Noisy Guitar

[jawbreak]

I have a fender lead I that is very noisy.

Some characteristics are if i just touch the volume and tones knobs I get sounds out the amp. Also I always get loud high pitch noises.

Anyone have an suggestions on how to fix this? I was going to use pot cleaner. I read the article on potting pickups and not sure if I should do that as well? Also I want to rewire some of the wires inside, what type of wire is recommended for this?

Thanks.

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

jawbreak said:

I have a fender lead I that is very noisy.

What's that got on it for pickups? I can't picture that model. (Looking at the Musician's Friend catalog I just got, they've only got about a million different ones these days. And that's just Fender's lines!)

Some characteristics are if i just touch the volume and tones knobs I get sounds out the amp.

That kinda sounds (pardon the expression) like a grounding problem.

Also I always get loud high pitch noises.

Like feedback, or . . . ?
I just remembered the troubleshooting checklists on the GuitarNuts site: .

Anyone have an suggestions on how to fix this? I was going to use pot cleaner. I read the article on potting pickups and not sure if I should do that as well? Also I want to rewire some of the wires inside, what type of wire is recommended for this?

I'd say go through the checklist first, to get a handle on just what might be causing all that ruckus. Pot cleaner will help wirh noisy (scratchy) pots and maybe some other problems, but you could have other things going on in there: microphonic pickup(s), pickup height out of adjustment, and so on.
Potting ("coil saturation") the pickups, if they weren't done at the factory, can't hurt and will probably help, but you might find that some of the noise will be cured by a quicker, cheaper fix.
For wire: shielded. Okay, there's more to it than that, but for now, we'll leave it at "get the good stuff."

Run the checklist, and let us know what turns up. There are others here who can provide more (and better) advice, but this'll get you started.

--
Doug C.

[jawbreak]

Thanks for the reply. I have a JCM 800 amp that I use at the studio now, so I plan on going over the checklist next time I'm there. I'll post reply then.

Like you said I'm pretty sure a lot of the problem is grounding, I had to fix that when I first got the guitar and probably wire is lose inside again. It's an old guitar so the components are probably in need of some care and it been pretty banged up from gigging.

The fender lead I was made from 79-81 or so,
single humbucker and I have the exact looking one in the picture here

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Lead_Series

I really love this guitar and I've spent the last few months looking for a replacement and I cant seem to settle on one I like compared to it. I hope I can fix it

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

jawbreak said:

The fender lead I was made from 79-81 or so, single humbucker and I have the exact looking one in the picture here

{schnipped}

I really love this guitar and I've spent the last few months looking for a replacement and I cant seem to settle on one I like compared to it. I hope I can fix it

Amazing what info Wikipedia has, ain't it?
I'm sure it can be fixed, with a little help from the guys here.
We'll keep watching for your update on what you found using the checklist.

[bam]

I'd like to share my ops, too .. (pardon me)

if i just touch the volume and tones knobs I get sounds out the amp.

if the sounds are clunks or scratches, your pots are most probably defective.
if they're hums, it's a grounding problem.

Also I always get loud high pitch noises.

if it's a squeal or feedback-like, then your pickup could probably has lost its factory potting.

For wire: shielded

you'll only need shielded wire for the wire connecting the volume pot to the output jack; for pickup&pot wiring, you'll only need a proper gauge copper wire.