FINALLY! Annoying hum located and fixed.

Been hearing a hum on on of my SG's for a couple of weeks which sounded a bit out of place. Had been plugging in to a SS amp so that I could use headphones so initially thought that could be the problem.

Last night I changed the strings, did a general setup and plugged into a tube amp - hum was still there! Touched some of the metal parts and the hum went down a bit, touched the pickups and got a very loud buzz.

Checked grounding all over the place, bridge, pots, , spent hours looking at wiring diagrams and even checked the pickups themselves for continuity. Eventually narrowed it down to the ground wire (the shield or braid essentially) that had worn away and was now no longer making contact with the baseplate.

So, strings loosened, pickguard off, pickups pulled out, baseplates removed and there I can see the bugger that was not making contact. Stripped the wire down a bit more and soldered it back on to the baseplate and voilla - no hum!

I should have taken pics to post but I couldn't be arsed.

Oh, and soldering is actually quite easy if you are patient. I'm usually not.

Hope this might help someone one day.


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Comments

  • hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
    It's really satisfying to trace and repair problems yourself.

    electric proddy probe machine

    My trading feedback thread

     

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    TinLip said:
    Touched some of the metal parts and the hum went down a bit, touched the pickups and got a very loud buzz.
    That should have been the instant giveaway! Pickup covers not grounded.

    Glad you got it sorted, sometimes these things can be very baffling until you realise something that should have made it obvious hours earlier. (Me included ;).)

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ICBM;461309" said:
    TinLip said:Touched some of the metal parts and the hum went down a bit, touched the pickups and got a very loud buzz.





    That should have been the instant giveaway! Pickup covers not grounded.

    Glad you got it sorted, sometimes these things can be very baffling until you realise something that should have made it obvious hours earlier. (Me included ;).)
    I forgot to ground the strings on my strat and was rather frustrated with the incredibly loud crackling and popping.

    Worked out what it was when I put my foot on an effects pedal and, even through my socks, suddenly everything sounded good again...
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  • TinLipTinLip Frets: 368
    Yeah, I was trying to isolate exactly where it was before having to take it all apart. They are open pickups so not even an easily accessible cover to test with.

    The baseplates are a bit of a tricky one as the pickups themselves are grounded, and the poles *should/could* touch the baseplate. I was getting a small buzz when touching the pickups but a much bigger one when I stuck something down into the cavity and got to the baseplate. It had to be grounding but of course....where? And how much of the guitar to I need to take apart to find it?

    Nice to have fixed it now.


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