Hello friends! I have finished my newest build, but am running into grounding issues. It's a basic setup with vol and tone pots with a hot wound (12 ohm) humbucker in the neck position. I have resoldered it three times using two different jacks and three different pots. I grounded the strings through the tailpiece. when I distort the guitar I get a buzz, but not when I turn the tone pot all the way down and the vol pot all the way up? wierd. the buzz also goes away when I touch the strings, tailpiece, jackplate,cord or bare pots. It is an obvious ground problem. I have wired this same set up in four other guitars without ever having this issue. could it have something to do with the jackplate? it's the first time i have used one, but I am fairly certain that it should't be the problem. Maybee by placing such a hot wound humbucker in the neck position and close to the controls could have something to do with it? The only thing I have not done is enclosing and sheilding the controls which I have never had to do before. keep in mind that if I run it through a clean channel everthing works great. Any ideas?
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Hi Bucky,
This is a very common issue with any electric--you are NOT alone!
First off, you really should have all grounds wired from the volume pot--there is enough space. The leads don't have to be stacked on top of each other, just anywhere on the flat surface of the pot.
Next, and this is usually overlooked. Did you ground the guitar to itself? You need to drill a small screw into the inside of your CBG somewhere. Solder another ground wire from the pot to that.
Also, since you can't shield the inside of the box in a practical manner, shield your wiring and controls.
Get a piece of copper foil and cover your harness.
are the grounds supposed to be from the same spot on the pot? I find it difficult to ground all of the wires from one point and still make sure that a solid soldering has taken place. what causes a ground loop?
Roosterman said:
How frustrating! Iv just had exactly the same issue.... right down to the tone pot cancelling the buzz!
I swapped the pots, the cap, the jack, the pup, the wires... all to no avail.
I heard that cheaper jack sockets sometimes suffer from a bad earth between the inner ring and the lug (they sometimes dont get crimped together properly). Did the 2 jacks come from the same batch?
As another idea, are all your grounds from the same point eg the back of the pot? It is possible to create a ground loop which could give you some buzz....
As of yet I havnt been able to resolve my issue, but have some good quality pots and jacks on order, so Il let you know the outcome.
all of the grounds grounded at different points on the back of the volume pot. As far as the wiring itself the hots are in the correct spots and the different jacks and pots I tried are not from the same batch at all. if you look at the wiring diagram on guitarelectrnics.com for 1 humbuucke/1vol/1tone this is how I have this wired . I have wired this setup many times and also with the inclusion of push/pull pots for coil splitting with no issues. if foil tape could work, why not just a strip of regular old aluminum foil?
I have this same problem on different leads and a different amp. It may just be the gain vs. impedence of the new pup, it a artec twin blade humbucker (single coil sized humbucker designd for strats). I have wired this same pickup before with a push/pull pot for humbucker/single coil with no problems, that time the pickup was in the bridge position .
How frustrating!
Iv just had exactly the same issue.... right down to the tone pot cancelling the buzz!
I swapped the pots, the cap, the jack, the pup, the wires... all to no avail.
I heard that cheaper jack sockets sometimes suffer from a bad earth between the inner ring and the lug (they sometimes dont get crimped together properly). Did the 2 jacks come from the same batch?
As another idea, are all your grounds from the same point eg the back of the pot? It is possible to create a ground loop which could give you some buzz....
As of yet I havnt been able to resolve my issue, but have some good quality pots and jacks on order, so Il let you know the outcome.
Simples first.
First off, try a different guitar lead to your amp - just in case the one you are using has a problem.
Expect problems like this to show up on a distortion channel as it has more gain than a clean channel.
Without seeing a wiring diagram and photos, it is difficult to diagnose remotely but it does sound like a possible ground problem somewhere. Re-check that the Jackplate, pots and tail-piece are all electrically connected together.
From the way you describe the controls affecting the hum, it sounds like your volume pot is wired strangely - you should have pickup to the 'hot' side and the centre contact to the 'hot' contact on the jack.
It might be just simple hum pickup due to the gain of the channel and impedance of your new pickup. Even partial shielding should help reduce it quite a bit. Try adhesive aluminium tape in one continuous band under where the jack and control mount, stuck to the inside of the box. Imperfect but often effective.
Replies
This is a very common issue with any electric--you are NOT alone!
First off, you really should have all grounds wired from the volume pot--there is enough space. The leads don't have to be stacked on top of each other, just anywhere on the flat surface of the pot.
Next, and this is usually overlooked. Did you ground the guitar to itself? You need to drill a small screw into the inside of your CBG somewhere. Solder another ground wire from the pot to that.
Also, since you can't shield the inside of the box in a practical manner, shield your wiring and controls.
Get a piece of copper foil and cover your harness.
Those tricks "should" do the trick.
Roosterman said:
I have this same problem on different leads and a different amp. It may just be the gain vs. impedence of the new pup, it a artec twin blade humbucker (single coil sized humbucker designd for strats). I have wired this same pickup before with a push/pull pot for humbucker/single coil with no problems, that time the pickup was in the bridge position .
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD1H11_00/Guitar_Wiring_Di...
Iv just had exactly the same issue.... right down to the tone pot cancelling the buzz!
I swapped the pots, the cap, the jack, the pup, the wires... all to no avail.
I heard that cheaper jack sockets sometimes suffer from a bad earth between the inner ring and the lug (they sometimes dont get crimped together properly). Did the 2 jacks come from the same batch?
As another idea, are all your grounds from the same point eg the back of the pot? It is possible to create a ground loop which could give you some buzz....
As of yet I havnt been able to resolve my issue, but have some good quality pots and jacks on order, so Il let you know the outcome.
First off, try a different guitar lead to your amp - just in case the one you are using has a problem.
Expect problems like this to show up on a distortion channel as it has more gain than a clean channel.
Without seeing a wiring diagram and photos, it is difficult to diagnose remotely but it does sound like a possible ground problem somewhere. Re-check that the Jackplate, pots and tail-piece are all electrically connected together.
From the way you describe the controls affecting the hum, it sounds like your volume pot is wired strangely - you should have pickup to the 'hot' side and the centre contact to the 'hot' contact on the jack.
It might be just simple hum pickup due to the gain of the channel and impedance of your new pickup. Even partial shielding should help reduce it quite a bit. Try adhesive aluminium tape in one continuous band under where the jack and control mount, stuck to the inside of the box. Imperfect but often effective.