Hi there,
I’ve got a tom Anderson drop top with 3 x p90s and it’s really noisy. I’ve got a few other single coil guitars and the noise doesn’t bother me (they’re a lot quieter), but this one is constantly buzzing when plugged in.
They’re supposed to be Anderson’s noiseless p90 (PQ1). Ironic.
Even when selecting the in between pickup position it keeps buzzing.
I emailed Tom Anderson but he wasn’t much help. He suggested maybe shielding the pickup cavities.
If I touch the strings or metal parts the buzz reduces but doesn’t disappear entirely.
I opened up the back and found what looks like a total horllicks of a wiring job.
https://imgur.com/gallery/xFe3Hs7Could this be solved by rewiring more tidily, twisting the wires, copper foil on the back cover, etc.
Please don’t say that it’s all part of the p90 experience.
I think I’m probably headed towards a set of kinmans.
Comments
Rewiring it neatly and fully shielding the control cavity with copper tape is where I would start, since it does sound like a shielding issue.
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
- Dual coils
- a hidden dummy coil, acting in opposition to all three visible pickups.
Probably not.A few more photographs from other angles might help with remote diagnosis. In the mean time, how many conductor wires emerge from the outer insulation on the cables from each pickup?
The four pole Superswitch only makes sense if there is some coil splitting going on in some of the pickup permutations.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
The pickups appear to be wired as series humbuckers with no splits - green and white wires connected and insulated - although only one is totally visible.
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
They are 4 wire pickups and from my original examination they are wired using all 4 wires.
I think the superswitch might be used as there is a push pull on the tone pot to engage the bridge pickup (i.e. to allow neck and bridge pickup to be used together)
I agree with @Jimbro66 - the soldering looks really amateurish to me. The solder on the back of the pot is burnt. I bought the guitar second hand so it's very possible that someone messed with it. In fact the previous owner had completely messed up the trem setup too.
Control cavity appears to have black conductive paint in there, but the control cavity cover is not shielded.
I must admit I don't fancy the whole project of taking pickups out, shielding everything and then rewiring everything, but I think it's my best chance. And it's a fantastic guitar to play in every other way.
I wish that there was a way of switching the pickups between series and parallel, but I've investigated previously and it's not possible with 2 push/pulls as far as I know.
Allen
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