Tele Deluxe hum and shielding - NOW SOLVED

NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
edited June 2017 in Making & Modding
My Tele Deluxe hums but only when I'm not touching anything metal. As soon as I touch the bridge, strings or tuners the hum stops.

From what I've read this suggests a shielding, rather than grounding issue. Suggested solutions seem to be:
1. Replace the long, unshielded wire from the jack to the selector with a shielded one
2. Shield the back of the pickguard and control cavities with copper tape
Would these mods fix the hum?

I don't really know what I'm doing and am a little cack handed with a soldering iron, so I'm thinking it may be better to take it to a guitar tech.

Would appreciate any advice - either to make me more confident to take this on myself, or to point me in the direction of a decent guitar tech (NW London - Bucks) who could do this work.
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Comments

  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    In case anyone is interested. I finally took my guitar to a tech.

    As ICBM has said on here previously the tele deluxe has an unshielded wire that runs from the jack socket to the switch. So we're going to replace this with a shielded one and shield the cavities, which should fix the hum.

    Will post updates here when done.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    NelsonP said:
    My Tele Deluxe hums but only when I'm not touching anything metal. As soon as I touch the bridge, strings or tuners the hum stops.
    This phenomenon is symptomatic of poor grounding. The reduction in hum when you touch any metal parts of the guitar is because you have become part of the ground path. Use a D.C. resistance meter to check all solder joints for continuity and/or drying.

    The unshielded output cable is less than ideal. Replacing it should bring some improvement.

    As always, remote diagnosis is difficult without photographs of the actual instrument under discussion.
    Be seeing you.
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  • Always best to take a to a good tech if unsure..
    Nice guitars .I have the classic player thinline tele deluxe. Tele headstock 2x wide range pickups (supposedly?)
    2xvolume,2 x tone controls... maple neck.  Cool guitars.. .
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71960
    The unshielded cable from the jack to the switch on these is ridiculous! Just replacing this with proper shielded cable should cure most of the problem. Shielding the cavities (including under the pickups) as well will do the rest.

    Fender please take note :).

    "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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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    Thanks v much. Picking it up tomorrow so will report back.

    Odd that fender don't put a shielded cable on themselves. The savings must be tiny!
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  • UnclePsychosisUnclePsychosis Frets: 12881
    NelsonP said:
    My Tele Deluxe hums but only when I'm not touching anything metal. As soon as I touch the bridge, strings or tuners the hum stops.
    This phenomenon is symptomatic of poor grounding. The reduction in hum when you touch any metal parts of the guitar is because you have become part of the ground path. Use a D.C. resistance meter to check all solder joints for continuity and/or drying.

    The unshielded output cable is less than ideal. Replacing it should bring some improvement.

    As always, remote diagnosis is difficult without photographs of the actual instrument under discussion.

    ---it's not symptomatic of poor grounding. The fact that the hum stops when you touch metal indicates that it's properly grounded. Your body acts like a big antenna for noise which is picked up by the guitar, until you touch the grounded (metal) parts, grounding yourself and removing the noise. 
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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    edited June 2017
    So, I got my guitar back. The unshielded cable is gone and  has been replaced with a shielded one. The cavities have also been shielded (with paint).

    The hum is gone. Completely.

    Thanks to @ICBM for the advice. My guitar tech tested everything, couldn't find the source of the hum and was about to give up and put it all back together until I pointed out the unshielded cable.
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