Hum / Buzz When Plugged Into Amplifier

Hello all!

After scanning the forum here obsessively for many months I have finally completed my first CGB!

Everything went well for the most part, it was a leaning process from start to finish. I have a few things I still need to work out to be completely done but for the most part it is playable…acoustically.

When I plug into my amp I get a loud hum / buzz that seems to drown out the strings. It goes away almost completely when I touch the cord going into the jack and it seems to go away a little bit when I touch the volume pot.

For my pickup I purchased the Disc-o-Tone from C.B. Gitty:

https://www.cbgitty.com/cubecart/c-b-gitty-disc-o-tone-piezo-pickup-harness-for-cigar-box-guitars-includes-how-to-guide.html

From reading the forum it seems like I have a grounding issue but I thought the the Disc-o-Tone kit was grounded out of the box and ready to go? I've attached an image of the pickup from C.B. Gitty's site. Also, I am using a threaded rod for both the bridge and nut.

I bought a Fender Mustang 1 v.2 to use with this guitar. The sound coming through the amp itself seems very distorted with the hum / buzz. When I plug my headphones into the amp I can still hear the hum / buzz but the sound coming from the guitar sounds much clearer.

I've never played a CBG before or really any guitar so any help you all could give me would be greatly appreciated.

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Replies

Mr.C June 22, 2013 at 12:39pm

My wife. Was right I'm a buzz kill
Ron "Oily" Sprague June 22, 2013 at 12:37pm

Yep, bad ground. Only places to look with that harness are the ground wire going from the vol pot to the jack, and the one going from the piezo to the vol pot. It's probable one or both of the solder joints is bad. Then there are the other alternatives: bad guitar lead cable, bad ground at the amp, bad ground at the wall socket. Once you get those sorted, then you could try running a ground from the metal bridge to the back, not the tab, on the vol pot. I doubt that's really necessary in this case, as the twisted pairs on the harness are cheap shielding, and the piezo works through vibration, not magnetic field.
- Kevin (Voodoo Rat) Hoelting > Ron "Oily" Sprague June 24, 2013 at 7:43am
  
  Just like there are "Monday Morning" cars, I'm sure there are MM harnesses. Somebody hadn't had their coffee and missed a solder joint. Don't forget to clean the grounding point on the peizo before you re-solder it.
darryl kernaghan June 22, 2013 at 8:26am

i,ve never had to earth to strings with a piezo,but it is a good place to start,other than that you might try reversing the polarity,by the pics that will be difficult at the disc,you,ll have to change it at jack
Mr.C June 22, 2013 at 8:04am

Try running wire from your jack to your string or bridge
Slowpaw Steve T June 22, 2013 at 3:12am

i have had little experience with piezos but there is little to go wrong with them, as yours came prewired the only thing i can think of is that yes, you have a serious earthing issue there or a short, the bridge should not need earthing...have you tried testing with another guitar lead, or tested the amp with another guitar, or tested on another amp? If ok go back to the guitar, disassemble and you might find a reason for the fault, if all else fails you could ask Ben for a replacement...

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