Are WRH pickups especially noisy

ewal

I built a Toronado based partscaster fitted with Mojo Wide Range Humbuckers and I had it out the house for the first time at rehearsal last week. I was getting a nasty buzz when not touching strings - when playing at home I thought this was because I was right beside my laptop, so I was disappointed that I was also getting noise in the studio.

I will check all the ground connections, but are WRH pickups especially noisy? Should I be thinking about shielding the control cavity?

earwighoney

It sounds like a grounding issue, maybe the ground wire from the bridge hasn't been earthed properly? 

Winny_Pooh

Def not the pickups unless you have done something odd w 4 conductor wiring. 

FX_Munkee

Odd, I have a pair of Mojo WRH's in my 72 Deluxe. It has no shielding other than the back of the pickguard and is really, really quiet.

Sporky

earwighoney said:

It sounds like a grounding issue, maybe the ground wire from the bridge hasn't been earthed properly? 

The bridge must be grounded or the noise wouldn't go away when touching the strings.

Andyjr1515

Sporky said:

earwighoney said:

It sounds like a grounding issue, maybe the ground wire from the bridge hasn't been earthed properly? 

The bridge must be grounded or the noise wouldn't go away when touching the strings.

Hi, @Sporky - that's intrigued me / confused me.  

I had always understood that if it buzzed a lot when not touching the strings and the buzz went away when you DID touch the strings, it could be a sign that the strings/bridge weren't earthed.

Is that an old wives' tale?

Sporky

Yes, or at least a common misconception. People seem to think that touching the strings grounds the guitar, even if you're wearing shoes and not standing on a grounded metal plate.

What's happening is that when you touch the bridge or strings you are grounded through the guitar lead and amp. Your body then acts as a shield, which prevents quite a lot of noise from reaching the pickups.

If the noise goes away when you touch the strings then it's a shielding issue.

Andyjr1515

Sporky said:

Yes, or at least a common misconception. People seem to think that touching the strings grounds the guitar, even if you're wearing shoes and not standing on a grounded metal plate.

What's happening is that when you touch the bridge or strings you are grounded through the guitar lead and amp. Your body then acts as a shield, which prevents quite a lot of noise from reaching the pickups.

If the noise goes away when you touch the strings then it's a shielding issue.

Fascinating!  One lives and learns . Thanks, @sporky ;

ewal

So I shielded the pickguard, pickup and control cavities and it's much much better, Wahoo!!

TheBigDipper

ewal said:

So I shielded the pickguard, pickup and control cavities and it's much much better, Wahoo!!

My Tele Deluxe FSR had similar issues (before I changed the wiring loom and pups). If you've got the standard Deluxe "quasi-Les Paul" control setup, there's a lot of wiring running around the guitar underneath a large unshielded scratchplate. As well as general noise, I could make even more noise by rubbing my hand on the scratchplate (which I do as a byproduct of my right hand playing technique)

Once I shielded it using copper foil it became (and still is) dead quiet.

ewal

Yeah I think it was the relatively long wiring run from the pickup selector switch to the pots going under the scratch plate. It's silent now even with the amp volume on max.