Ground buzz - need some help

[heapes]

Hi all.
Been a while since I last posted but have a problem that I would appreciate some help with. I have a Les Paul style guitar with DeMarzio 36 anniversary PAF's in the neck and bridge positions. It has a quality 3 way selector switch, one volume pot and one tone pot.
With volume at zero I have no buzz when tone knob is 0 to 10. When volume is 1 to 10 and the tone is anything except zero I get a buzz until I touch something metal. If the tone is dead on zero I can have the volume 0 to 10 and the guitar is quiet as a mouse touching metal or not.
Any suggestions on what might cause this? Bad pot? ...bad ground? ...bad treble bleed or tone cap? Any way to isolate the problem with a voltage meter? I feel certain the problem is not the amp or the cable. No noise at all from my strat clone I built. By the way, there are no effects pedals in the chain and I plugged direct to a fender blues deluxe reissue.
Again, any specific suggestions would be helpful. I feel something is causing the noise but I don't know how to find it.
Thanks,
Stephen

[olddawg]

Sounds like your bridge ground is open. Check continuity between the bridge and the ring of the output jack.

[heapes]

Sounds like your bridge ground is open. Check continuity between the bridge and the ring of the output jack.

Thanks for responding olddawg. I checked and have good continuity between the bridge and ground at the pot and at the output jack.

[Reader]

Has the guitar always had this problem since you have owned it? Or did the problem just suddenly appear? Or did the problem appear after some work was done on the guitar? (if so then please tell us what work was done)

[nosaj]

Thanks for responding olddawg. I checked and have good continuity between the bridge and ground at the pot and at the output jack.

Continuity doesn't always mean good connection. A cold solder joint can have continuity yet still inject noise.
answer Readers comments then we can go from there.

nosaj

[pdf64]

And sometimes a connection might be intermittent, eg it happened to test ok when you measured it. The connection to the bridge / tailpiece is usually just made using pressure (ie not a solid solder joint), hence they can go wonky.
And the solid core wire often used can fracture, especially if its insulation has been stripped carelessly, eg nicking the conductor surface creating a weak point.

[copperheadroads]

So was the guitar working before the problem ? & nothing was changed /rewired ?

[heapes]

Has the guitar always had this problem since you have owned it? Or did the problem just suddenly appear? Or did the problem appear after some work was done on the guitar? (if so then please tell us what work was done)

I am the first owner. It did not buzz when I got it. The only work that has been done since I got it was the neck pickup was laid over during a string change to verify what pickup was installed. It was not unsoldered. I can't say for certain that the buzz did or didn't start after this. Really uncertain. To check the solder joint for the bridge I also connected jumper wire (alligator clips) to the bridge and the ground on the jack with no change. This was in addition to checking continuity.

[heapes]

Reposting this response so it is on the bottom.

I am the first owner. It did not buzz when I got it. The only work that has been done since I got it was the neck pickup was laid over during a string change to verify what pickup was installed. It was not unsoldered. I can't say for certain that the buzz did or didn't start after this. Really uncertain. To check the solder joint for the bridge I also connected jumper wire (alligator clips) to the bridge and the ground on the jack with no change. This was in addition to checking continuity.

[pdf64]

Reposting this response so it is on the bottom...

Try adjusting the 'settings' options to one of the linear thread viewing modes, it makes much more sense to me like that.

[g1]

Any chance a shield wire got disconnected when the pickup was turned over?

[heapes]

Any chance a shield wire got disconnected when the pickup was turned over?

I guess it's possible. I will check. Thanks

[big_teee]

Could you please include a picture of the control cavity?
Thanks,
T