I've given up, noisy electronics has me...

[questmann]

Hi everybody, sorry my first post here is one of doom and gloom but my latest guitar has kicked my butt. I've wired lots of guitars in my day, in fact my main Tele I built and works fine (buzzes a little with the volume off, or when it's up and my hand is not on the strings but it's very managable) but this firebird that I just built screams like abanshee.

I started out with a copper tape line cavity, neck and bridge Duncan humbuckers with sperate tone and volumes for each. Soldered it up all nice and it buzzed like an alarm clock after a night of heavy drinking. So I removed the tape and re-wired, same result. So I put in a new bridge pick up and wired only that one in. Same thing. Then I took all the electrics out of another guitar that was ultra quiet and agian, noisy as hell. So this weekend I wired another new pickup to a new volume pot to a new out put jack and I even jumped a wire to one of the tremlo springs and it did the same thing! it's noisy as hell even with my hand on the volume pot or strings and if I take my hand off it buzzes as loud as the signal. I've officially lost my mind and I'm ready to drop this thing off somewhere to have it wired.

Can anyone help me or recommend someone near Allentown, PA 18103. thanks for reading.

Derek

[sumgai]

Derek,

Hi, and welcome to the GuitarNutz2 forums!

.......
I've officially lost my mind......

And you've also offically reversed the output jack connections. If the buzzing increases every time you touch some metal part, then you're touching the hot side of the output signal, not the ground side.

Simple as that.


sumgai

[questmann]

it's actually quieter with my hand on it. Can I do the Quieting the Beast mod on a humbucker/single volume/output jack set up or is that a waste?

I guess I'm going to give it one more shot tonight and if it doesn't work I'm pretty sure I will throw it out the window of my car as I race to the bar for a drink.

if I wire it like this www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUH0101
and instead of wiring the grounds normally I connect them all to a .33uf 400v cap which has the other end connected to the foil lined cavity. And a wire from the tremlo to the foil also. And the shielded 2 conductor wire from the pot to the output jack with the shield and the ground lead soldered together at the output jack. and no wires soldered to the back of the pot. Does that sound about right?

[sumgai]

Derek,

it's actually quieter with my hand on it.

Hmmmm, somehow I got a different impression from your first post, but what the hey.....

Can I do the Quieting the Beast mod on a humbucker/single volume/output jack set up or is that a waste?

It's never a waste to shield a guitar, any guitar (or bass).

I guess I'm going to give it one more shot tonight and if it doesn't work I'm pretty sure I will throw it out the window of my car as I race to the bar for a drink.

Yeeeeessss, that might work. OTOH, somebody might see you and think that you're pulling a Lorena Bobbitt!

if I wire it like this www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUH0101 and instead of wiring the grounds normally I connect them all to a .33uf 400v cap which has the other end connected to the foil lined cavity. And a wire from the tremlo to the foil also. And the shielded 2 conductor wire from the pot to the output jack with the shield and the ground lead soldered together at the output jack. and no wires soldered to the back of the pot. Does that sound about right?

Too much description! But that diagram looks half-baked. Instead, take a gander at this, and see if it doesn't look like it will do the job for you: "Quieting the Beast". You'll note that it's all gussied up for a SSS Strat, but it really doesn't matter what pickups are installed, it's the principles of shielding (and protection) that are important.

If you've got one or more humbuckers, make sure that they are operating correctly before you get into making any mods to the pickup selection switches. IOW, make sure the basic stuff works like it should, before you heat up your soldering iron.

HTH


sumgai