Mexican Voodoo strat

[Dave Mac Farlane]

Just before I pull this apart, I noticed if it was plugged in after the LP standard, the same settings prodced quite bad mains hum.
It largely reduces when one touches the strings or metal at the pickup end.
Is there anything I should know or look for when I look at its guts? (like common faults)
Any tips appreciated.
Dave.

[jmaf]

Well my Strat was behaving like that last week. When I touched the metal on the jack the noise was gone. Turns out the ground connection from the bridge to the electronics is at the back of the guitar, at the steel plate which holds the strings to the guitar body had come loose. They soldered it directly to the chrome which is sure fire way to have it disconnect later. I ground the chrome with my dremel and soldered the ground lead to the underlying iron, now you can yank it at will and the noise is gone.

[David Schwab]

Strats have single coil pickups, and they hum.

[Dave Mac Farlane]

Thanks for that guys, very helpful - now I've fixed my amp (battle of the worlds), I can spend time looking into the Strat.
Dave.