** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

TwilightOdyssey

TwilightOdyssey

Darkness on the edge of Tone
Hi all,

I just wired up my guitar according to the diagram below, generously provided by Artie_Too.

My symptom is, I'm sure, a common one, and I'm sure I'm probably overlooking something really basic here, but I'm totally lost at the moment.

I am getting the most horrific hum from both the humbucker and single coil pups until I physically touch either the control pot, the metal jacket to the guitar cord, or the claw screws to the tremolo.

FYI: The bridge pup is a 2 conductor humbucker (BK Miracle Man), with a braded shield. The neck pup is a 2 conductor single coil (BK Irish Tour). I have all of the cables grounded to the left lug of the volume control/push-pull pot, just as the drawing indicates. I also have that lug grounded to the bottom of the trem's spring plate.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!

simple_switch.jpg


Thanx in advance! :)
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

Maybe you switched the wires to the jack???
 
Last edited:
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

I tried it both ways, just to make sure that mistake hadn't been made ... same result! :evil:
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

do you need to ground the pot to itself as well??? I'm pretty sure I needed to do this last time.... probably need someone to veify that...
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

diggamark said:
do you need to ground the pot to itself as well??? I'm pretty sure I needed to do this last time.... probably need someone to veify that...
Click to expand...
I will try that now ...
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

take what i say w/ a grain a salt, cuz I suck at this ****, but, did you bend the left lug of the pot, to the bottom of the pot itself???
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

seafoamer said:
take what i say w/ a grain a salt, cuz I suck at this ****, but, did you bend the left lug of the pot, to the bottom of the pot itself???
Click to expand...
No ... but I can; or I can run a piece of wire from the log to the pot itself. I shall try this next. Thanx!
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

Aren't u supposed to ground that braided wire too???
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

you grounded everything to the left lug of the pot???? HUH?? are you sure that's right, i've never seen that before. all your grounds should be going to the bottom of the pot...in your case below the "cube" that sits below the pot for the push pull section of it. it should be metal there (it is on my push pull in my schecter) and everything gets grounded there...including the tremolo spring claw (that's a must!!)

-Mike
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

look at the bottom of the pot, from the back of the guitar, with the adjustable part of the pot that the knob attaches to facing the floor, if the lugs are facing downwards, towards you, from left to right, I view it like this: In, Out, Ground.

Pickup or switch output goes to the pot's in, the pots out goes to the jack. The ground goes to the strings.

Try the pickups in another guitar to make sure it isnt them, or unhook the pickups and see if it still happens.
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

Hey TO; Just noticed this thread. I double-checked that drawing, and it's ok. Sometimes these "hum" problems can be difficult to chase down.

I'm no expert on this, but here's a couple things to check-out.

1. The fact that the hum stops when you touch the strings means that the grounds are probably ok.

2. Does the volume control work as normal when you turn it? Does the pickup produce sound, and does the hum decrease with turning the volume down? Those things will tell you that the wiring is ok, and that the pickups are simply picking up the noise from the air.

3. Set the guitar down on a stand or something, and move away from it. Does the hum diminish? That would tell you that its you coupling the noise to the guitar.

4. Lastly, you might try installing a "dummy" tone control. Like this:

simple_switch.png


That simulates a tone control on "10". Pick any value for the cap. .01uf would work well also. Those colors aren't necessarily correct for a 500k resistor. Just use a 250k or a 500k depending on which value pot you want to simulate. The RC network may help to diminish the hum. Maybe not.

Good luck. Wish I could give a more definitive answer.

Artie

Edit: Now the colors on the resistor are correct. :)
 
Last edited:
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

Thanx for the input, guys; and thanx for the additional diagram, Artie!!

I think I have it figured out. Before I left for work this morning, I stripped a small piece of wire and touched the ground lug to the side of the pot and the hum stopped dead.

So, I'm hoping that when I get home tonight all I'll have to do is solder it in place and the hum will be gone.

This is the 1st time I've soldered in something like this ... I should've tried this before panicking and posting a thread! D'oh! :smack:

I will keep y'all posted! :D

Thanx again!!
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

Update:

Okay, by connecting the ground lug to the pot, I was able to eliminate 90% of the hum ... good deal!

However, when I touch the braid to the humbucker, or the metal sheath to the cable, the hum still totally goes away.

Soooo, I know I'm missing some additional grounding. Any further ideas?
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

ArtieToo said:
1. The fact that the hum stops when you touch the strings means that the grounds are probably ok.
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree. :)

2. Does the volume control work as normal when you turn it? Does the pickup produce sound, and does the hum decrease with turning the volume down? Those things will tell you that the wiring is ok, and that the pickups are simply picking up the noise from the air.
Click to expand...
Yes, the volume control seems to be working the way it's supposed to.

3. Set the guitar down on a stand or something, and move away from it. Does the hum diminish? That would tell you that its you coupling the noise to the guitar.
Click to expand...
Yes, I think this is definitely the case. I'm missing one extra step of grounding. Where? Dunno ... :evil:
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

TwilightOdyssey said:
I'm missing one extra step of grounding. Where? Dunno ... :evil:
Click to expand...
Perhaps you should run a ground wire from your belt buckle to the back of the volume pot :smack:

(Sorry... I'm trying not to think about being pissed about missing UGD :) )
 
Re: ** WIRING ASSISTANCE NEEDED** (Pic incl.)

Can u run a ground wire off of what ever that switchy thing is attached to u'r pot?

Also did you shield the gtrs p-up cavities?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
CS Stag Mag wiring diagram
Replies
2
Views
259
Jerzey2222
J
L
Help with Washburn N24 wiring
Replies
6
Views
679
ledvedder
L
greypilgrim76
HSS Wiring Questions in Fender MP Telecaster
Replies
3
Views
842
greypilgrim76
greypilgrim76
P
Wiring suggestion needed
Replies
2
Views
621
BriGuy1968
BriGuy1968
DrNewcenstein
Stoopid wiring question
Replies
10
Views
2K
DrNewcenstein
DrNewcenstein
Back
Top