i can make it happen (like a loose connection or something), but nothing, it just seems random. Strange. I get a louder buzz when i touch the signal wires from the pickups on the switch, and the one going from the switch the volume pot, but obviously that will happen. I thought about replacing the wire from the switch to the volume pot with a shielded one, but it's only 2 inches long, and the electrical cavity is in a shielded Faraday cage anyways, i would think that would handle shielding any outside EMI, right? That just cant be the source of all this buzz. I'll try it if all else fails.
-----MY GEAR-----
Guitar: Ibanez RGA8 (8 string electric guitar) - Seymour Duncan Passive pickups (Nazgul bridge - Sentient neck)
Amp: B-52 LS-100 Tri-channel 100 watts RMS, plugged into an EbTech HumX, then into a wall outlet with proper ground/polarity
Cabinet: Kustom 4x12
Cables: Brand new Mogami Gold 10' instrument cable and 3' speaker cable from head to cab.
I just finished redoing the entire electrical setup on this guitar for the second time. The first time i did it was a few years ago. At that time, i removed the Active stock Ibanez pickups and the useless EQ switch, and added a no-load tone pot, Seymour Duncan passive pickups, and a Seymour Duncan Liberator 500k volume pot to aid in wiring everything up, mainly because that was my first time handling guitar electronics and it seemed to help make things easier. I was sure to do all my research and do my best to do it properly. I'm mechanically inclined so it wasn't too difficult. However, even though i was confident in my work, ever since the first time i plugged it in after that, there was much more noticeable buzz than there was before I made those changes. I was unsatisfied, but i didn't know how to fix it, so i left it, for years. Ugh. I even took it to a guitar shop to see if they could find anything, but they didn't. I'm not convince the guy REALLY took the time to diagnose thoroughly, instead just charged me for the bench time and sold me on an EbTech HumX, which did nothing for my noise :banghead:
Fast forward to recently. I'm finally fed up with the noise. I want a clean tone! Every electric guitarist is force to deal with a bit of noise, but from what i read and here in other peoples setups, mine seems excessive. I started by replacing the cables, spending the money to get quality ones, because i'm fed up, and because they are nice
Then, after that didn't work, i decide to do a BUNCH more research, and try rewiring again. I bought 2 brand new Bourns 500k audio taper pots to replace the Liberator and tone pot. I won't be changing pickups (unless these one are the issue ???) so i won't need the liberator, and i wanted to cross off all possibilities, and stick to the basics, keeping it as minimal and proper as possible. Also got some copper shielding tape w/ conductive glue and some new wiring. I started by removing everything, shielding under the pickups, in the main electrical cavity and in the output jack cavity, connecting them with sections of wire and solder, checking for continuity with a multi-meter. Then i wired up all the components, using this Seymour Duncan diagram as a reference:The 3 way switch in this diagram is a different style, so I had to find a different resource to tell me how to wire that. Also, i moved the bridge ground and the output jack ground to the volume pot instead of the tone pot, in attempt to achieve more of a "Star Grounding" configuration, as per my research.
This is the wiring diagram I made illustrating my current wiring setup. I spent 2 hours making this from scratch in Paint, so please enjoy lol:
Picture of my setup:
More pics in another post
I have one theory that there is a ground loop going on between the electronics because the shielding is literally grounding everything together, kinda like this picture i found online:
I was wondering if maybe I pull on the tone pot and maybe the switch, and cut out the shielding underneath them so they are no longer grounded to the shield and therefore everything else, and then just add a ground jumper wire from those components to the volume pot, achieving more of a true star grounding configuration. But then I watch a video on youtube from DylanTalksTone where he basically says there is no such thing as a ground loop in a guitar because all points ground to one common ground (the output jack) and the star grounding is just a myth basically. He seems to be pretty confident in saying this, but it conflicts with other sources of information i've found of people talking about ground loops in guitars and how it introduces noise. I don't know who to believe. Something to add though, some guitars (like Stratocasters) have their electronics grounded similarly to the way mine are now, because they are all mounted to the metal shield behind the pick guard, just like mine are mounted to the copper shielding in the cavity. What's the difference? Why does my guitar buzz so badly???
I'm not sure what else i'm leaving out, but I hope this is enough info so that you guys could maybe give me your critiques/suggestions/ideas. If someone knows a way that i can upload my pictures, please share. Maybe i'll look for an image compressor and try that while i wait for some feedback. I'm at a loss. I usually enjoy figuring out this sort of stuff independently, but now i'm crying out for help from the experts and enthusiasts here. Thank you for your time.
EDIT: Figured out how to compress the photos, they are now uploaded.
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