Quieting the Beast HELP! Still noisy!

[apathesis]

After putting it off for over a year, I finally got my guitar rewired with my new Seymour Duncan Classic Stack Plus pickups. Problem is, after all the shielding and rewiring, it still hums way more than it should for hum-cancelling pickups. Of course, my 1987x reissue does have a little noise itself, but it is nothing compared to the noise that my guitar is making.

The Classic stacks have four cables. Red, white, black, and bare, which is just shielding braid. Should the braid be connected to somewhere other than the ring terminal? The GuitarNuts page seemed to suggest so, but I found the whole thing to be rather confusing because of the lack of consistent language (in one picture a wire is highlighted yellow, in the next its purple, positive is called hot, etc.) Also, I don't have that .33uf cap since I can't find one anywhere, so i guess I need to order it. I tried attaching a wire from the star ground to the volume pot in place of the cap, but this did not reduce hum.

Please help. I am incredibly frustrated and I hate soldering. My friend spent two days working on my guitar and it's still a noisy bastard.

Also, a handy note: when I touch my output jack plate, the sound goes away like 95%. Almost dead quiet.

[newey]

apathesis-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

These noise issues can be difficult to diagnose over the web. First of all, when you say that it gets much quieter when you touch the jack plate, should I take this to mean that it is no quieter when you touch the strings or the bridge?

If touching the jack plate has an effect but touching the strings or bridge does not, it suggests that there may be an issue with your bridge ground. If you have a meter, you should check that there is little or no resistance between the bridge and the out jack sleeve (i.e., no more than a few ohms.)

Other than the type of pickups, you haven't told us what type of guitar you have or what you did to shield it.

The .33µf capacitor is used to help protect against shock hazards and has nothing to do with noise reduction. A wire from the star ground to the V pot should have solved any grounding issue there.

The braided shield on the pickups can be connected anywhere there is a ground (so long as you are not using the .33 cap, if you use the cap, it must be attached to the ring terminal to provide protection.)

[apathesis]

USA Strat. Shielded with conductive adhesive backed copper foil. I believe touching the strings does not effect the buzzing, only touching the jack plate reduces the sound.

Guess I got a bit ahead of myself and forgot to mention those important details.

How do I ground the bridge? I have a vibrato bridge, or what Fender wrongly calls a tremelo bridge.

Which part of the jack is the out sleeve? Is it the piece that is connected to the long piece of metal that touches your cable when it is plugged into the input jack?

[newey]

Which part of the jack is the out sleeve? Is it the piece that is connected to the long piece of metal that touches your cable when it is plugged into the input jack?

The sleeve connection (aka the barrel connection) is the "ground" or negative connection to the output jack of your guitar. Your guitar has only an output jack; your amp has an input jack.

The long piece of metal connects to the other connection, to the tip of the jack. which is normally used for the "hot".

The standard 1/4" phone plug, and phone jacks, used in guitars are called "TS" type jacks/plugs, for "tip/sleeve", designating the 2 connections.

Stereo plugs and jacks add a third connection, the "ring", and are thus "TRS" type jacks and plugs.

Sorry for any confusion!

How do I ground the bridge? I have a vibrato bridge, or what Fender wrongly calls a tremelo bridge.

Ah, yes, the "TremoLeo". Usually, these have a wire that is soldered to the spring claw (the claw has a little tab for this connection). The wire then goes through a hole in the back cavity to the front cavity, where it is grounded, either to a star grounding point or to the back of a pot.

The strings are thus grounded through the bridge saddles, which connect to the bridge and trem block, and then through the springs to the spring claw, and then through the wire to ground.

If you do not now have such a connection, it could well explain your noise!

[apathesis]

Fixed the problem. I guess not having a wire in place of that .33uf cap was causing it. For the rest of my problems, I guess my amp is just noisy . The first High Treble input channel is noisier than an orgy in a bird bath. Guess that will have to fixed.