Another Noisy Strat !

DrBob

Think my problem is different enough to @BigMonka 's to be worth a separate thread but if I'm being a real div please don't hesitate to mug me off in the most public & embarassing way possible.

Right so here's the sketch, My endless bitsa Strat build has entered the next phase. same body as last time but a lovely new neck from @GSPBasses with a frankly stellar finish applied by @lamf68, and the same Mojo 50's Strat pickup set & loom BUT with a new pickguard with a reverse angle bridge pickup.

Anyway, it's really noisy whenever I'm not touching any of the strings or the trem,jack socket, or indeed trem springs.
Now the thing is that the last time I built this I bought one of the shielding kits where you paint the pickup & control cavity with a graphite type paint & apply copper tape to the underside of the pickguard and as memory serves it wasn't especially noisy.
But with the shift to a reverse angle bridge pickup I've had to have at the pickup cavity with a dremel to allow the pickup to fit and the new plate doesn't have the copper screen on the underside.

Would these factors make a huge difference and do I need to touch in the bare wood gaps in the cavity insulation & shield the underside of the pickup or has the six months these bits have been kicking around the parts bin cause an earth malfunction somewhere ?

Your help is greatly appreciated as I'm keen to show this guitar off but I have a mental block about doing it until I've sorted the noise issue..

BigMonka

Is all the earthing in place properly? Trem block earthed, pits earthed, pickups earthed, correctly earthed to the jack socket etc?

DrBob

I think so but I don't have a multimeter to prove continuity

ThePrettyDamned

It will be noisy when you're not touching.  When you do, if it's grounded properly, it should be much quieter. 

DrBob

The noise does go away when I touch any of the metal parts on the guitar

ThePrettyDamned

DrBob;468366" said:

The noise does go away when I touch any of the metal parts on the guitar

That's fine then. It means it's grounded properly. I don't know if there is a way to reduce noise when you're not touching it, though.

stickyfiddle

It's a shielding problem, and definitely grounded ok. When you touch the metal, you're added to the ground of the guitar, and your body acts as a big old shield.

I'm not clear what the status of shielding is atm, but you need more/better to get the noise to go away.

DrBob

Okay, thanks all for responding.
It's gratifying to know that the circuit is functioning as it should but it sounds like I need to buy another shielding kit and redo the plate !

stickyfiddle

Just re-read the OP. Entirely possible you've now got no shielding, if the old plate was also used to conduct the painted bits to ground.

I generally find shielding on the guard alone is enough.

DrBob

@stickyfiddle. Ok cool thanks mate, I shall order up another sheet of adhesive coppery stuff and have at the plate, see if that sorts it. Can't wait to show it to you all @GSPBasses & @lamf68 really have excelled themselves this time. '