hi
i recently bought a brand new guitar that someone had owned for a week very cheap i already have a les paul which is in great condition. The new guitar is a black Stagg STR-500 which is basically a super cheap prs copy. When i plug it into my amp i get a buzz which is considerably reduced almost dissappears when i touch the strings or the metal caseing around the leads jack, but this does not happen with les paul. Though i can get rid of it by turning the high eq down on my amp. It seems to be that it only works when i'm the earth. I'm gonna try resolder everything this weekend, but i'm still not sure what the problem is. i dont think its interference it has humbuckers and nothing but amp is on and i'm reasnably far away. Has anybody had this happen to them and does anyone know what the problems might be?
A disconnected or missing ground wire, most likely. You shouldn't need to rewire everything; hopefully it's something obvious like a wire hanging loose.
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
i already opened the back and checked for a disconnected wire, though as for a missing wire that i wouldn't have noticed or wireing behind the pickup. One other detail that i do just now remember is when i turn down the tone the buzz goes down untill it dissapears when at 0.
Also another thought though id ont think its related to this, but would like to understand out of my own curiosity. One wire(colored white) is connectedto a peice of metal that only connects to strings and so on so forth yet on my les paul i cant see anything of the sort in the back. Why would the strings have what looks like an earth connected to them? and what would happen it i removed it?
That wire grounds the strings via the bridge. It should be under the bridge, then soldered to a common ground point (usually the back of the volume or tone pot.)
On your LP it's probably connected to one of the bridge posts.
You should see (at least) two wires coming from each of your pickups - one hot, the other ground. Do you see them? Are the grounds all connected?
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
Sorry the picture is so bad i took it just before i went to work
the red and blue wire are from pickups and the live(i think) are connected together at the switch and u cant actually see in in the pic but u can see the wite wires from pickup going to the back of the toggle switch.
where the live from both pick ups connect to the front of the toggle switch and a white wire is connected that cause to the top of the volume pot(far right).
something i observed while looking at this is that if my fingers were close to either of the 2 white wires in the picture that run up the top close together.
one white wire comes from the tone pot(top left pot on image) to the volume pot. The other white wire going from the middle of the toggle switch between the other white wires at the back.
putting my hands near the other wires has no effect on the buzz but putting it close to the other 2 causes the buzz to increase alot. Should these wires have some sort of sheilding? or is there tone pot wireing combinations that get poor interference?
hi
i've been doing some research and this is what i've picked up noise problems from guitars
1. pickups
-single coil pickups give u buzz, double coil pickups counter hum and single coil noiseless pickups not quite sure on how they work
2. tone control
-tone control can pick up alot of noise more than single coil pickups, apparently due to high impedance circuits.
to distinguish what is causing the noise is very easy. Simply turn up your amp with tone full till u get a nice buzz then turn the tone off whats left will be due to pickups whats not will be due to the tone control.
i'm still not sure how to get rid of it. I have heard claims that sheilding your circuits by lining the cavity with with something conductive(copper tape) and connecting it to the earth. I will probably try it if i can ever find copper tape.
If anyone has any input please give it. it would be much appreciated.
i'm still not sure how to get rid of it. I have heard claims that sheilding your circuits by lining the cavity with with something conductive(copper tape) and connecting it to the earth. I will probably try it if i can ever find copper tape.
If anyone has any input please give it. it would be much appreciated.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding.html
Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson
Whoa, I wouldn't shield your guitar just yet, it sounds to me like you either have a ground loop or another WIRING problem: shielding doesn't fix wiring problems, it just helps to cancel out some of the electrical noise caused by single coil pickups (and even some noise from humbuckers). Have a look at all your connections, as well, gently wiggle the wires around and see if there are any loose connections. After that try reversing the leads that go to your output jack: it sounds weird but I have had the exact same problems as you and that fixed it.
Steve-0
