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Buzz/hum from my Fender Strat - how to identify the root cause

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  • Buzz/hum from my Fender Strat - how to identify the root cause

    Hi all,


    I have a lot of buzz/hum coming from my modified Fender Strat, and I've not succeeded find the cause for it.

    For the past few weeks I've had a thread at www.strat-talk.com (http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/pick...ubleshoot.html) on the issue, but we've not succeeded to get to the bottom of things. So I thought I'd try here to get some fresh views on it.

    Instead of providing all the details, let me sum up what I think is the most relevant info: On my Strat I've done some modifications, like replaced the bridge pickup with a SD JB Jr. I recently had a professional (with a very good reputation) troubleshoot the buzz/hum issue, and as far as he was concerned the guitar should now be buzz/hum free. But still I have as much buzz/hum as before, and I suspect that it indeed is the guitar that's the problem.
    An intereseting observation is that when I lower the volume on the guitar to about 7 or 8, the buzz/hum increases a lot. I only have a Ibanez RG guitar to compare with, and I've noticed that the buzz/hum on this guitar doesn't increase noticably when lovering the volume.

    For more details, please feel free to ask me, or have a look at the thread at strat-talk I linked to.

    Any advice on how to troubleshoot this will be greatly appreciated. I the guitar is the likely cause for my hum/buzz issue I'l probably take my guitar back to the guitar repair guy, but I'd prefer to be quite sure that it s indeed the guitar before taking it back.

    Thanks in advance.

    Kenneth

  • #2
    Maybe this old thread will help:

    http://music-electronics-forum.com/t28150/

    After watching the pics ( https://www.dropbox.com/sh/25c1nvl2d...xwb8e3/Strat#/ ) I can see that the ground wires coming from the SD pickup are very poorly soldered to the back of the volume pot, this may not be the cause of the noise, but it wouldn't hurt to try and solder them right...

    Is there any reason why you wired the "hot" to ground and ground to "hot"? check SD color codes here: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...ic=color_codes
    Last edited by hariossa; 10-06-2013, 01:18 PM.
    Hari Ossa
    http://www.hariossa.com

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    • #3
      Originally posted by hariossa View Post
      Maybe this old thread will help:

      http://music-electronics-forum.com/t28150/

      After watching the pics ( https://www.dropbox.com/sh/25c1nvl2d...xwb8e3/Strat#/ ) I can see that the ground wires coming from the SD pickup are very poorly soldered to the back of the volume pot, this may not be the cause of the noise, but it wouldn't hurt to try and solder them right...

      Is there any reason why you wired the "hot" to ground and ground to "hot"? check SD color codes here: Wiring Diagram
      Thanks for the reply!

      I've done some testing using a multimeter, and measuring the resistance from the input jack to the strings gives me fine readings (very little resistance). So this should indicate that the pickup's ground is properly connected, right? In case the guitar repair guy has done something wrong and I need to bring the guitar back to him, I'd rather not make any changes myself at this point....

      Regarding the wiring: The guitar sounds great, so I assume that the wiring is correct. When I first the the wiring myself (before getting the guitar repair guy to fix it) I recall that I swapped the black and green wire. This was because the other two pickups on the guitar were Fender pickups, and the SD wiring instructions instructed to do so to get in phase with the fender pickups. Please see http://www.seymourduncan.com/images/...501015-100.pdf for more info.

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      • #4
        First Question?
        Unplugged does it have any fret buzz when you play it unplugged.
        If it does?
        The amp and pickups will amplify it.
        You want a buzz free guitar unplugged to start with, before you get to chasing the electronics!
        Good Luck,
        T
        "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil in the House of Commons." Winston Churchill
        Terry

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        • #5
          It turns out that the wall outlet I've been using isn't grounded. When testing my setup on a grounded connection it works just fine. I got an electrician set up some new wall outlets a couple of years ago, and it has never entered my mind that he would set up ungrounded outlets.

          Thank you anyway for the help.

          Best regards,
          Kenneth

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