Get The Buzz Out!!!!!!

[6stringdrug]

I just wired up my partscaster and am getting a good bit of buzz out of it. Once I start to play it disappears and, if I touch either the volume or tone control, it stops altogether. As per SD's wiring diagram, all the grounds are soldered to the back of the volume pot. I'm curious if I should run another ground somewhere, but where? Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Is the bridge grounded?

Which SD diagram are you following?

 

[Heywood Jablomie]

Is the bridge ground connected?

Edit: Beat me by a nanosecond

 

[6stringdrug]

How do I ground the bridge? Its a hardtail tele style, dual humbucker, 1 volume, 1 tone, 3way toggle. There is no existing ground off of the bridge. Can I drive a screw in somewhere and ground it that way?

 

[6stringdrug]

I emailed Duncan and they sent me a diagram they said would fit my needs, both the pups are SD's so they had no problem there. They made no mention of a bridge ground, just said to solder all grounds to the back of the volume pot

 

[Heywood Jablomie]

The strings need to be grounded, and it's usually done at the tail piece or the bridge, depending upon the type of guitar/hardware. The ground wire usually goes from the bridge/tail piece to the same pot where the other grounds are.

 

[6stringdrug]

ok, any suggestions on how i go about doing that? theres no route for a wire from the bridge to the cavity. There is a route from the neck cavity to the pots, is grounding to the neck an option? Ill try and upload some pics of the setup.

 

[Heywood Jablomie]

Here's something I found:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=3579.0

I'm not very familiar with the specifics of Telecasters - wish I could help more.

 

[markb]

Tele ground wires are usually routed from the control cavity to under the bridge along with the pickup leads. No soldering required at the bridge. Just strip the wire, flatten the stripped end and sandwich it under the bridge plate keeping it clear of the pickup connections.

 

[6stringdrug]

mark, that makes sense for a standard tele, unfortunately mine is a rear cavity with no pickgaurd. Now I know what the problem is, I am sure I can figure out a solution. Just need to take a step back and look at it for a minute. Thanks for your input y'all!

 

[markb]

Do you mean that the bridge pickup isn't loaded into the bridge plate? If so you'd need to drill a hole through from the control cavity to under the bridge plate. Then proceed as above. The bridge should be grounded.

 

[Duffy]

Ground

My question is: how was the original pickups rigged and grounded?

Humbuckers are going to be hotter and probably need a better ground.

Also, I like the idea of taking off the bridge and drilling a hole at an angle FROM under the bridge TO the control at the correct angle.

This might require a long drill bit and very careful eyeballing of the angle do drill at so that the angle is very shallow in order to hit the control cavity and not dive below it and even possibly thru the back of the guitar.

It would be interesting to see a picture of this guitar.

I would suggest being very very careful if you drill a hole from under the bridge to the control cavity. Think it out, use the shortest route, go slow and make sure that your drill bore angle is lined up with where you want it to enter the control cavity. I wouldn't guess on this. I would eyeball it and keep checking that angle as I went, looking at the bore hole from the side of the guitar at EYE LEVEL, straight on so you can exactly see the angle you are drilling towards the cavity at. That is if drilling to the control cavity is even an option on this particular guitar.

Also, long drill bits are hard to find in various diameters if a long one is needed.

I agree that the bridge probably needs a ground wire going to it from the grounding pot where everything else is grounded. This will ensure a good ground. Without it I can see problems unless there is another way it is done on that particular guitar.

The best way would probably be, as suggested, to ground it by laying the ground wire under the bridge plate with the insulation, of course, stripped back and inch and a half or so in order that the bridge plate contacts a significantly long piece of bare grounding wire, pressing it firmly against the wood of the body beneath the plate.

Just looking at my Fender Telecaster HH with the small bridge located away from the bridge pickup with no pickguard, I notice that the control cavity access plate on the back of the guitar is very close to the bridge, just off to the side underneath the guitar.

It would be a simple job to drill a bore from under the bridge to the control cavity - only maybe two inches max. Very easy to not mess up and easily control the bore angle.

If the OP's guitar has a regular tele type control cavity plate cover on top of the guitar in traditional telecaster configuration, then I'm not sure how far the bore would have to be, but you can eyeball it and see if it is going to be super easy to do.

Hope this helps. A noisy guitar is very frustrating and lots of times it is definitely the ground or grounds that are messed up; wires hooked up wrong, wrong color wires going to the wrong place, etc., since there is no industry standardization for pickup wire coloring.

 

[marnold]

Did the guitar originally have active pickups in it? I know that EMGs don't have to be grounded to the bridge. If you would take the bridge off, you should be able to see where the ground wire originally came through.

 

[6stringdrug]

This was a from scratch parts build. Meaning, I bought raws parts and finished/modified to fit. I left my camera at my sis's house, getting it back this weekend, I will post pics ASAP. It's a pretty cool setup, dual HB's, hardtail strat-style bridge, 1 tone, 1 volume, 3 way toggle set up in a rear cavity. very clean looking. It actually sounds really good except for that buzz when it just sits there. I think the angled drill hole from the bridge to the cavity is going to be my way to go. I really dont want the EVH look with wires and junk everywhere. It was cool for him, but not for me! hehehe. I have a bit long enough and it's only a couple of inches.

 

[marnold]

Aha. Then yeah, you need that ground wire. It's a little easier with a trem because then the ground is just soldered to the trem claw. In your case, Markb's directions are the way to go.