Ground Control to Major TOM
I’m still editing together the epic electronics replacement and soldering series of videos. Nearly done! Meanwhile, here’s a really short video on how to diagnose and fix ground connection problems in your guitar.
I’m still editing together the epic electronics replacement and soldering series of videos. Nearly done! Meanwhile, here’s a really short video on how to diagnose and fix ground connection problems in your guitar.
tommy
December 9, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
This is a cool site and very helpful to a lot of guitarists also. I have a question if i may ask it. I just bought a new ibanez gax70 and after i finish playing distortion i hear a aggravating hum and the only way i can stop it is to touch the jack then it is normal. Has anybody else ever had this problem before? Thanks and have a great day everybody.
John
December 9, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
That’s a nice looking guitar. But an odd problem! 🙂
Need to ask some questions about your symptoms – you say it starts humming after playing distortion (no hum before you play?) and then it goes away when you touch the jack (how about then after you let go of the jack again?)
– You only hear the hum when playing distorted? How about on a clean channel, turned up really loud? (Distortion may be gaining up a hum that is always there)
– What is doing the distortion? Is is perhaps a multi-effects unit or amp with a noise gate or noise suppressor in it?
-John
tommy
December 9, 2009 @ 2:56 pm
well i don’t have a effects pedal at this time so i just play through the half stack. when it is on clean you hear nothing but when you hit distortion and stop playing and leave it on distortion you hear the hum. i have another gsx70 also and i hokked that one up and you dont hear the hum at all on that one.
John
December 9, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
Could it be that the extra gain on your amp’s distorted channel is causing your pickups to go microphonic…? I guess not – since I’d describe that sound as more of a squeal than a hum.
– Can you describe the hum? (Or better yet, make a recording of it?)
– Does the sound change as you move around?
Also my other two questions:
– there’s no hum before you start playing, but after you stop playing, you hear it?
– it goes away when you touch the jack, but what happens then when you stop touching the jack?
– you said your other guitar is a gsx70- did you mean another gax70 – the identical guitar with the same pickups? if so, that would probably rule out things like pickups, etc.
hmm
tommy
December 9, 2009 @ 3:19 pm
yes my other guitar is also a gax70. when i stop touching the jack the hum comes back. and the new gax70 i just got has a little different style pickups. i know this sounds weird without hearing it but i have no way of recording it at this time. i have a boss noise supressor buti was hoping to fix it without having to use it being that my older gax70 does’nt make any noise at all.
tommy
December 9, 2009 @ 3:23 pm
well my older gax has different pickups but being that when i touch the jack on the new gutiar it looks like to me it has something to do with the jack or maybe a loose ground perhaps…
tommy
December 9, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
i have a behringer v-tone head.
John
December 9, 2009 @ 3:47 pm
I’m thinking you have a loose ground wire. Your v-tone head may be tweaking the hum if its expander is engaged. Double-check that all effects are bypassed on the head. An expander with a fast attack and slow delay could be reducing the hum before you play, and revealing the hum afterwards.
If you have a multi-meter, double check that you have a good connection between all metal parts on the guitar and the jack shield.
-John
tommy
December 9, 2009 @ 4:52 pm
well the weird thing is it only hums with the new guitar not the old one and i had a guitar shop check all the wiring in it and he said nothing was wrong with it….this guitar sucks big time..i know anything can be fixed but i’m not so sure about this one..it makes me wont to stop playing all around and find a new hobby…
tommy
December 9, 2009 @ 9:29 pm
i found the problem…somehow a ground was tied in to where i could’nt see it until i moved a few wires around so now all i need to do is make sure i clean the surface good and solder it good. i figured it was something simple…anyway thanks for all the advice on this problem and i’ll follow up tommorrow once i get the wire in place…
John
December 9, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
Great! Glad to hear it.
Charles
February 9, 2010 @ 4:31 pm
Hi John, thank for your very instructive video on guitar wiring, potentiometer test and other. I’m actually confuse because I have all the noise problem that you show in your video + increase noise because of halogen lamp in my practice room (playing in the dark actually help to decrease this noise!). On the other hand, when I look for connectivity between various part (not to say all) I have a perfectly grounded guitar. The multimeter put on the strings key’s and on the metal part of the output jack is good. I don’t know what to think! Maybe desolder everything, start over and add some shielding in the cavity of my GODIN guitar (nice guitar from Quebec). Any suggestion? Oh I forgot. The problem is new and came after replacing my volume knob.
John
February 9, 2010 @ 4:56 pm
Hi Charles,
I was about to say “Yes, it must be a shielding problem”, until you said that this is a NEW problem with your new volume knob, and didn’t happen before that.
In that case, there MUST be a problem with the wiring of the new volume pot. Are you sure you wired it up identically to before? Same exact wire topology, same wire, etc? Is it possible that you wired up the new volume pot ground differently from before and introduced a ground loop?
-John
Charles
February 10, 2010 @ 4:19 pm
Hi John, fast answer! Thank you. I rewired the pot exactly has before (really) double,triple check even more! So, today I decided to shield every possible part of my guitar while testing with the multimeter the connectivity. At the same time, I had to desolder-resolder everything for the shielding and I therefore check connectivity after each resoldering step. Ouf! lots of work. Result: I’d say about 10% noise reduction (my shielding can’t be done under the pickup without being apparent so I can’t do this part).
The noise become more important when I crank the amp volume up a notch or two and when my room halogen lamp is on. Again, when I touch the metal part on my guitar the buzz increase or decrease depending on where I touch it. I really feel that it’s a pickup problem but I don’t really know.
About the ground loop hypothesis. I think I’m ok. My volume pot work has a Hub for ground. The ground come from 1) the tone, 2) the switch (I have grounded the metal part of the switch even do It was not made to be ground at first) 3) the tremolo bar, 4) the new ”home made” shield is connected true the switch which then go to the volume pot. 5) three pickup grounded twice again on the volume pot: one for the ”pickup shield” and one for the ”pickup ground”. My pickup are humbucker (four wire + shield ground). The bridge is a hotrails from seymour duncan and the neck and middle are ”godin” alias Schaller pickup.
All these ground unified on the pot knob are redirected out to the output jack. I did make sure (with a multimeter) not to inverse the connection there to! I even verify If my home wiring (were I connect the amp) was grounded and it is.
Does Overheating a pot can do that?
My hotrails pickup don’t SEEM to be waxed or potted they say? 100$ from this compagny I doubt they haven’t think about that!
I’m out of idea!
-Charles
PS, sorry for my english, I speak french
Carrie
May 18, 2010 @ 5:24 pm
I have a Yamaha Acoustic Electric – long story short- I’ve been working on it and I don’t usually plug into an amp much- but since I had been working on the saddle – i wanted to make sure the pick up is still working… so I plugged it in to my sister’s crate amp – and when I turned up the volume on the guitar (pre-amp) and then the volume on the crate amp- I could hear the guitar strings – (they work) but there is this horrible buzz which was only relieved when I put my hand around the cord on my guitar’s output jack… Any suggestions? I appreciate any help. Thanks
John
May 25, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
Since you have an active preamp in there, it could be a number of things. Did you try a fresh battery? It could also be a missing or broken ground wire somewhere, as I demonstrate in the video.
Eddie
June 3, 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Hey I have a question….I have been soldering my guitars for 8 years and never had this before….I broke my volume knob and replaced it the other day…Ever since my guitar has had a horrible hum that is very present in the dist. channel…on top of that it has made my amp very noisey sounding too when I have it plugged in…always some degree of noise but mainly when the volume pot is up all the way. Bad Hum. I tryed resoldering it like 6 times and the last time I redid the whole guitar. Not sure what the problem could be but I really need help with this one…could it be that because my soldering Iron tip is so old and dis-colored that it caused a cold solder joint? Also I noticed the solder isn’t really shinny…it’s kinda dull. I am hoping a new tip on the iron will fix this right up…haha…please help
~Thanks
Eddie
June 3, 2010 @ 2:44 pm
Oh i should probly also mention that I have an Ibanez 7620 with a Dimarzio D-sonic 7, with a Dimarzio EP1111 3 way switch in the guitar… No problems out of that at all…it’s wired like a JP7 Musicman. There was a cap on the old volume knob..but I assumed it was for treble responsiveness with changeing the volume amount on the instrument..Like a .22 or something. The Hum also does NOT change by letting go of the strings or touching them….so I’m more baffled…which is why I was thinking cold solder joint
John
June 3, 2010 @ 5:25 pm
I don’t think a cold solder joint will cause hum like this- it’ll just make the connection more likely to break.
Assuming everything else was working fine, and it started sounding bad when you replaced the pot – I’d think you either made a wiring mistake, or the pot is wrong/bad somehow. Do you have another pot you can swap in to try?
Does the new volume pot work at all for volume control? The cap on the old volume pot was probably for treble bleed and can be left off.
Like I mention in my FAQ, using alligator clips to test and isolate issues like this (before soldering) can be a big help. I know you’ve already resoldered the whole thing, but you may need to start taking it apart again to isolate the problem…
Hope this helps.
John
eddie
June 3, 2010 @ 8:43 pm
Hey John…yes, I will be tomorrow attempting a new pot. I did wire it exactly the same as it was before…Tryed putting the broke jack back in just to see if it made the noise and of coarse it did. haha. But everything funtions completely normal…volume works great and everything…just the noise…I am gonna also attempt a new soldering iron tip tomorrow with the new pot. Thanks for the reply and I’ll let you know what the deal is if it fixes it.
Kiddakidda
June 23, 2010 @ 2:20 pm
Hi John,
After months of waiting for parts I have finally upgraded pots,cap, Jack etc in pretty much the exact way as yourself on my Riviera. I have got to the end and I have some kind of very slight ground fault. I have also changed the neck pick up for a Heywood Pickups 8.5k to hopefully give it a bit of a clearer sound at the neck. I think I should point out is the new pickup has a ground for the pickup cover which I have no idea what to do with??
I have tried it in different locations and the fault is still there.I have resoldered twice and performed continuity tests and all seems OK? I’m baffled…… Any suggestions??
Great site by the way 🙂
Kiddakidda
John
June 23, 2010 @ 4:12 pm
Grounding the pickup cover at the same place as the other pickup ground should be ok.
It’s conceivable you have a ground loop– where there’s more than one path to ground. If you think of the jack ground as the “destination”, check each ground source (like your pickup ground) and make sure that there’s only one path for it to reach the jack ground destination. See here for some pictorials of this idea:
http://alexplorer.net/guitar/basics/grounding.html
Again, I recommend using alligator leads while you’re experimenting to make sure you get it all right, before soldering.
Hope this helps,
John
Kiddakidda
June 24, 2010 @ 1:29 pm
Cheers John,
In an attempt to try and isolate the problem I have took certain elements ‘out of the chain’ so to speak. I have now got to the stage where I have one pickup attached to the jack ONLY!! with the bridge ground wire and I still have a slight hum. When I touch any part of the bridge I can hear the amp make a slight click sound and it cuts the noise out. I don’t know what else I can do. The hum is very slight but every time I touch the bridge the noise disapears. I have continuity between the bridge and the bridge wire. What else could this be???
Cheers
Kiddakidda
John
June 24, 2010 @ 1:49 pm
Great job narrowing it down to just pickup and jack. It does sound like a ground issue.
Single-coils pick up hum, but that doesn’t sound like what you’re hearing since single-coil noise generally does not change when touching the metal of the guitar (though it does change when moving the guitar around).
I assume you’ve also checked for continuity between the bridge, the pickup ground and the jack ground lug?
Other things to try for more data points: use another pickup to rule out an internal defect in the pickup; a different cable to the amp; a different amp.
-John
Kiddakidda
June 26, 2010 @ 2:13 am
Hi Again John,
I’m at a loss here, my guitar has been stripped down to it’s component parts. I am currently using one pickup directly connected to the jack and I still get the click sound when I touch any metal. I have swapped cables, tried different jacks and tried all four pickups I currently have – no change. I have sanded back the bridge post to get to the raw metal to make sure I haven’t got a poor ground. I have not got another Amp but I have tried my Tele and SG custom in the same amp and they sound sweet and no sounds when touching metal parts. I have even tried another power lead for the Amp just in case. Is it possible that with all the parts out that the guitar is picking up some kind of electrical interference that is affecting the ground???
This has to be something simple, can you make any other suggestions? I feel like throwing the thing in the Bin at the moment!!!
Cheers
Kiddakidda
John
June 26, 2010 @ 10:12 am
Sounds like you’ve tried everything I would try… If you’ve got it simplified down to just one pickup, the jack, and the ground wire from the bridge, and you hear the same thing with both the Epi pickup and the Heywood pickup, then WTF?!
Are you using long runs of unshielded wire or alligator leads? (These tend to pick up more noise than shielded wire).
-John
Kiddakidda
June 26, 2010 @ 1:50 pm
Hi John,
This afternoon I moved my Vox AD100VT from the bedroom, downstairs to the kitchen in case it was picking up some unwanted interference somewhere. It was exactly the same downstairs. I then took the jack off and used the aligator leads directly onto the jack plug. Hey Presto!! No noise. I then introduced the jack and it seemed to work fine. I then tried the other pickups and all seemed OK. I then tried my cardboard set of pots, jack and selector and all seemed OK except for the selector in the neck/middle position with the middle volume turned down is creating noise again.
I really think the pickup cover ground is causing me some kind of issue, I also think the poor quality aligator leads I am using may have possibly caused previous problems. I don’t know why I am suddenly not getting the grounding issue apart from what I have mentioned above, which worries me that it may come back at any stage. I’ll keep you posted once I have managed to sort the neck pickup ground problem.
Cheers
kiddakidda
Harrylee
June 25, 2010 @ 8:51 pm
I have a P93 just like yours. The problem i have is while im playing if my finger touches the pickup(even just the black base) I get a loud buzz. You know what could be causing this?
John
June 26, 2010 @ 10:24 am
I don’t remember whether the metal covers were grounded on those pickups. If you touch a wire or alligator lead between the metal cover and the bridge (or to the jack nut), does it still buzz when you touch with your finger?
If you have a multimeter, check continuity between the metal parts as I describe in the video…
-John
Kiddakidda
June 26, 2010 @ 1:56 pm
This is really strange, as you will see I have the same issue. The pickup covers are not grounded as far as I can see. I am certainly considering this on my new Heywood pickup to see if it sorts the issue. I’m out of wire now so I’ll need to try and source some tomorrow.
Kiddakidda
Harrylee
June 26, 2010 @ 2:42 pm
Yes I checked everything is grounded except the pickup covers. touching something grounded (ie the jack or bridge) lowers the volume of the buzz but touching the pick up still adds it. At first I thought it might be touching the pickups caused a ground loop but since they arn’t even grounded it cant be that i believe.
Kiddakidda
June 26, 2010 @ 3:04 pm
Is your guitar stock, or have you done some of John’s mods?
Harrylee
June 26, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
Its stock.
kiddakidda
July 8, 2010 @ 1:25 pm
Hi John,
I checked and re-checked my wiring for my Riviera a 100 times now. My new wiring is identical in every way to the original wiring setup. I don’t seem to get the same slight hum and ‘click’ when I touch metal parts when using the guitar downstairs but I seem to get it all the time upstairs when I use my guitar and amp. (I’m whacked from lumping that Vox AD100VT up and down the stairs, it weighs a ton!!) I can only think that I have a possible weak ground/earth on my upstairs house electrics which is causing the ground fault….. What do you think??
Cheers
Kiddakidda
John
July 8, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
I think you’ve officially entered voodoo black-magic grounding territory 🙂 Sorry I don’t know what else to do.
Play downstairs! 🙂
-John
kiddakidda
July 17, 2010 @ 8:36 am
Hey John,
I think I have resolved my slight ground issue. I decided to go down the route of sheilding all 3 pickup cavities and running a ground wire through all 3. I also made a slight lip so the sheilding also touched the pickup covers. Seems to work great and I have no noise!!
I have however another issue that I want to run by you. After finally putting it all back together I have now realised I have a strange volume control issue that wasn’t there when i tested before install. When I turn the Volume control for Middle and Bridge upto ’10’ I get a very big volume drop? If I turn both down slightlt to say ‘9’ the volume returns.
The tone seems to work fine so I am not sure it’s a Tone cap issue. Any ideas?
Cheers John.
Kiddakidda
John
July 17, 2010 @ 9:01 pm
Excellent work on the shielding! Did you take any pictures?
As for the volume drop, I guess there’s some bad interaction with the way you’ve wired it up. Double/triple check the wiring using your multimeter to check that nothing’s connected that shouldn’t be and the everything that should be connected is 🙂 You could also try writing out the circuit as you’ve wired it (either as an electrical circuit diagram, or as a pictorial of your pickups, pots, caps and wires). In the process of doing that, you might just figure out the problem. But if not, scan it and email to me and hopefully I can help.
-John
kiddakidda
July 18, 2010 @ 12:56 am
Cheers John,
I did take some pictures and I will forward to you if you want them? I’m a bit of a novice when using a Multimeter and my knowledge ends when it gets to testing for continuety! Are there any other checks I can do? I’m sure I have copied wire for wire the wiring as it came out originally but I shall try and email you my diagram later today.
Kiddakidda
Richard
August 25, 2010 @ 2:12 am
Hey i think that i have the same problem my guitar is an epiphone special 2 (those cheap one) and my amp is an Fender Frontman 25R, and i bought that amp because i thinked that tha amp that i had was tha problem bue it was not.
So my guitar as that problem can you explain me step by step what should i do?
Soorry my english but im portuguese ;D
Il be waiting ;D Cheers
John
August 26, 2010 @ 9:50 am
Hi Richard,
Use a multimeter to check for a good electrical connection between all the metal parts of the guitar and electronics. Make sure you have a connection all the way from strings to the jack ground lug. Re-solder any broken wires or loose connections as necessary.
For tips on using a multimeter, see my FAQ.
Good luck!
John
John
December 13, 2011 @ 10:17 am
@TheAmaterasu11 – that is certainly not a ground issue as described in this video. You’re looking at a mechanical buzz – most likely from string buzzing against a fret.Check your action (string height), neck relief (truss rod). If it’s not fret buzz, it could be a number of things. Make sure all screws and nuts are tight. Check the strings at the tuners. Check the bridge for loose screws/springs. Worst case would high frets, or warped neck.
TheAmaterasu11
December 13, 2011 @ 3:28 pm
@johnplanetz thank you sir, can it still be fixed if its neck is warped or fret is high? 🙁
John
December 13, 2011 @ 3:31 pm
@TheAmaterasu11 – fixing high frets is not an easy DIY job- best to take it to a luthier for fret level/crown/polish/dress. A warped neck is unlikely- and would probably require a new neck.
TheAmaterasu11
December 13, 2011 @ 11:59 pm
@TheAmaterasu11 damn! thank you sir!
AngryRobot87
January 20, 2012 @ 6:55 am
@TheAmaterasu11 That awkward moment when you replied to yourself..
actuallyNFxC
December 28, 2011 @ 4:16 am
i have tha same problem with my new mexican strat and mustang 2 Amp. & u r saying that i have to open it up? OH my god Fender!
John
January 1, 2012 @ 8:57 pm
@actuallyNFxC – yes, probably. sorry for that bad news 🙂
quivsha
January 6, 2012 @ 12:10 am
@actuallyNFxC Not omg fender but omg Mexico fender 🙁
RSdarkknigth13
December 30, 2011 @ 5:32 pm
Could a crappy cable mimic a ground problem? M 06 Gibson V is about to under a 67′ treatment so i will be dealing with the ground than, but my fender cables are about 6 or 7 years now with abuse. what would you advise is the cause? I notice a buzzyish sound coming from my amp. but its silenced when the strings are muted.
John
January 1, 2012 @ 8:58 pm
@RSdarkknigth13 – one way to find out if the cable is the problem. Try another cable! 🙂
RSdarkknigth13
January 4, 2012 @ 7:47 am
@johnplanetz
just bought a new decentish cable to try and sounds worse than before. must be the guitar. thanks man. i’ll be messing with the guitars ground soon so i’ll move it to the bridge if i can get the drill to get in there. going to make a faraday cage in there too.
John
January 10, 2012 @ 9:13 am
@RSdarkknigth13 – good sleuthing! Check the guitarnutz site for lots of advice on shielding.
watwillwedonext
February 7, 2012 @ 2:28 pm
thanks for the tip… my tele has this problem too 🙁
09198384558
February 17, 2012 @ 7:33 pm
Good day to you sir. I suspect that my guitar has a grounding problem because it produce a loud hum and when i turn the volume knob, it doesn’t lower the volume of my guitar rather reducing the hum. Can you tell me how to fix this? Thank you in advance.
John
February 21, 2012 @ 8:42 pm
@09198384558 – you’ll need to get in there and check the wiring of the volume pot. Sounds like the ground wire has become disconnected, or the solder joint is bad.
tardzillamovies
February 19, 2012 @ 3:39 pm
I think I have this problem in my Jackson. Occasionally (though not all the time) I hear these buzzing sounds then touching my bridge and so on, and I have received several (very small) shocks.
John
February 21, 2012 @ 8:48 pm
@tardzillamovies – occasional/intermittent minor buzz is unfortunately fairly typical. Getting a shock through your guitar strings is NOT normal. It indicates a ground problem in your amp, guitar rig, or the mains wiring. Take a look at this: guitarnuts. com/technical/electrical/safety
Dazcam
February 24, 2012 @ 4:25 am
I have the same issue except for the following:
The pickups arent working and i get the loudest ‘noise’ when I touch the switch casing. help/suggestions please?
John
February 28, 2012 @ 9:33 am
@Dazcam – sounds like a broken wire or short to ground. Double/triple check all your wiring and solder connections.
Dazcam
March 1, 2012 @ 3:53 am
@johnplanetz Ah I sorted it, I bought an Epi short style switch, but watched a tutorial for a standard les paul switch wiring – So i wired the live and earth wrong. No big deal.
Good tutorial though!
Arnoldx1992
February 27, 2012 @ 8:02 am
Hi! When my guitar strings are open I get this hum and when I touch them I get a little bit cracky sound(only at the moment i touch them with bare hands and also i tryed it with a coin =D), but when i touch the strings with a pick, there isn’t this cracky sound. And also, when I bend the guitar cable a little bit near the both output jacks(on guitar and on the amp) and hold it bended, the hum and the cracky sound stops. Could there be a problem with the guitar cable or is it something else?
John
February 28, 2012 @ 9:36 am
@Arnoldx1992 – definitely could be the cable, or it could be a loose solder connection in the jack, etc. Process of elimination: Try a different cable. Try a different guitar through same cable. Try your own guitar, cable and amp into a different outlet (at someone else’s house for example). Should quickly become obvious who is the culprit.
indrakuda
February 28, 2012 @ 8:56 am
i have the same problem with my ibanez. When i touch the pickup mounting frame, i hear loud buzzing sounds. could there be a problem with the ground or something else? what is the best solution?should i try to shield the pickup cavity?
thanks
John
February 28, 2012 @ 9:38 am
@indrakuda – follow the steps I described in the video, using a multimeter to confirm a good connection to ground between all the metal parts, to the jack shield.
soontobeshrink
March 2, 2012 @ 2:44 pm
I have a strat w/a duncan humbucker and its still buzzing even after all new electronics…touching the metal eliminates much of it (but not all) do you mean put the multimeter between each tone and also the vol and both tones? what should it read? mine reads about 1.2 between tones…also, I put one end of the meter on the brg and the other on the jack plate and it kinda reads all over the place…sometimes 1, but then all kinds of other numbers like it can’t track very well
John
March 20, 2012 @ 9:58 am
@soontobeshrink – when testing between ground points, the multimeter should read 0 (or close to it) to indicate good continuity. if there is a capacitor in line between your two test points, you will see a value that jumps around.
dimetime2
March 14, 2012 @ 5:43 am
so when i have my amp on overdrive there is some buzzing but when i touch the strings of my guitar the buzz stops what could that be?
John
March 20, 2012 @ 9:59 am
@dimetime2 – at high gain settings, any minor buzz will be amplified up. A very minor buzz is relatively common and doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem . If you’re getting a lot of buzz even at lower gain settings, then you may have a ground issue as described in this video
dangerousrule
March 26, 2012 @ 11:46 pm
I Have a serious problem with a guitar. I face a seriously wierd problem. I’ve a Dean ML X guitar. Everything is fine and absolutely no noise at all when I connect it directly to an Amplifier. But when I connect it through an Effects processor in Distortion mode and turn the tone knob high, It gives me annoying noise. In same mode when tone knob is in off, no noise at all. Even, when volume is very high, I get no noise, small reduction in volume knob, I get same noise. What could be the problem?
dangerousrule
March 26, 2012 @ 11:47 pm
By the way, the Amp is a normal speaker system which has no effects except an equalizer. And the processor is a ZOOM G1 .. In distortion, I connect processor to the amp
John
April 8, 2012 @ 8:54 pm
Generally, any noise problem on a guitar will be greatly amplified when using high gain/distortion. The fact that the noise goes away when you touch the tone knob may indicate a wiring problem with the tone know.
That guitar has humbuckers, so it’s unlikely to be a EMF/shielding issue. Other process-of-elimination: try different cable, different guitar, different amp, different FX, etc.
dangerousrule
April 9, 2012 @ 11:09 am
Well my problem was like (only in distortion thing) , when I change either the volume from max position or tone from min position, i get some kind of grrr kinda annoying noise which is greatly being reduced when i use a very high quality cable (metal shielded jack) any way. I think the problem is cuz of non metal, plastic shielded jacks. Now, there’ll be low buzz which goes to 0 when i hold the metal casing of the jack 🙂 . It has actually solved my problem i feel. 🙂 . But Thanks for replying.
gweaterman
April 2, 2012 @ 8:13 pm
i have a new ESP guitar its 2 pups a single coil and a humbucker 3 way switch and a volume and tone when i have high gain settings i can hear a buzz on the neck and middle positions, it over powers everything else, its constant and doesnt die ever, weather i touch the strings or not. when i selct the bridge it stops but if i tap the body of the guitar it faintly comes up. whats wrong?
John
April 8, 2012 @ 8:56 pm
Sounds like you’re hearing this noise whenever your 3-way switch engages the single-coil pickup. Single coils are very susceptible to EMF noise (interference from things like computers, power, lights, appliances, dimmers, etc). High gain will greatly amplify this noise. There’s not much you can do about it other than move your physical position away from the source of interference. And turn off dimmers, computers, etc.
sayspain
April 9, 2012 @ 4:13 am
Hi John. First off I would really thank you for your videos, specially those in which you compare electronic components explaining how they work, they really help.
I was wondering if you could please give me your advice on something that I don’t know if is a grounding issue or not. I got an old 60’s amp from the US and to use it in Spain I employ a voltage regulator to 220v. It’s grounded although the amp doesn’t have a 3 prong cord.
sayspain
April 9, 2012 @ 4:18 am
The problem comes when I touch something plugged, like a mixing board, thats when I get shocked like a f***ing mouse although this doesn’t happen to me any other way (like being bare foot…). Is this just because of the amp not being grounded or is it anything else??? The amp sounds like heaven by the way… that’s why I’m kinda the silly mouse…
John
April 9, 2012 @ 10:26 pm
@sayspain -you do need to be careful with vintage amps and ground. Read the article at guitarnuts about shock hazards.
jpjdo1212
April 18, 2012 @ 3:44 am
does the bridge ground have to go to the back of a pot or can it go to the ground lug of the switch or anywhere as long as its connected to the other grounds?
John
April 18, 2012 @ 8:29 am
It just has to be electrically connected to ground, so your suggestions are fine. Pot backs are generally just used as a convenient big metal place to solder on 🙂
inventhead
April 18, 2012 @ 11:53 am
the video is rite about grounding guitar n pickups but there should also be copper sheilding around pickups and pots switch cavity this keeps emf out hi dain well its a matter of useing a noise gate dbx is one of the best around and ground theres two types common and floating never mix a common with a floating this is how u blow circuts a floating ground is a disc capactor in series with ground wire .01 .05and the lead of cap to ground it may change tone a lil best is to try diffrent1s
John
April 19, 2012 @ 1:26 pm
Shielding around pickups and control cavity is a good idea. In a semi-hollowbody guitar with f-holes like the one in the video, it’s not so easy (or attractive) shield the control area.
inventhead
April 18, 2012 @ 12:00 pm
also if an amp has no ground plug you can run a wire from chassie to center pin of wall plug thats earth ground just be sure the amp dosent use floating ground if it has use a disc capactor of .01-.05 uf 25-50 volt u can get them in radioshack i was a tv electronics tech for 25 yrs and know all about this stuff
HectorAndresMayoral
April 19, 2012 @ 5:10 pm
Hey John! I have a similar sound, but when I touch my strings, it stops (not sure if it still sounds muffled). I tried it with my strat, (which is now broken, no relation) and now with a Jackson and same thing with both. I played my strat originally with no problem, and now I have the problem, now I have a bass which it doesn’t have that problem, it just has a slight buzz which goes away when start recording (it’s connected to an interface to my computer) any clues, think it’s a ground issue?
John
April 25, 2012 @ 2:30 pm
If you’re hearing noise across a bunch of different guitars, then suspect your amp, cables, pedals, etc. House wiring, lighting, dimmer switches, appliances, etc, can all introduce noise as well.
EgoNomiQ
May 9, 2012 @ 9:18 am
Great vid thanks!
konfliction13
May 21, 2012 @ 6:25 pm
Try this one on for size I have one epiphone humbucker at neck position a dimebag dimerail at bridge position a three way selector switch and obviously a input jack EVERYTHING is wired correctly except when i attach the ground from the bridge to the pots(or just the one in a series)All the the sound cuts right out i am talking no sound but whe i take the ground off i get the buzz until i touch the strings and everything is fine. please help me i want the ground hooked up with all my sound no buz
John
May 24, 2012 @ 5:21 pm
Sounds like your signal is shorting to ground. Are you sure you’re connecting the bridge to a good ground point? Double-check all your wiring and use a multimeter to check for short circuits, etc.
disdain666666
May 30, 2012 @ 7:21 am
do you have that noise on high gain?
EternalAwait
June 13, 2012 @ 4:08 pm
I’m building a guitar at the moment and I will be installing a strat style non-tremolo bridge, does it need to be connected to ground aswell? I wouldn’t think so becuase the brige and strings arent connected to any electronics, but as you showed in the vid, it does matter… So should I somehow connect the bridge to ground?
John
June 14, 2012 @ 11:11 am
Yes, it’s best to ground the bridge to minimize noise. First use an alligator clip lead and try it with/without the bridge connected to the jack shield, to prove it to yourself that it makes a difference with buzz/noise.
Aditya Krishnan
June 14, 2012 @ 11:04 pm
my guitar also gives same kind of sound but all my wireings are perfect cant find where the problem is!!!! please help me!!! its killing me!!!!!!
Thrasher
June 20, 2012 @ 8:15 am
hello there , i have an ibanez rg321mh i have a problem and i hope you guys help me out , when i connect my guitar to the amp directly or with a distortion pedal then everything is cool ut when i touch the steel from out side the pickups and the screw of the pickups switcher and makes big noise and when i touch any metal parts on the guitar nothing happen just when i touch this 2 ones i opend my cavity and every wire is connected and i am sure so how to fix this please !!!
John
June 24, 2012 @ 9:15 pm
Sounds like you need to ground the pickup body and switch. Try alligator clipping a wire between the pickup cover and the jack ground lug (or cable plug sleeve), and see if that fixes it. If so, solder a wire to the inside of the cover and connect it to the nearest ground point. Similarly for the switch.
-John
skillzdatkillz900
June 24, 2012 @ 8:09 am
i bought a brand new gibson les paul yesterday and it has this problem. every fucking guitar related thing i’ve ever bought breaks almost instantly and i’m very careful. it’s enough to make me want to stop playing sometimes :@
John
June 24, 2012 @ 9:41 pm
That’s certainly discouraging. Since it’s brand new, you should get the seller to replace or repair it for you!
skillzdatkillz900
June 25, 2012 @ 2:31 pm
yeh i want to get it sorted out, but it’s just infuriating that i bought a £1700 instrument and on day one it has an issue which will probably take a good couple of weeks to get fixed
TheAndyroid
July 5, 2012 @ 8:55 am
I’ve worked in a music shop for about four years and I can tell you we have China to thank for everything being faulty. I’m not American but I reckon the quicker we nuke that place the better. (I’m only half serious).
skillzdatkillz900
July 6, 2012 @ 5:14 pm
but the guitar is built in America lol
TheAndyroid
July 6, 2012 @ 7:18 pm
Every country has to compete with the speed and price of manufacture of Chinese factories. That’s the kind of reason that 1% of Americans are in prison and manufacturing goods for much, much less than the average wage. Any other country would call that slavery. America calls it freedom. I see this as a strange time to live in, so I now build my own gear. If it goes wrong I can only blame myself (plus it’s a little cheaper sometimes).
TheAndyroid
July 6, 2012 @ 7:24 pm
To clarify, Gibson and everyone else must slap stuff together quickly and with almost no QC in order to keep business above water. If business models like Chinas didn’t exist then companies such as Gibson could produce better and more consistent products.
skillzdatkillz900
June 25, 2012 @ 5:50 pm
Actually, i have a question… my guitar has this problem but “reversed”. e.g. it buzzes when NOT touching any metal component. people all over the internet are saying “oh yeah that’s definatly something to do with the bridge not being grounded….”. However, surely the fact i can touch the bridge and it changes the sound shows the bridge is wired/grounded etc? Also, i’ve checked the cavities and i can’t see any obvious broken solders etc. HELP ME 🙁
John
June 28, 2012 @ 7:07 am
First, even with proper grounding there still can be some amount of buzz in this type of situation, but nowhere near as much as shown in this video- but if you’re using high gain/overdrive, it can amplify that buzz a lot.
Still, you certainly could have a problem with the bridge grounding. Do a test with an alligator lead between your bridge and the jack shield (or have someone hold a wire with one end touching bridge and other touching your metal cord plug). If that changes it, you’ll know!
MatKiller1197
July 12, 2012 @ 8:49 am
Yum do u need a specific wire for grounding the guitar or do u need a particular one ?
John
July 12, 2012 @ 11:33 am
No you don’t need a special type of wire. I typically use 22 or 24 gauge stranded, PVC jacketed wire.
The911SONIC
July 12, 2012 @ 4:11 pm
this happened to my bass but there is a wire going from the tone pot to the bridge and it hall a little bit of fuzz and like you said when you touch anything metal it gets worse. do i need to change the wire to the volume pot or input jack on my bass?
John
July 12, 2012 @ 4:53 pm
if the wire is frayed, or not making a good connection, it would probably help to replace or resolder it.
The911SONIC
July 12, 2012 @ 7:14 pm
thanks ill check that as soon as i can and when i said hall i meant had.
MatKiller1197
July 12, 2012 @ 6:53 pm
@johnplanetz So I can use whatever cable I want to do everything on the guitar? Connect pickups grounds coil taps everything?
John
July 13, 2012 @ 7:30 am
Well, within reason. You don’t want to use a coat hangar or telephone wire 🙂 Very heavy gauge wire has higher resistance. Generally, best to stick with the standard 22 or 24 gauge stranded wire. It’s easier to work with. For longer wire runs of more than a few inches, it’s best to use braided shielded wire, to help reduce noise. See the wire section at stewmac for examples.
Paul Cordero
July 27, 2012 @ 2:54 pm
Thank you so much for this upload. My ground wire from my bridge was loose. All fixed now and (finally) no more buzz ! Peace.
Roberto Rivera
July 29, 2012 @ 9:10 pm
hi, i need your help, i have made a guitar strat like, and connected the ground to the plate that goes on the back of the guitar where the springs of the tremolo bridge are installed. i have checked every thing and it seems everything is ok, my problem is that the guitar makes some noise when i don’t touch the strings, once i touch the strings the noise is gone! so i guess i’m doing the ground connection through my hand. what do you think is the problem?
guitarslf132
August 25, 2012 @ 10:51 am
this is normal 🙂 compare it to another guitar with the same pickups to check that the buzzing is not too much.
ninetailedfun
August 12, 2012 @ 11:22 am
i didnt solder the groundwire to the bridge stud. is this why the guitar buzzes?
John
August 14, 2012 @ 8:16 am
The bridge should be grounded so the strings are electrically continuous to ground.
You can try clipping an alligator lead (or taping a wire) between the bridge and jack shield to see what difference it makes.
happyhappy85
August 13, 2012 @ 5:40 am
I don’t mean to sound like a moron but is there any way of stopping this without taking everything apart? I’m not a very handy man and I’ll end up breaking everything. This ‘grounding’ problem always happens to my Jag and I keep having to take it to get fixed which is annoying as hell.
synthesizer301
September 6, 2012 @ 3:48 am
From the beginning also the amp must be are grounded to eliminate buzz/hum.
to make the chain from amp & guitar complete.
great tutorial video anyway : )
MusicIsLife9764
September 14, 2012 @ 6:14 am
Hey guys i have a weird problem with my guitar sound. I havent been using the whammy bar for a long time cuz i dont like it. But i decided to play it last night. And all of a sudden when i pick an open string, it would play a harmonic instead of the actual note. Anf when i try to stop the string from vibrating with my hands, a short high pitched harmonic will occur. And when i let all the strings untouched, the strings will vibrate by itself and cause a non stop harmonic. Please help im pissed
666MetallicaDave
October 6, 2012 @ 1:25 pm
I have a Gibson Gold Top knock-off with 2 “P90″s and there’s considerable hum on my ‘crunch’ channel. You think it’s normal or a ground wire? It’s a Dillion.
John Cooper
October 7, 2012 @ 10:08 am
P-90’s, like any single coil pickups, are prone to EMI noise, and it’s especially noticeable through high gain. Try moving your physical location (e.g. proximity to computer/monitors/TV), and check your lighting/dimmers, appliances, etc.
666MetallicaDave
October 7, 2012 @ 11:00 am
I think that solved it. The amp has 4 channels (Fender J.A.M.) so I’m running on the blight channel with my digi-tech RP250 with the ‘noise supressor ‘on’ and it seems not that bad. No upgrade needed to noiseless pickups I’d say. Has alot of out put from that guitar, but those are pretty heavy strings not great for bending too.
Rizza4466
October 13, 2012 @ 11:58 pm
Great vid? quick question, my guitar does the opposite of what you describe in this vid. it has a buzz which doesn’t go away when touching the strings, but when I touch the jack plate or metal on my amp/mixer the buzz goes away. Is this a grounding problem, should I re-solder the wiring? I’ve worked the problem down to the guitar itself which uses humbuckers. thanks
John
October 24, 2012 @ 9:07 pm
Definitely could be a bad ground connection. Use a multimeter to check that there’s a good electrical connection between those metal parts- all the way from the strings to the jack plug shield.
Marco van Dijk
October 17, 2012 @ 2:19 pm
What would happen if you’d have a wire going from a piece of metal on the amp to a radiator? Would it cancel out the hum without causing harm?
John
October 24, 2012 @ 8:55 pm
I don’t expect that would cancel any hum. Please ensure your amp is plugged into an outlet with proper ground (e.g. 3-prong plug int he US). Search for the guitarnuts. com article on Shock Hazards.
mohammed shamma
October 19, 2012 @ 4:53 pm
hey man, really hope you get back to me on this one! I own a slash epiphone goldtop running through a frender g-dec amp, and i’ve been experiencing some “hum” and “buzz” noise when i turn on the volume and tone on the guitar itself. When i lower the tone to zero, and raise the volume to max on the guitar knobs, the noise disappears. What’s your take on that? Do i check the wires or could it be an amp issue?
John
October 24, 2012 @ 9:03 pm
Is the buzz disappearing just because you’ve turned down the tone (which filters out high frequencies?)
If you suspect the amp, try playing into a different amp. Or try different amp settings, presets, etc. Try a different cable. And open up the guitar and check on the wiring. A Les Paul is easy to open up and inspect. Good luck!
mohammed shamma
October 25, 2012 @ 4:39 am
thx man, I think its probably the cables of the amp. The amp’s power plug doesn’t have that ground prong plug. Il play around and see…Cheers!
951adg06
October 30, 2012 @ 3:18 pm
Hey John I am having the problem you described. When the tone pots are turned past 2 there is major feedback. If I roll the tone back on both the bridge and neck then it goes away. Also during the feedback when I play it stops, but as soon as I switch to a new riff, say 1 second in between, then it starts again until I hit another string/note. What’s the problem? Opened my LP Standard every solder joint looks good and well connected.
John
October 31, 2012 @ 12:56 pm
Do you mean feedback (like when the amp/pickups interact to create sustaining ovetones), or hum/buzz (like i show in this video).
Does your problem occur on a clean amp setting (not high-gain, not very loud)?
951adg06
November 1, 2012 @ 9:00 pm
Hey John, thanks for replying. It more of an unbearable sequel if anything, not fuzzing or a hum. No it’s not on the clean channel. I have a peavy vypyr 30 and if I turn the post gain all the way down on the dirty/red channels it goes away. Problem is that when you turn the gain off, the volume goes with it. It will produce no sound at all. Even with me I keep my gain at about half, and I play through earphones.
John
November 13, 2012 @ 11:14 am
A squeal is more likely to be your pickups going microphonic at high gain, too close to your amp. Try increasing your physical distance from the amp. Wax-potting the pickups can also help reduce microphonics.
951adg06
November 13, 2012 @ 12:25 pm
Thanks. I have Alnico Pro 2 slash pickups. Seems like the problem, thank you very much I’ll look into potting them. 🙂
MrPerkleton
November 4, 2012 @ 3:54 pm
Hi John, my gear sounds great at home, but jamming at my friend’s house there is a terrible buzz (that can be stopped by touching metal on the guitar). What’s wrong with the electricity in his house? (we tried several outlets). Are there products that can stop this happening? Thanks for your time mate!
John
November 7, 2012 @ 4:18 pm
Not sure. Could be something at his house, like an appliance, fluorescent lights, or a dimmer, etc?
KaktusCarlos
December 1, 2012 @ 2:43 am
If the buzz stops when you touch metal on the guitar then your amplifier is not properly grounded.
John
December 4, 2012 @ 1:13 pm
not necessarily- it can also be improper grounding in the guitar itself (as I demonstrate in this video)
Psy8cho
November 7, 2012 @ 12:38 pm
I too have a grounding issue, and I am 90% sure all of it is due to my non-grounded wall-socket.. So I tried to use an extension cord and grab some ground from my bathroom or hallway socket, which are grounded. The worked with my amp directly into them, but not with my extension chord. It even made more noise?
So just a curious question really is why? and maybe if solveable then this will be my temporary solution.
Thanks for your time and your video’s are really ‘complete’ the cover every aspect
tpawlowskis
November 10, 2012 @ 8:37 am
what does that mean when the sound goes away when you touch the strings. im getting so frustrated, i can’t figure it out and i pulled on my bridge ground and its not loose or pulling out or anything.
John
November 29, 2012 @ 1:23 pm
Could still be a ground issue. Use a multimeter to check for electrical continuity between all the metal parts on the guitar, as I describe in the video. If it’s all good– does it only happen in high gain situations? have you checked for EMF sources (appliances, dimmers, fluorescents, etc). Have you tried a different amp, different power outlet, different guitar, different cord, different location, etc?) Hope you get it figured out!
LeonidFrog
November 15, 2012 @ 5:32 pm
I have a new guitar/ strat and the ground cable is connected, and I get the same noise issue,
John
November 29, 2012 @ 1:21 pm
Strat’s have single-coil pickups which inherently pick up noise/hum. Does the sound change when you move your guitar around (and/or turn off tv’s, appliances, dimmers, fluorescent lights, etc).
If your middle pickup is RWRP, is the hum reduced when in switch positions 2 and 4 (combining middle pickup with neck or bridge?)
Have you used a multimeter to check for electrical continuity between all the metal parts of the guitar?
KaktusCarlos
December 1, 2012 @ 2:56 am
I have a problem of unstable sound when I play single notes in my guitar. It is like an oscillation when I play a single note and hold for some time. I can hear it more when I am using distortion. I am trying to solve it but I think it is not a grounding issue. My guitar is an Ibanez GRX40, strat model changed for two humbuckers and one single coil.
KaktusCarlos
December 3, 2012 @ 1:06 pm
I think my problem has something to do with pickups too near the strings… I have to test more.
KaktusCarlos
December 4, 2012 @ 1:21 pm
Here my amp sometimes sounds very good, sometimes very bad. I really don’t know what is the problem.
wnpikoso
December 8, 2012 @ 5:17 pm
Hi john. I’ve been following your vids since youre one of the few people who really knows here on youtube, but also give good and full explanations. If possible, i’d really apreciate if you could give me your thoughts on this video: /watch?v=TZx1Cm3qZzM
The bass costed me a lot, but its kind of dissapointing that my former and cheaper bass actually has more silent electronics.
thanks in advance.
John
December 8, 2012 @ 5:59 pm
I looked at your video, and it sure sounds like you have a ground connection issue. Can you open it up and check continuity with a multimeter, as I describe in this video? Hope you can get it sorted easily.
wnpikoso
December 9, 2012 @ 7:40 am
Hey John, thanks! as soon as i have results ill tell you about it. hopefully it’ll be something simple, cause i’d hate to go for the warranty coverage.
slashbrown1
December 9, 2012 @ 11:05 am
Get a hum debugger, it worked for me 😀
FingersKey
December 14, 2012 @ 9:10 pm
When I touch it it does’t Make a Buzzing Sound!!When I don’t touch it makes buzzing sound//Why?
Musicartsandcoffee
December 15, 2012 @ 6:58 am
Hi John, hope you can help. I have experience rewiring guitars and working on guitars and I’ve always done repairs myself. My Les Paul hums a lot when I turn my tone up in any position but then disappears when I touch any of the hardware. I thought it could be a ground issue so I replaced all pots, caps, wires, switches, humbuckers four times and it still hums. I get continuity between the jack socket sleeve and the strings. I plugged it in and it still (hums) does the same thing. Pls help.
henry silbi
December 15, 2012 @ 7:13 am
hi john,i just got telecaster from the store adn i have problem with that,i usually play metal song,and when i turn on the distortion the noise was very awfull,my bridge pickups is seymour duncan little 59,how can i fix this?thx
John
December 29, 2012 @ 5:01 pm
Playing at high gain will exaggerate any hum/noise issues you may be having. Since it’s brand new, you may want to go back to the store and compare with other humbucker guitars- or have them look at it.
Musicartsandcoffee
December 15, 2012 @ 1:48 pm
Oh, I’ve also tried two different amps and tried playing in different rooms of the house with all lights and computers off. I have also copper shielded the switch and control cavity but nothing has stopped it from humming; only touching the guitar’s hardware or the amp screws stops the hum. I’ve tested all sockets and all of them have earth. It’s a strange one – I can’t figure it out. Hope you can help. Look forward to hear from you.
Jesse Toot
December 20, 2012 @ 1:27 pm
this is my problem as well it will hum until i touch the strings then i”ll have ground and it will sound fine i move move treble knob up and down then it make a solid harmonic and thats toching plastic is doesnt make since to me and it also does this switching from pickups can anybody help me ??
PassiveClown
December 24, 2012 @ 10:15 pm
Same is the problem with my guitar. The hum/noise stops when i touch any metallic parts on my guitar. My amp and guitar is properly grounded. I’m not sure what is causing the noise.
PassiveClown
December 24, 2012 @ 10:15 pm
Same is the problem with my guitar. The hum/noise stops when i touch any metallic parts on my guitar. My amp and guitar is properly grounded. I’m not sure what is causing the noise.
Musicartsandcoffee
December 15, 2012 @ 1:50 pm
Oh, I’ve also tried many different guitar cables but the hum is always there until I touch the strings/hardware. Again continuity is fine between strings and jack socket sleeve.
John
December 29, 2012 @ 4:57 pm
Hm, it sounds like you’ve tried most of the things I would suggest. It’s possible the pickups themselves have poor ground connection? The metal body of the pickup should be grounded too. You could try dropping in another pickup if you have one handy. Also, if you haven’t already, try playing in a different house on a totally different electrical circuit? Hope you can figure it out!
Derza Arsad
December 16, 2012 @ 9:48 am
john, how about ground connections in guitar amp? I have several basic questions and hope that you could help me:
1. How do I make ground connection to amp chassis with screw? Is there any special screw for that?
2. I read oft about “star grounding” but I don’t really understand how many screw ground connections do I have to make, is it only one?
Thank you and I hope you could help
John
January 6, 2013 @ 9:47 pm
You typically want to ground the metal panel or chassis of an amp- generally any conductor will do- solder a wire to the panel, or attach it to a screw, etc. Star grounding is just a method of bringing your main ground to a single point, and the running wires from that point off to all the locations that need it. In contrast, daisy chaining your ground connections is considered poor practice.
Derza Arsad
January 7, 2013 @ 4:56 pm
why is it considered poor practice? is it because of the needs of long cable for star grounding that can leads noise and hum? so, which method do you prefer to ground an tube amp?
John
January 8, 2013 @ 9:16 am
There’s a great article on stargrounding at aikenamps. You should find all the info you need there.
kbthai100
December 29, 2012 @ 12:40 pm
in your vdo, you had to Cut and destroy your guitar to
get to the pots ??
if not,,,kindlly explain how you got them all out , and onto that cardboard..
non destructively, sir
thanks
John
December 29, 2012 @ 4:53 pm
No, of course I didn’t destroy the guitar! See my other videos in my channel for how to remove and replace the electronics in a semi-hollowbody, through the f-holes.
IBreakGames
January 1, 2013 @ 11:31 am
So the guitar that I have is having some pretty bad hum issues. Same things with yours, where any metal parts that are touched stop the noise, and so forth. I can’t see anything wrong in the back with the wiring between the pots and selector switch, but I tried covering the pickup with aluminum foil, and if I do it right the hum is completely gone with that pickup. It’s hard to keep it like that and I’m not quite sure what’s making it do that, but I can get rid of it by putting the foil on right
John
January 6, 2013 @ 9:49 pm
Huh- interesting. Do you have metal pickup covers, and are they properly grounded? (I’m imagining the foil might be making a ground connection for you…)
MrBanjoable
January 15, 2013 @ 7:32 am
Hi, i own a Schecter Hellraiser C-1 FR BCH i need some help with the clean mode.
when i play with clean it makes a tiny bit of distortion sound. i had another amp laying around so i tried changed that. It didnt work. i also tried changing the wire connecting the guitar to the amp. Still, it didnt work. i played around a little bit with the amp settings but still. even if i go ”as clean as possible” i still makes a distortion sound when a note is played. ANY help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Videooscopy
January 16, 2013 @ 5:30 am
Interesting , mine is backwards. I get a buzz when I am not touching the strings. If I touch the strings or pickup it gets quiet.
Videooscopy
January 16, 2013 @ 8:20 am
Plugged mine into a pignose, when the amp is running on batteries vs being plugged into the wall the hum is gone.Looks like the problem is the power in my house. How does one fix this? Call an electrician?
Chris Southern
January 16, 2013 @ 1:37 pm
I’ve just bought a P93. I’ve followed all your instructions on replaceing the bridge, pickups et cetera, and I would just like to let you know that my guitar is infinitely better. Thank you so much fella.
John
January 16, 2013 @ 3:08 pm
Great- happy to hear it. Enjoy that guitar!
crungen5
January 19, 2013 @ 3:34 pm
it can also be ur amp
docstrocktube
January 27, 2013 @ 6:58 am
Hi, John. I read a lot about grounding to the back of the volume pot. Wouldn’t it make sense to ground all your ground wires to a lug attached to the body on the inside of the guitar cavity? As long as you have all the ground wires meeting in one place, I don’t see how it would be any different whether they were meeting on the back of the volume pot or a ground lug connected to the body. If there is an advantage to the volume pot grounding, I would like to know. Thank you your videos are great!
nedgey
January 27, 2013 @ 5:31 pm
I have this amp noise with all my guitars… Could it be something loose in the amp then?
John
February 12, 2013 @ 4:48 pm
Yes, or a problem with the electrical in the house, or noise caused by appliances/lighting/etc, or a problem with your cabling/pedals.
rav3style
February 11, 2013 @ 5:22 pm
Ok i have no electronic skills i have the same guitar with the buzzing, what can i do?
John
February 12, 2013 @ 3:23 pm
You could do a visual inspection to see if there are any loose or disconnected wires. Beyond that, if you don’t want to learn a little bit and use a multimeter, the next step is to probably take it to a guitar tech.
DALE97DSM
February 20, 2013 @ 6:40 pm
You may have fret buzz. A guitar luthier at a shop can fix it. You can too, if a guitar maintence book or watch a youtube video. How to fix fret buzz on a guitar.
Tom Ellis
February 16, 2013 @ 10:14 pm
Hi, my bass has the opposite hum that you show in this video. It buzzes when I’m not touching any of the metal but when I touch any metal the buzzing stops. Any ideas why this is happening and do you have any suggestions on how to fix it? I checked the wires and none of them appear to be loose. Thanks.
Ashwin S
February 16, 2013 @ 11:46 pm
i have the same problem with my electric guitar…. it buzzes wen i don’t touch any metal parts… any idea what’s wrong?
Tom Ellis
February 17, 2013 @ 4:55 am
I’ve been attempting to find the cause but it seems like my bass has always been doing that. It’s even more noticeable when the tone pot is turned up. When I get a chance I’m going to get some shielded wire and put some shielding in there before taking it to a guitar tech.
blkctthwt
February 24, 2013 @ 1:23 pm
Thanks for spending the time to teach us.
Lateralus8808
March 7, 2013 @ 10:16 pm
Hey, I’m getting something similar, but a lot worse of a buzz. The only way to silence it is to actually touch the pickups under the strings or to touch the metal part of my cable. Touching the strings does nothing. Do you think it’s the same problem?
John
March 8, 2013 @ 1:58 pm
Could be that the pickups or pickup covers aren’t properly grounded.
Peeter Loomus
March 10, 2013 @ 1:43 pm
Very good instructions, Thank you!
vcmpNewK
March 13, 2013 @ 10:27 pm
I have a problem similar to this, my guitar is a Yamaha Pacifica and on both single coil pickups and the Humbucker I have this noise, but when I touch any metal part on the guitar it reduces the noise a little bit, not much though. Do you know what could this be? Can it be a loose wire inside? Thanks
John
April 6, 2013 @ 10:16 pm
Yes, it could be a wiring/ground issue…
ninjanaut1000
March 14, 2013 @ 8:12 pm
im have problems with slight buzzing through my single coils. but it only really causes a problem when the volume knob is over 5. it also does it when i switch from the neck to the bridge after the second position. but it is really more of a problem when the volume is higher. it quiets down when i touch the strings but it is still audible.
Rendon Perlas
March 16, 2013 @ 3:56 am
Sir,. can you HELP ME!!!
My problem is that when I adjust the tone knob of my electric guitar there’s some kind of buzzing sound in my ampli…. and when it’s in 0 the buzzing sound is gone….
is that normal?
John
March 20, 2013 @ 3:03 pm
It could be that the buzz is continuous, but turning down the tone knob is masking the buzz by cutting out the high frequencies?
Rendon Perlas
March 25, 2013 @ 2:18 am
maybe continuous…?
because sir when i touches the strings the buzzing is gone is it a ground problem?
John
April 6, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
yes, sounds like a grounding issue.
usagistarcraft
March 25, 2013 @ 10:37 pm
thank you.
Peter Boczkowski
March 28, 2013 @ 3:02 am
Hello there, i also have some weird problem with my guitar that i’ve discovered yesterday, my neck pickup is either broken or not grounded because when i want to play on it, the sound is really low and when i touch the screws that adjust the height of the pickup it buzzes very loudly, my other pickup works fine, without any buzz or signal loose, Can You tell me where lies the problem?
John
April 6, 2013 @ 10:17 pm
Probably a bad solder joint or broken wire. Take a look inside and see if there’s any obvious loose/broken wires where the neck pickup connects to the other components.
Peter Boczkowski
April 7, 2013 @ 11:02 am
Thanks for the tip :] My father is an electrician and he found ibanez prints on how to connect guitar properly and i will help him with rewiring whole guitar by a good proven way 🙂
CJSchecter96
April 2, 2013 @ 6:46 am
im building a guitar and the body had a hole drilled wrong so i cant ground the wire to the bridge. is there any way i could ground it to some thing else or will another hole have to be drilled?
John
April 6, 2013 @ 10:01 pm
I think you’ll need to drill a new hole. You really need to ground that bridge.
CJSchecter96
April 7, 2013 @ 6:19 am
Ok. My brother in law said I could ground it to a screw and put that in. Would that work?
John
April 7, 2013 @ 9:10 pm
As long as the bridge is electrically connected to ground, you’ll be fine. Check for continuity between the bridge/strings and the jack shield with a multimeter, as I described in the video.
CJSchecter96
April 8, 2013 @ 3:22 am
So basically either way the bridge has to be connected?
osito2
April 27, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
Hi,Do you know how to reduce that “waterfall” sound on the back when I am using the gain-based channels of an amp head?
EdisonsLastInvention
May 5, 2013 @ 3:37 pm
If i intentionally disconnected my guitar’s string ground, would it’s microphonicity increase, as far as toying with feedback or doing pickup screams? Thanks.
John
May 7, 2013 @ 11:07 am
I don’t think so. If you want an extra-microphonic pickup, you may want to experiment with removing the wax, or winding your own pickup and not wax-potting it.
liberator32
May 8, 2013 @ 8:27 pm
I have a pickup question. I have a flying V with a Duncan JB in the bridge. When I tap on the body, and audible “thump” can be heard through my amp very similar to when you tap on a live mic. No other noises are made from the pickup that are out of the ordinary. I have a video of the situation if that would help. It’s on my page. Any thoughts?
John
May 14, 2013 @ 8:32 am
I guess if the pickup isn’t well potted you might get some noise like this from mechanical vibrations.
velizar kurami
May 24, 2013 @ 3:06 am
I have a queston to!When i go up my tone control the buzz is there when i get it completly down it goes away 100 %.what should i do and sry for my english ; D
John
May 29, 2013 @ 4:04 pm
It could simply be that when you turn the tone down, you’re filtering out the high frequency buzz. (If the buzz is above the cutoff frequency of the tone circuit).
Ray Lambert
June 11, 2013 @ 4:01 am
I have a problem with my guitar. I recently rewired the 2 Humbuckers using a superswitch. There is a hum type of noise all the time. It goes away when I touch any metal component of the guitar. I checked the grounding,. and they all seem to be connected. Please can you help!
John
June 11, 2013 @ 9:08 am
Double check the super-switch datasheet and check with a multimeter that your pickups and switch are all wired properly. Confirm ground continuity between pickup shield wire and jack sleeve.
scolopede
June 11, 2013 @ 4:11 pm
Alright!, maybe I can finally clear this up, I’m digging around a little for the problem. I have a 1977 Les Paul. The hum goes away only when I touch the pickups and the jack. Hmm, I was just thinking, could this be an amp grounding prob? I can also touch the jacks going into pedals and it goes away. But when I plug into the computer, I get the same buzz and touch pattern.
jurberto
June 20, 2013 @ 2:29 pm
Please someone answer!
I have a Ibanez fireman, the pickups are huncanceling, but they still make noise when using overdrive. However when i touch the metalpart of my cable which is plugged to guitar, the hum stops. Completly silent. Anyone can diagnose this? The hum doesnt change when touching any other metalparts! Please someone answer!
Thanks
Felicia Studdard
June 24, 2013 @ 9:48 am
my guitar is a first act.it either hums or buzzes when i turn up the gain on the amp.i only have one humbucker onthe guitar and it’s at the bridge .
DuskY1991
July 16, 2013 @ 6:24 am
My guitar doesn’t respond to touching of the strings, bridge or tuners. It however does become silent when I touch the jack socket, pick-up covers or the switch and pots. It however doesn’t hum like this, it has a high-pitch something going on and the high harmonics of what relates to a normal buzzing.
ViciousGubbins
July 25, 2013 @ 5:29 am
ahh I see thanks a lot man this really helped. my guitar works fine now =). I should probably take more care of it lol thanks again =)
Fernando Olivo
August 16, 2013 @ 1:54 am
Ive got a les paul supreme 2013´s model, and i hear a strat-like noise when i plug it into my amp. Noise that gets shutted up when i thouch any metal piece on it. I tried connecting every pot to pot and switch with a wire and nothing changed. I opened the guitar and found that the guitar gets noisier when i touch a thin red cable that comes from a thicker cable and that (i think) comes from the switch.
buzz bang
September 1, 2013 @ 4:56 pm
Yeah, I gotta fix my guitars ground too. It bug the hell out of me. Just been lazy the past few weeks.
John Emerson
September 2, 2013 @ 10:55 am
I bought a fender stratacoustic. It has a bad ground that is only fixed when I touch the chord connected to the amp, not the strings. Idk what to do. Any help?
רן דמרי
September 3, 2013 @ 9:28 pm
That was so helpful
Radek Dudziak
September 17, 2013 @ 8:27 am
I have the same problem with my bass guitar, thx for this video
Radek Dudziak
September 17, 2013 @ 8:27 am
I have the same problem with my bass guitar, thx for this video
raylon wauford
September 23, 2013 @ 12:40 pm
i have a problem with my bass amp. it makes a kind of static noise when i turn the volume up, any help on how to get rid of this noise would be appreciated.
John
September 26, 2013 @ 4:08 pm
If it’s making “crunchy static” noises only when turning the pot, you may be able to clean the pot, or you can replace it. If it’s continuous static when you turn the amp up loud, I guess it’s probably just hiss, which is common with amps at high gain.
Ryan Bills
September 29, 2013 @ 5:30 pm
I have that exact same noise from my guitar!! The only metal that stops the noise from happening is when I touch the metal on the output jack. Touching the strings or the tuning pegs doesn’t do anything. Just when I touch the output jack then it stops buzzing.
I had a lose ground wire and I just re-soldered my output jack’s ground back on and I still have the exact same problem.
MrWeThePeople23
October 7, 2013 @ 10:06 am
If you don’t have a earth wire connected to the bridge on your guitar, can it also cause your amp to be quiet? As i recently sent off my 120 Watt Randall head to get fixed because it had some volume problems, but could the loose earth cable in my guitar be the cause of this problem? 🙁
John
October 24, 2013 @ 8:38 am
Missing bridge wire probably would not cause your amp to be quiet- I’d suspect some other problem with the amp. (Try plugging another guitar or audio source into the amp to confirm). Hopefully, by now, your amp has been fixed. 🙂
MrWeThePeople23
October 26, 2013 @ 12:13 pm
Thanks for the advice :D. I got my amp fixed by a very enthusiastic technician, who said that the problem was just the head send/return jacks. So its all good now :). But thanks for the advice, much appreciated 🙂
Bartek W.
October 29, 2013 @ 3:06 pm
I changed pickups in my LP to two humbuckers with phase invertion. All the components are grounded correctly – there’s connection between pots, 3way, shield-wire and sleeve. I also grounded dpdt switch case. However, when I touch any of metal components (except pickguard’s screws 😉 there’s a big hum. It’s bigger in medium positions of volume pots, smaller on max volume and none on muting. It’s urgent, I’ve recording session in two weeks! 🙁
Bartek W.
October 29, 2013 @ 3:09 pm
Phase switch is soldered correctly – with “crossing” of wires on dpdt.
Macjohn
November 1, 2013 @ 9:16 pm
Thanks for the video John, I hope you can answer this question. I have the opposite problem from your video where if I’m touching the strings or bridge, the noise goes away but comes back if I remove my hands.
I have two identically wired strats (one is MIM, one is USA) that I wired myself. The MIM one has this problem, the USA one is dead silent (comparing both with hum canceling on in pickup selector positions 2 and 4). Both have ground wires running to the tremolo claw.
Any suggestions? I have several other guitars and some do this, some don’t. I’d love to track it down.
John
November 4, 2013 @ 12:28 pm
I wonder if there’s a difference with the shielding?
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php
-John
Christine Berry
December 13, 2013 @ 1:02 am
Thanks. Just what I needed to know.
theroan
December 28, 2013 @ 3:57 pm
So how do you use the multimeter to test the connections? What should it be
reading?
Nicholas Wong
January 8, 2014 @ 11:48 am
i have a buzz problem whenever i record on garage band app. it stops
alittle when i touch any metal part. I’m using a fender with humbucker
pickups. I’ve been told it’s normal cause of the pickups. but is there
anyway to get stop the buzz? I know you explained that there is a probably
a problem with the wiring, but i’m fairly new at guitaring and i don’t know
how to fix the wiring..
Eric Griffin
January 17, 2014 @ 1:05 am
I changed my cable when I have this problem. It works for me. Guess my
problem was my cable since I stepped on it until it’s head was almost
dislocated. I also tried restarting (on-off-on) my amp and leaving my
effect pedals on. That stopped my buzzing for a decent amount of time.
ferdous Sasy
January 21, 2014 @ 12:07 pm
can sombody explain me exactly how to do it
YakMan NC
January 30, 2014 @ 3:40 pm
I have an Ibanez RG270 with 3 pickups. I took it to Guitar Center to
replace the bridge pickup only to SD JB. Upon coming home and plugging it
in, the bridge pickup and neck were both quiet. However when flipping the
switch to the middle position I’m hearing a lot of buzz/hum, even with my
hand covering the strings.
Is this ground noise that’s causing it? It wasn’t happening before. I
called the guy that did the repair and he tried to explain it’s because
single coil pickups will buzz/hum more than humbuckers. I told him it
wasn’t doing that before!
Al Jadjulie
February 6, 2014 @ 9:04 pm
my problem is when i turn on my amp and connect my guitar all i hear is a
buzz even i turn my guitar volume to ten and as my amp volume gets higher
the buzz also keeps getting higher what can i do please i need immidiate
help please
Nik DeVriese
February 17, 2014 @ 12:28 pm
I still have this problem and cannot for the life of me figure out where
the problem is in the circuit.
David Campbell
March 12, 2014 @ 7:17 pm
I have a similar problem, but i get no sound from the strings when i strum.
Any tips?
Steve MingsFlutemaker
April 10, 2014 @ 8:42 pm
Hey, I have that problem with My electric Fender Acoustic. The pickup in
where a strap would go, and the ground noice is bugging the hell out of Me
when I have it running in the mixer board I got. I was wondering, could you
geive Me some instructions on what wires i’d need to check?
Chris Webb
April 29, 2014 @ 12:02 pm
Thanks! Very informative and to the point..
notanotherreviewer
May 9, 2014 @ 3:57 am
What if the electrical plug itself is not properly grounded? Wouldn’t that
make it buzz regardless of internal electronic setup?
Slagger77
June 25, 2014 @ 7:45 am
hey champ nice vid, my problem is like this, as soon as i tush the metal
strings knobs so on the opisate happens, like a click sound, its like i
have static when i dont tutch the metal
Slagger77
June 25, 2014 @ 7:47 am
ohh yeah guitar is yamaha RGX a2 and amp is line6 spider 3 180W
Slagger77
June 25, 2014 @ 8:11 am
i know its a guitar problem do to if i turn down vol on guitar, the problem
stops
Jim Nastique
July 1, 2014 @ 12:33 pm
Of course, it helps!… Thanks.
Andy Peet
July 4, 2014 @ 1:10 pm
Perfect thanks!
youssef kamal
September 1, 2014 @ 6:05 am
i have a problem is that in my country there is no ground or earth and i
bought the guitar and amp from canada ,, am i stuck with that buzz ?
Robert Kelly
September 8, 2014 @ 6:54 pm
okay, so i have two questions. First, you video. When ground was off, you
had increased noise in most spots, except where you touched the volume and
tone on top, I believe, where the noise seemed to disappear. Is this just
the video, or did it really disappear? If it did, I am wondering why,
considering all ground was gone. Second, I have a new strat (MIM), and I
get a hum that disappears whenever I touch a metal part. Is this because
of the computers in the room? Or is there something else I should
consider? I’d turn them off to test, but then I’d lose this message. I
will update soon as I do.
Robert Kelly
September 8, 2014 @ 7:11 pm
Well, tried it out. Computer was definitely making the noise. Turned the
gain and volume way up, and had no noise. Not bad for an MIM strat. I
also found that if I grab the body/neck tightly, it does hum. I guess that
is the fact that I am NOT connected to ground myself? It does go away when
I touch the strings. Am I on the spot with this analysis?
Daniel Pendzich
October 19, 2014 @ 12:48 pm
I get this buzz from my amp, even when a guitar cable is not connected.
What can I do?
Rondo McBower
October 24, 2014 @ 1:59 am
If you have black hardware that type of hardware could be an issue. Some
cheaper made guitars use black hardware that is PAINTED black not blued
using a form of rusting like what some guns use. Blued hardware can carry a
ground better then painted hardware. I have a Dean Vendetta guitar with all
black hardware and even though its grounded threw the bridge it buzzes no
matter what unless you touch the jack when its plugged in. I had to remove
the bridge and lightly sand all the points where the bridge and saddles
touch, i even had to lightly sand the tips of the saddles where the strings
lay over the saddles. NOW finally the guitar is quiet and noise free. It
took alot of work but it was worth it because its a cool guitar for the
money.
flashy5150
November 4, 2014 @ 8:04 pm
I have a similar problem too except my guitar is noisy and when I touch the
strings the noise goes away. I think there is a bad volume pot in there so
maybe that’s the problem? It seems that the volume pot for the bridge
pickup doesn’t turn all the way off and excessive noise until I touch the
strings. Any help is welcomed. Thanks
Isaac Cook
November 7, 2014 @ 5:43 pm
Hey I have a pair of Seymour Duncan active pickups that I self wired, I
thought I did a pretty good job wiring it, but when I turn my volume up I
notice a hum, the hum is more obvious when I specifically tap my neck
volume knob (it’s metal). I also noticed that if I bump the 1/4 inch going
into my amp head, it makes a strange sort of being sound. To me it sounds
like my pot has a loose ground and my amp also might need rewired. Any
ideas?
Zach Pritchard
November 14, 2014 @ 10:54 am
Help! I’m pretty sure that everything in my guitar is grounded and wired
correctly, but i’m still getting buzzing. Nothing changes to the sound when
I touch any metal components, and i’ve changed the battery but it still
buzzes. What would you recommend?!
John lennon
November 28, 2014 @ 8:06 am
thanks john for the tutorial will try it out see if it resolves the
problem,its real real bad when on overdrive mode amp…
Majeed Ali
November 29, 2014 @ 8:28 pm
How can I fix my rat 2??? Everything is okay except the distortion. I want
to fix it coz I really need it. Reply ASAP. Tnx
Tomas Chomic
December 24, 2014 @ 2:07 pm
well it was good that you are good with electronics, but for most of uz a
tutorial of what you did would be more helpfull then just explaining, so no
dude you did not help :\
wahyu agung Sugama
January 3, 2015 @ 1:02 am
man.. what did you clip on the back of the pot? i mean literally.. is that
a magic cable or something? can you please tell me what did you clip on
that? please
Jeff Pilkinton
January 15, 2015 @ 7:26 am
Good video. Very helpful. Thanks
Nowhere Boy
January 15, 2015 @ 4:21 pm
i have a slight issue that i cant seem to work out. i recently installed a
seymour duncan invader bridge pick up and my old fender squire strat and i
completely stripped the stock pick up, 2 tone knobs and 5 way switch and
just left one volume knob and installed the new bridge pick up. i went off
videos and duncans also come with a sheet with instructions wich i
followed. but for some reason i get a slight hum wich stops when i touch
either the metal part of my lead or the metal cover of the jack. if i touch
the bridge it gos a little quieter too. i have also installed a seymour
duncan SH-4 bridge pick up into another guitar i made from parts. the body
already had a cheap humbucker bridge pick up (just the one pick up) and i
took it out and installed the SH-4 but again im getting slight hum even
though i followed the wiring diagram. this guitar also stops buzzing when i
touch the jack area or the lead. its not a loud buzz on either guitars but
its there when it shouldnt be.
RottingCarcass
January 21, 2015 @ 1:57 pm
my issue is the opposite,I also get this noise but when I touch even 1
string,the buzz stops
Jeff Ellis
February 2, 2015 @ 6:41 am
I play a schecter raider, but this vid actually helped a lot, ive been
wiring and adjusting guitar for a couple weeks. and my favorite guitar is
having ground issues. hopefully I can go home and fix it now 🙂 thanks!
Robert T
February 14, 2015 @ 2:01 pm
Good tip
Atacama Humanoid
March 6, 2015 @ 7:36 pm
I have two guitars doing this, a tele and a strat. They are both bought of
ebay; one is just old and the other one had the pickups swapped poorly, it
seems, by someone who forgot the ground. I am worried about getting
electrocuted, so that’s why I found this video… If I solder a wire from
the bridge to the volume pot, will that take care of it? I have 2 guitars
doing this, so I’m hoping this would be the correct solution for both the
tele and strat.
eugene shane borres
March 11, 2015 @ 4:16 am
i have the same problem now i know its a ground issue. how can i get rid of
it?
Peter F
March 12, 2015 @ 5:51 pm
Hey John thanks for the demo and techniques for troubleshooting. I’d like
to make a crazy discovery I made WRT buzz while not touching the strings or
anything metal on the guitar. My soldering iron was causing this issue!
Yes, when I turned the soldering iron on the buzzing was insane, when I
turned it off it went away. Crazy eh?
50nollieman
March 22, 2015 @ 12:17 am
Im getting that same sound but I think its my amp. I bought my amp used and
my guitar was brand new. Any advice on this?
phallystorm
March 31, 2015 @ 2:55 pm
I just rewired my ESP LTD Phoenix with new high quality wire, new CTS 500K
pots, and Sprague .223 capacitor. Still have a ground hum when I let go of
the strings, or any metal parts. Suspecting maybe the input jack. Its a new
guitar too. Everything is wired, everything is grounded {solid solder flow
joints} Scratching my head here…
phallystorm
March 31, 2015 @ 2:55 pm
I just rewired my ESP LTD Phoenix with new high quality wire, new CTS 500K
pots, and Sprague .223 capacitor. Still have a ground hum when I let go of
the strings, or any metal parts. Suspecting maybe the input jack. Its a new
guitar too. Everything is wired, everything is grounded {solid solder flow
joints} Scratching my head here…
richybryan
April 1, 2015 @ 8:41 pm
Thank you this tip really help. I did play the new guitar that I have for a
while and just was stuck even though I was looking at the wire hanging down
in the Guitar. The sticky stap they use seem to be milting by the heat in
my apartment. No even a lose wire .they groung the wire to the Guittar with
a tape holding the gound to the body for proper grounding. Was stuck to see
it. Thank you .
Andrej Savatic
April 20, 2015 @ 1:32 pm
im not sure that this is my problem. i have the same exact buzzing and it
stops when i touch the metal parts but it only happens when the distortion
is on. when i turn off the distortion i hear no buzzing what so ever.
Drew Skidmore
April 22, 2015 @ 8:10 am
Great video! Short, to the point, and very informative. Nice job
illustrating the issue and explaining the phenomenon. Just confirmed my
guitar’s issue is grounding. Time to get to work and fix the issue!
Brian Wasman
April 28, 2015 @ 9:51 pm
thks John
Rob Robinette
May 2, 2015 @ 2:34 pm
Nice demo, thanks.
DANangel7555
May 2, 2015 @ 9:35 pm
What amp do you have?
6 stringer
May 4, 2015 @ 12:54 am
hi. right now i have a mixer and my laptop. i have an acoustic guitar with
a built in pick up. i plugged my acoustic guitar to my mixer, then my mixer
to the laptop. im getting some strange buzzing noise. i know its not an
alien trying to communicate with me but how can i eliminate the sound?
also, when i pluck the strings im hearing very faint sound in my laptop.
please help 🙂 🙁
James Stafford
May 6, 2015 @ 9:54 am
Hey, I have this guitar, and it squeals like a bitch with any bit of gain,
I know it’s the P90s but do you have any idea how to stop the squealing?
Thanks
videobenji
June 11, 2015 @ 10:29 pm
Great video, thanks! I have to say, literally every one of my guitars cause
this type of hum in the amp to varrying degrees. It almost always occurs at
certain pickup positions and not others. A common one with a five way
switch type guitar, is position 1,3,5 are fine, but there’s hum in
positions 2 and 4. But what really baffles me is brand new guitars even
have this problem. Last year I got a brand spankin new american standard
tele and only the middle pickup position didnt cause hum. WTF?
Hvalpikk
June 28, 2015 @ 2:34 pm
John, thank you for sharing this info. It really helped me to to trace the
noise that started after I adjusted the bridge on a Gibson. Looked like the
post had turned and broken off the wire inside. Soldered it back in place
and VIOLA, back to good..
Jy Aomsin
July 3, 2015 @ 10:50 am
Your thumb left hand touching on 6 string ??
sorips95
July 5, 2015 @ 8:35 am
Hello John! Thank you for the video, I think I have a similiar problem to
what appears in the video, only that my guitar won’t play ANY sound at all
and is causing very annoying buzz noices. Do you have any idea of how to
fix this or what it could be? I also don’t want to break anything in the
guitar since it’s quite costly to replace some parts of it. 🙂
Gordon Robinson
July 21, 2015 @ 5:16 pm
Hey John I noticed that when I touch the height adjustment screws on my
bridge pickup the hum I’m getting stops? I know it’s a ground issue but
unsure where to start looking. Thoughts?
SweBass
July 28, 2015 @ 3:19 am
Hi john, thanks for the video.
however my noise doesn’t mutes when i touch my bass parts or turn the
volume down, it shuts itself when i touch the outer part of the jack
plugged in my bass. i checked with all the cables i had and even with a
guitar, same problem, only mutes when i touch the jack. what kind of
problem would that be? thanks