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Grounding pickups?

Posted by www.FullerCBG.com on July 22, 2013 at 4:38am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Hi Folks

Can anyone advise on how to ground my pickups?

Have them all wired up and playing fine but getting a slight buzz when not playing. If I touch the jack the buzzing stops so I figure I need to ground the pickup? Not sure of the best way to do this....is this something people have come across?

Cheers

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Replies

  • The Phrygian Kid July 22, 2013 at 8:46am
    If the buzz goes away when you touch the strings then you have already grounded everything correctly. What you have is what single coil pickups do. Turn it off when you're not playing it? :D

    If it really upsets you then what you want to look into is shielding.. Essentially wrapping as much of the circuit as you can in what's called a faraday cage, eg alum foil or copper tape. The cage needs to be earthed as well, and you need to take care that it doesn't short the hot side of your circuit anywhere.

    Ps oily you're sending him on a wild goose chase. His soldering is fine. That's why it works when he's playing it.
    • Ron "Oily" Sprague > The Phrygian Kid July 22, 2013 at 7:49pm
      Phryg,

      Not knowing where he's at on the techie scale, I didn't wanna overload him with faraday cages and such just yet. Which doesn't mean I think you're wrong; quite the contrary. And it may seem like a wild goose chase to you, but when doing long distance systematic fault analysis (otherwise known as the dreaded Help Desk call), it's standard practice, without knowing anything else, to start from square one (e.g., "Is the computer plugged in?"). Having been on both ends of such calls numerous times, checking the obvious can indeed be annoying, but it removes that part of the system from further question. See Eric's response for precisely why.
      • www.FullerCBG.com > Ron "Oily" Sprague July 28, 2013 at 10:28am

        hmmmm

        right Ive been trying to solve this to no avail.

        Is there a quick fix solution to stopping this buzz?  Ive tried connecting the output jack to the strings but this is difficult as I have a guitar neck that goes all the way through the box and out the back in a tail piece.

        • Bad Finger (Eric) > www.FullerCBG.com July 29, 2013 at 10:04am

          Does the buzz go away or change if you turn the volume pot all the way up?  Maybe post a video on this thread so we can get a handle on your personal interpretation of "slight buzz."  Might be totally normal.

        • jawbone > www.FullerCBG.com July 28, 2013 at 2:00pm

          If you want to try experimenting you could try a chunk of wire with alligator clips and try various locations.

    • www.FullerCBG.com > The Phrygian Kid July 22, 2013 at 9:21am

      cheers for the replies......the buzzing stops when i put my hand on the input jack?

      • The Phrygian Kid > www.FullerCBG.com July 22, 2013 at 11:44am
        The output jack is 'ground zero'.. Direct connection to the outside of the guitar cable. What you want to do is connect that to your strings. There's plenty of ways, a wire tunnelled up to a screw in the tailpiece , copper or alum tape along the back edge of the box where the strings contact.. You'll think of something. Goal is to get the same thing from touching any string that you're getting now from touching the jack there.
  • Ron "Oily" Sprague July 22, 2013 at 5:38am
    Gaff,

    Pics will help in diagnosis, as will explicit reference as to type of pickups. Piezo? Mag? Vol pot, or straight to jack? Metal saddle / bridge, or something else?
    • www.FullerCBG.com > Ron "Oily" Sprague July 22, 2013 at 5:46am

      Hey Ron

      I dont have a pic at the moment as in work but its basically the same as below i.e. single coil mag pick up with volume, tone and jack. I use a wooden bridge for the most part.A6762_2.jpg

      • Ron "Oily" Sprague > www.FullerCBG.com July 22, 2013 at 5:52am
        Ok, that looks recognizable. First thing, check all your solder joints, twice, especially the ground to the back of the vol pot. Then, check the ground to the jack. One at the jack may be cold or sli loose. Using a wooden bridge, there's no real way to ground the strings, but that doesn't sound like your prob. You can also twist the leads together for cheap noise reduction shielding to avoid unwanted hum from fluorescent lights, computers, and such. Also, make sure you are using a decent guitar cable; I find that sometimes, that's where the buzz problem is on my commercial gits. Good luck with the bug hunt!
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