Weird Grounding Issue, All Guitars

Top-L

Well-known member
This is the age old issue where you have to touch the strings/bridge to avoid ground noise from guitar rig.

Touch the strings, the buzz goes away. Let go, the buzz returns.

It has been explained that the human body is generating the noise, and I can confirm this. When I move my right hand over the bridge pickup (not touching the guitar), the noise increases, when I pull it away, the noise decreases and goes away.

With my right hand hovering over the pickup, if I touch my left hand to the strings the noise goes away (good so far). BUT! If I touch my right hand to the strings, over the pickup, the noise persists. Its like grounding against the strings over the pickup is not any good. I am baffled by this. The strings are grounded to the bridge, it shouldn't matter where I touch the strings to make the buzz go away.

Furthermore, this noise is crazy inconsistent. Sometimes its annoying as hell, other times its not there. I think my body is receiving/transmitting to the guitar some EMI from the environment. Nothing in the house changes.

Would anyone care to hazard a guess why touching the strings over the pickup does not quiet the buzz?

Because my left hand is not in contact with the strings at all times, I think the only solution is to physically wire myself to the bridge of the guitar so I am always grounded to it.

Over 25 years, my playing technique has evolved to make sure one hand is always in contact with the guitar so there is no buzz. This is easy enough to do, but in my current environment, touching the strings with the right hand is not good enough. Baffled. Anyone ever see this?
 
Re: Weird Grounding Issue, All Guitars

Check your guitar jack, your amp jack and your cable.
 
Re: Weird Grounding Issue, All Guitars

The only time I've ever gotten that is when I have the strings off and the bridge isn't grounded. Early J basses used a strip of metal under the bridge and pickup to stop that from happening.

Don't know if it'll do anything but if it's that annoying you could try it and see if it helps.
Ground strip.jpg
 
Re: Weird Grounding Issue, All Guitars

Buy a cable tester. If it happens with all your guitars, that might be your cable. It might not be your cable either but if you have one you can use that to test.
 
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