I have a Fender 69 Telecaster Thinline MIM that has a bit of a noise/buzz problem. (The kind of buzz that goes away when you touch the strings.) I know that’s normal to some extent, but this guitar is much noisier than any of my others.
I’m looking for a bit of advice and guidance on how to improve this.
I’ve bought some Oil City ‘Thames Delta’ pickups that I’m going to fit, however I’d like to deal with any noise issues first.
The first thing I have tried is to twist the two wires together going to the output jack, and also from the neck pickup. Unfortunately this made no noticeable difference. At the moment the volume and tone pots are both rated 1 Meg - am I right in thinking this could cause more buzz? Just because of more of the high frequencies coming through?
So basically I want to change the wiring and pots and cap, and then possibly add some copper foil shielding if that doesn’t improve things.
So this is a list of what I think I need:
1. Volume pot 250K audio taper CTS
2. Tone pot 250K audio taper CTS
3. Cap 0.022uF (I don’t want to take too much treble away, so is this better than 0.047uF?)
4. Possibly use shielded cable to output jack. (I’m not totally sure what kind of cable I need for this)
5. Possibly shield cavities with copper foil. (Should I only shield the control cavity, neck pickup cavity, but NOT the bridge pickup cavity?)
6. Possibly fit an Electrosocket
Does that all sound about right? Any help would be gratefully received, and I’ll post the results here…
Comments
The issue will be lack of shielding - most Fenders, especially vintage reissues, are very poorly/almost-non-existently shielded, and don't even have the simplest of measures (twisting the pickup and jack wire pairs) to reduce noise.
Replacing the wires from the jack to the volume pot with shielded cable will make a noticeable difference and will not affect the tone at all. Any shielded cable will do, but braided is best. (If you use bare-outer braided like Gibson, you'll need to sleeve the section in the control cavity to stop it shorting against the pot terminals.)
Replacing the wires to the pickups - especially the neck - with shielded will also make a big difference but may affect the tone very slightly. Shielding all the cavities with foil will make a very big difference and shouldn't noticeably affect the tone, but is much more work.
1M pots are noisier than 250Ks if the shielding is poor, but there's not much difference if it's good.
Personally I would keep the .047uF cap, I think it sounds better than .022uF with Fender-style guitars. It doesn't take away more treble, but more upper mids. .022 sounds too middy when turned down, to me - but some people prefer that.
"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
Here's a photo of the control cavity, I'm not sure what the remnants are of some black tape on the bottom. But my possible problem here is that the cavity doesn't actually have side walls, it continues into the hollow body area. Would I be able to make a 'false wall' of foil on the inner edge?
And is this the right kind of shielded cable?
Single Core Wire 30" With Metal Braided Screen
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Single-Core-wire-30-with-Metal-Braided-Screen-p/metalbraid.htm
I am tempted to suggest twin core plus shield. One conductor for the pickup signal. The other for grounding the start end of the coil. The screen goes to the metal baseplate or cover, respectively.
* Circuit diagram SS3
I forgot that. That does make it more tricky - if you extend the shielding as far as you can into the cavity it should be OK - a 'wall' may be difficult to make.
That will work, but you'll need some outer sleeving as well for areas where it will be near the controls.
You could use standard plastic outer layer coaxial cable, like this - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361549783266
"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
I've got all this bits and bobs I need and I've made a start with the shielding. It's not as neat as it could've been, but I think it's an alright first attempt.
My first question is - do I need to link the three cavities together, with a wire going from the neck pickup to the control cavity, and a wire going from the bridge to the control cavity? Just soldered on?
The neck pickup screening might be best soldered in the "tunnel" under the pickguard.
My preference would be to ground all of the copper foil directly to the output jack socket rather than via the controls themselves. This will simply servicing.
And ideally, you need to put a small spot of solder across the join between any two pieces of foil. (This is less of a faff than it sounds, it solders easily.) The supposedly conductive adhesive seems to dry out over time and become non-conductive, so if you haven't deliberately connected all the pieces together you can end up with some of them not being properly grounded, hence useless.
"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
Next job is to wire up the new switch and pots, then pickups, but that's for another day!
Don't forget all that shielding needs to all be connected to the ground on the output socket (apologies if stating the obvious but I don't think it had been explicitly said yet!)
I wouldn't say the full pickguard is overkill either - you basically want that shield to act as an antenna and pickup up that noise rather than letting it get to your wiring.
I might have to check I'm doing the right thing when I get to that stage.
I always tell my juniors at work - the only stupid question is the third time you ask the same question without explaining what you don't understand about the first 2 answers!
As for shielding, I fitted my Jaguar with the full set of cavity plates and it's still a little noisy with all that wiring, but it's definitely miles better than before. Twas a right pain to connect it all up though.
I've also got an Electrosocket jack to fit. My question is - do I try and take that old retainer clip from the original jack, or do I leave it if it's doing no harm. The only possible issue of leaving it is that the screw thread of the new jack only just fits through so that it's flush with the socket. (see images) The clip is stopping it from poking through any further if you see what I mean.
And if I want to get it out, how can I? It seems to be very securely wedged in!
I would also rotate the Electrosocket so the screw holes are lined up parallel with the side of the body, so the screws go into the deepest possible thickness of wood.
"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