stratotak
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
|
Post by stratotak on Oct 4, 2008 3:22:36 GMT -5
I decided to clean guitar..I took it all apart and soaked tremolo and jack and 3-way switch in soapy water over night to clean gunk off..So before the cleaning it was quiet,not a trace of hum..Now after wiring it it has a low hum..Not anywhere near as loud as a single coil..but it wasnt there before..It will go away when i touch bridge or jack..If I touch the top of my neck pick,a hot rails type ,it buzzes loudly..like when you touch the lead on a pickup wire..and i know it never did that be..I have rechecked jack and connections are right..Pulled pickups to make sure none of the wire covering had worn away and was touching other wires..but all looks ok..I gave up after about the fifth attempt and will come back to it another day..I was getting frustrated trying to find problem..I had wired the neck pickup straight to the jack and hum went away..I wired it bypassing volume pot thinking it might be it..but didnt matter..Could soaking 3-way switch in soapy water mess up switch??Its not the sealed type..Its the lever type.a fender 3-way
|
|
|
|
Post by ashcatlt on Oct 7, 2008 14:53:12 GMT -5
Did you ever figure this out? I suspect a few things. First, this ..If I touch the top of my neck pick,a hot rails type ,it buzzes loudly..like when you touch the lead on a pickup wire.. Leads me to believe you may have inverted the wiring of this pickup at least. How many wires does it have? Better yet, can you show us a picture. The rest of it, I wonder if either you've got a cold solder joint somewhere, or the soap maybe left a residue and/or caused some oxidation so there's some resistance somewhere there hadn't ought to be. That or you forgot how much noise there was before.  |
|
|
|
Post by gumbo on Oct 8, 2008 8:47:50 GMT -5
SOAPY WATER  ...A reasonably quick check to see WTF is going on might just be to buy a can of electrical contact cleaner and spray everything that you previously soaked in water...hopefully that will remove any soap (and/or other!) residue  ...If the problem persists, see ashcatlt's post again..... |
|
stratotak
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
|
Post by stratotak on Oct 16, 2008 1:29:17 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by andy on Oct 16, 2008 5:08:15 GMT -5
I like the colour you have there, stratotak. I often don't like the shape of 80's 'Super Strat' guitars, but that one is sleek and cool!
As gumbo said above, the soap may well have left a residue in the switch which is conducting electricity the wrong way- a good spray with contact cleaner could help. It's not too expensive, but do make sure it is contact/switch cleaner rather than WD40, as I've heard the WD40 can leave a residue which is conductive itself.
Looking at your closeups, (and I'm hardly one to talk, here) but the soldering on the switch could be an issue. The case is looking a little burnt in places, and there are some big blobs of solder to the left of the switch. I can't see what is happening on the other side, but extraneous solder like that close to metal parts could be a very likely cause. A clean and re-solder, or given the possible internal damage from the burning, a fresh switch and careful re-solder would probably be a good idea.
|
|
stratotak
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
|
Post by stratotak on Oct 16, 2008 6:11:26 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by ashcatlt on Oct 16, 2008 23:23:44 GMT -5
I'm hoping that replacing that switch will help. If nothing else, you'll be completely re-doing the connections and can be very careful that you get it hooked correctly and don't inadvertently reverse the output of the switch on its way to the pot and jack.
Please try not to do whatever it was that burned this switch so badly.
I do think that the noise which goes away when you touch the bridge is being induced within the control cavity. Shield it. Are the cables from the pickups shielded? Connect the bare shield wires to the shielding inside this cavity and the whole shebang to the ring of the jack.
Then, find something to do with that toggle. Like I said in the other thread, I don't think we can let you walk out of here with a switch you're not using!
Is it a 2-way or a 3-way? I don't really know what I'd do with a 3-way........................................................................................................ But with a 2 way you could have coil split for one or both pickups, phase reverse for one pickup, series/parallel, tone switch (see your other post), kill switch...
|
|
stratotak
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
|
Post by stratotak on Oct 17, 2008 0:15:59 GMT -5
yeah..Its a 3-way..I picked up one this afternoon along with the 500k pot.$11 for a Fender 500k pot,WD Music 3-way and a set of Ernie Ball strings.I wired it up this evening and all is good.Still not going to win awards on soldering skills..lol..I have the neck wired permanently in parallel..For that pickup and in that position and to my ears it sounds best like that.I might use DTDP on bridge in future.   |
|
|
|
Post by gumbo on Oct 17, 2008 5:29:03 GMT -5
Well done S-T... ;D ...knew you'd get there in the end! ...maybe you could use that extraneous switch to induce hum when you WANT it..  ...and yes, 'contact cleaner' IS NOT WD40.. ..one brand (CRC) is known as 2-26 here in Oz if anyone is interested..... |
|
|
|
Post by ChrisK on Oct 17, 2008 18:02:37 GMT -5
One of the neat things that soapy water does for free is................cause rust.
Many things in guitar wiring are not iron-based, but some are.
Cheaper switch contacts, switch frames, and wire (copper plated steel alloy) will rust.
And , corrosion being corrosion, the type of soap may have exacerbated things.
|
|
stratotak
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
|
Post by stratotak on Oct 17, 2008 18:19:21 GMT -5
Only thing about splitting humbucker to get a single coilish sound is the extra noise..i just find it not worth it for me.That neck pickup in series sounds to dark ,but sounds good in parallel..its alnico 5 at 12.5k..ive noticed that Duncan,Dimarzio..use ceramic for there hot rail type pickups..must be a good reason for it..they must work best for that type of pickup..I might just go buy a strat copy and use it in bridge position on it..I have a Pawn Shop here that has small music section that sells NY Pro guitars..strat copy for $130.Basically on same level as one of those SX strat copies.Alder body with decent necks..and of the ones I have owned tuners stayed in tune..just crappy nut and electronics..
|
|
