GROUND ISSUES !!! Needed Help !

Dear all !!

Happy holidays! Need your help, comments and suggestions please.

I have finished my #80 Dog Dish resonator build yesterday. Unfortunately it is buzzing !! When I touch the dog dish (metal ) volume pot or strings it goes away.

Now with that all being said....this is not my first build. All my solder connections are clean and solid.

I'm using quality hardware parts, output jack, pickup and vol. pot ( 250k )

The bridge is grounded to the back of dog dish inside the box, and I have ran a ground wire from the dog dish to the output jack (-) post as well. From the negative post of the output jack I ran my wire to the back of pot which is clean and solid. From the pickup I ran the ground wire to the back of pot, clean and solid as well.

The pickup is a neck-single coil, 4.5k ohm output reading. Machine wound and sounds great too, with the exception of the darn BUZZZZZZINGGGG!!! DRIVING ME CRAZY !

What would be your suggestion?

Your help will be much appreciated sir

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS !

Have you ever played a single coil pickup before?

I have some strat copies which (compared to a humbucker) have a degree of hum because they don't have the extra reverse wound pickup coil to cancel the mains hum they pick up. I get around this by gently resting the side of my hand on the bridge as I play which gets rid of it. Being near electronics makes it worse so if you play your guitar sitting next to your working computer, the TV or near several electric lights try in a different location and see if it improves the hum.

Shielding helps too - even the cheapest eBay strat copy has some aluminium or copper tape covering the back of the pick guard through which the volume and tone pot shafts are pushed. Any part of the circuit where the ground and live wires run together can be twisted around each other to offer basic screening.

Also after getting by with the cheap black amp leads off eBay for many years I recently bought a decent amp lead and found the level of hum was significantly reduced in my noisiest guitars and removed completely from the better ones so +1 to this suggestion made by the other CBN members.

Good luck,

David L.

Replies

Lou LaManna December 22, 2018 at 12:32pm

I had the same problem once and it took me 2 weeks to figure it out. Turned out it was a coating on the underside of the bridge. Be sure to sand the places on your bridge and dog bowl in the spots you attach your ground wires. Also I would ground them to the back of the volume pot with everything else instead of to the jack. Hope this helps!
David L. December 20, 2018 at 7:10pm

Have you ever played a single coil pickup before?

I have some strat copies which (compared to a humbucker) have a degree of hum because they don't have the extra reverse wound pickup coil to cancel the mains hum they pick up. I get around this by gently resting the side of my hand on the bridge as I play which gets rid of it. Being near electronics makes it worse so if you play your guitar sitting next to your working computer, the TV or near several electric lights try in a different location and see if it improves the hum.

Shielding helps too - even the cheapest eBay strat copy has some aluminium or copper tape covering the back of the pick guard through which the volume and tone pot shafts are pushed. Any part of the circuit where the ground and live wires run together can be twisted around each other to offer basic screening.

Also after getting by with the cheap black amp leads off eBay for many years I recently bought a decent amp lead and found the level of hum was significantly reduced in my noisiest guitars and removed completely from the better ones so +1 to this suggestion made by the other CBN members.

Good luck,

David L.
- Roy > David L. December 22, 2018 at 9:43am
  
  Hello David, long time no hear brother!
  
  It's been awhile since we last spoke. And yes, I have used, played and installed many single coil pickups sir. This one happens to be a little more of pain that the others. I wound the pup from my sewing machine as a matter of fact. I put about 8,000 winds, with 4.71k ohm reading.
  
  And further examination to problem I discovered that I did not wrap the coil completely with pickup tape. I dipped the pup In wax to seal the coil. but only put a single wind of tape.
  
  going to shield with cotton string and more tape. not excessive though
  
  after further examination. I found that the pickup coil was not guarded or shielded with pickup tape that is normally wrapped. or coiled string wrapped as alternative
  
  thanks for responding and Merry Christmas!
  - David L. > Roy December 22, 2018 at 10:25pm
    
    Hi Roy,
    
    Merry Christmas to you too. It has been a while - good to see you are still building CBGs.
BrianQ. December 20, 2018 at 4:59pm

If your solder points are solid, then you shouldn’t have a problem? Something to take into consideration is the quality & physical shape of the output cable? It might need to be replaced or fixed? Broken or fractured wires at the bend points could be the culprit? Also lower quality cables end up producing a buzzing noise? If it’s a hum, it’s not the pickup, but the amp?
- Roy > BrianQ. December 22, 2018 at 9:37am
  
  Hello BrianQ
  
  after further examination. I found that the pickup coil was not guarded or shielded with pickup tape that is normally wrapped. or coiled string wrapped as alternative
  
  thanks for responding and Merry Christmas!
Taffy Evans December 20, 2018 at 4:06pm

Hi, I'm not a electronics whizz, but is it a buzz or a hum.

I would, check my lead
Check or change the power outlet to the amp
Not earth the pick up to the bowl, but the back of the pot same with bridge.

Good luck Taff
- Roy > Taffy Evans December 22, 2018 at 9:37am
  
  Thanks Taffy, after further examination. I found that the pickup coil was not guarded or shielded with pickup tape that is normally wrapped. or coiled string wrapped as alternative
  
  thanks for responding and Merry Christmas!

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