Weird Tele Hum Issue

[redline144]

Hey all,
I tried searching here, but really don't know what to search for. So I have a Telecaster with a hot stack in the bridge and a Fender noiseless in the neck. Ever since I put this guitar together, my bridge has hummed like crazy. I had a Fender noiseless in the bridge originally and swapped for a hot stack thinking it'd be quieter, unfortunately not the case. Here's the weird thing. The neck pickup is totally silent, the bridge is louder than an old strat in an ungrounded house lit with fluorescent lights. Everything is grounded properly, we've tested with a multimeter, at least all the metal is grounded properly. I had an idea though this morning and want to get your input.

We swapped the black and green wires on the hot stack since it's a SD mixed with a Fender. When you do this, are you supposed to swap the bare wire as well? Meaning the bare and green would goto the switch and the black to the pot?

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

This sounds like a grounding or wiring problem. Is everything properly grounded? It should be dead silent. If you can post some clear pics of the guts we might be able to help. You can start by wiring the pickup directly to the output jack and see if it is still humming.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

the bare wire should always go to ground

 

[redline144]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

I do get a bit of hum with all my guitars in this particular room (old house), but this is ridiculous. I'll post a pic here in a bit for you guys. I have the guts shielded with copper as well, it's all reading correctly on the multimeter too. I'm stumped right now.

 

[loversmoon]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

I am unsure about the bare wire but I e read than when mixing pickups sometimes u have to reverse the wire so they work properly together. I'd try that and see what happens.
Not necessarily solder them but hold them in place that way and see if it helps.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

No matter what fancy scheme anyone uses, like Jeremy said, bare goes to ground. Always.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

I am unsure about the bare wire but I e read than when mixing pickups sometimes u have to reverse the wire so they work properly together. I'd try that and see what happens.
Not necessarily solder them but hold them in place that way and see if it helps.

that will only change the phase relationship of the two pups and wouldnt effect the bridge by itself

 

[Gibson 1964]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

With teles, the bridge is frequently grounded through the bridge pickup. adding a ground wire from the bridge to the ground will often fix hum problems. In your standard tele, the screws which contact the bridge go through a conductive baseplate which is grounded through the pickup bare wire. With most stacks, there is not a conductive baseplate, so in many cases you have ungrounded the bridge.

It is an easy fix. Remove the bridge, drill an angled hole between the wood under the bridge and the pickup cavity. Put one end where the bridge will be over the wire and held in contact by the wood. solder other end to ground.

Your bridge would now be grounded.

 

[loversmoon]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

True what above says. You def need one from the bridge

 

[redline144]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

I meant to write back yesterday about this, but got tied up with work. So I unsoldered the bare wire just as a test, it didn't matter if it was connected or not, still same hum.

I actually have a wire running from under the bridge to the ground already. It's such a strange issue going on. Maybe it's not making as good of contact as it should, not sure. I'm going to take the strings off and try a new ground wire.

Could the switch be causing this? I've literally all the electronics except the switch. If so, is there anyway to test?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

My guess is that it isn't the switch, but a faulty ground somewhere. If the switch wasn't changed, and everything else was, it probably has something to do with what had changed. You can check the bridge pickup by wiring it directly to the jack and see if it hums.

 

[redline144]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

Oh good call, didn't even think of wiring it direct, good call!!

 

[redline144]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

OK all, update time. I wired the PU directly to the jack. The only hum I got was the typical hum I get in my house from crappy grounding. That being said, here's wiring pictures with explanations. Excuse the relatively ugly soldering jobs, my tech and I have been experimenting a good bit with it.

 

[redline144]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

Hey All,
Bought new pots last night and a 4-way switch. Going to try that mod and re-wire everything. I have a new question though. I know you're supposed to swap the ground and hot if using Fender pickups. Do I swap the ground on the Duncan or the Fender since the cover of the tele is now grounded separately with the 4 way mod? See the diagram below...

 

[Mincer]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

If the cover is grounded separately, just switch the hot and ground on the Fender pickup. The cover should still be grounded no matter what the other 2 wires are doing.

 

[redline144]

Re: Weird Tele Hum Issue

If the cover is grounded separately, just switch the hot and ground on the Fender pickup. The cover should still be grounded no matter what the other 2 wires are doing.

That's what I thought, just wanted to make sure. I'll update you guys on the progress tonight and if there's still a bunch of hum!