Whats wrong with this picture?

G

guitarist6614

New member
I just had a set of 3 fender noiseless pickups put together by a local guitar tech. For some reason when I let off of the strings there is this weird buzzing noise coming from my amp that goes away once I put my fingers back on the strings. I took it to the guitar tech and he told me it was my amp. Does it look like he installed them correctly? or is it really my amp?

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Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

Even with most noiseless pickups there is some of that.

Both the Lace Sensors in my Clapton Strat and the Lace Holy Grails in my MIM Strat do that. When i had EMG's in my Telecaster they did it as well.

All three axes had pickups installed from different locations, the factory, a pre-rigged guard and myself, in that order.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

Skarey's right. Take your hands off the strings (or anything attached to them) and your guitar is gonna buzz.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

Thanks for your help guys! My 1964 fender mustang does it and so does my mexican but for some weird reason the fender with the noiseless pickups does it the most. I thought maybe the guitar tech wired it all wrong. Can anyone confirm the wireing job based on the pictures?
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

Keep in mind, if you touch the strings, and the noise stops, the guitar must be grounded correctly for it to shunt the noise to ground. Your body is 3/4 water, which picks up and conducts RF noise easily. You hold the guitar next to your body.

The theory goes something like that.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

if you could take a photo where the pots wiring it will look clear, maybe we could tell you more... for now, check if the 2 leads of the output jack are wired correctly (+/-)
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

But what doesn't make sense to me is that my mexican strat with stock pickups doesn't buzz half as loud as my american strat with noiseless pickups. And my dean evo with humbuckers doesn't buzz at all? I'm so confused.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

Single Coil = Hum (buzz)
Humbucker = Hum is bucked

Does it hums in the 2 and 4 positions too?
BTW, the stronger the pickup the louder the hum.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

To me hum and buzz are two different things though. Humming wont go away when you touch the strings and buzzing will. Plus they seem to be separate noises. There are no hum in these pickups just a buzzing that goes away once i touch the strings.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

you have a shielding or grounding problem, check the wire that grounds the bridge, some techs forget to attach it to the bridge/tremelo spring claw in the back.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

yeah, the wiring looks okay. i have lace sensors in my strat and they used to still make a little noise. the only way i could get rid of it was to paint the cavity with a few coats of shielding paint and then star ground the sucker. now it truly is noiseless

however, it is odd that your noiseless pups make more noise than your MIM standard pups. make sure the bridge ground is in there properly
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

All amps will have a degree of hum or hiss when the gain is cranked up, it's the nature of the beast. Bad source electricity can cause your humbucker loaded guitars to act like an antenna and the noise will change depending on your guitars physical orientation to the amp, simular to how true single coils act near an amp.

If your guitar makes noise that disappears when you touch your strings or one of the exposed mounting screws that touch a grounded component. Tt is still a ground type of issue. I often see this happen after pots or switches have been over heated but sometimes you get a noisey pot straight from the factory.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to check for a noisey component. Usually when I receive a guitar that has this issue and I have ruled out faulty wiring and bad solder joints I will replace all the pots and any inline plastic import switches (very easy to over heat) and that normally cures the issue.

If you really like soldering you can use the process of elimination. Connect a single pickup to directly to your output jack and connect the string ground directly to the jack as well. At this point you should have no hum. Add one component at a time until the hum returns and then you'll know which component is bad. Doing this is a pain in the butt because of all the soldering involved but it does work.

I prefer to spend the $20 or so up front and just replace the components instead of spending the bench hours trouble shooting but for some folks spending an hour or two soldering is worth saving the money on the pots that don't need replacing.
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

Ok now im confused. Some people are proposing that a buzz is the nature of the guitar and is supposed to be there. Some other people are saying that its a grounding issue?
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

Nothing confusing. Even if the guitar is perfectly correct if you crank up the gain all the way and you have your guitar in front of your monitor then you'll have buzzing/hissing/you name it. That is the nature of the guitar.

If however you are at the clean channel and you have a humming that goes away when you touch the guitar then chances are you have a shielding problem.

Robert S. got it all summed up pretty well :)
 
Re: Whats wrong with this picture?

It sounds like a shielding problem to me. A Strat only shields the underside of the pickguard, giving the nasty hum all kinds of access to your circuitry. I've always shielded the body cavity as well. WD sells an 8X12 sheet of sticky backed copper foil. Find a pair of scissors you don't mind destroying and cut the foil to fit the floor and sides of the body cavity. Make sure to put a drop of solder on the seams to connect any pieces that overlap, as the sticky stuff is a better insulator than a conductor. Solder a ground wire from the back of the volume pot to the foil to insure that the new shield is properly grounded.
 
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