Jag HH hum

quilted

I've had my Jag HH for a couple of weeks now and I love it. It's actually much nicer than I expected given all the bad things I've heard about it. The neck isn't as nice as the ones on the 62 RI but I prefer the larger radius. The pickups are also better than I expected. Not sure if I will swap them out actually.

Anyhow. It has one major problem. It hums like there is no tomorrow. It mostly goes away when I touch any metal parts, so it seems to be a grounding issue. The humming also gets really loud when I turn down the volume pot by half.

The question is: are all the Jag HHs this bad or did I get a lemon? If it's normal I guess the warranty won't help, and I could take it in to my local tech instead.

Also, do you have any clues as to where the problem might be located?

MrArkadin

Don't know what's causing it, but my HHs are fine, no hum - they are humbucker guitars after all. Personally i will be swapping out the pickups as soon as i get the cash together, if you decide to then your tech could look at the problem at the same time. Sounds like it might be the pot though if it happens when you turn it down (!?). Maybe try replacing it. Also io believe the Dragster pups are two wire, whereas replacement humbuckers are often four wire - i don't know if that improves hum cancellation or not though. Still it shouldn't hum so that you'd notice (unless you have a ridiculous amount of gain in your amp).

AnotherTool

He is exactly right, it's more likely a problem with your amp, a lead or anything else other than the guitar.

Do you sit infront of the monitor when you're playing? I have to turn away from mine and walk away to get rid of the humming, and i have noiseless pickups.

quilted

Thanks for the replies!

The monitor hum is only an issue with CRT monitors not LCD. And I have no problems at all with my other guitars. They are as silent as they can be, even my single coil Cyclone II.

I've tried with different cables, different amps, different houses. So I've ruled out pretty much everything else.

I did a setup and replaced the pickguard when I got it and figured that I might have messed something up in the process. But I've opened it again and there doesn't seem to be any damages to the cables.

I've googled a bit and noticed that a few others has the same issue with the Jag HH. Could be bad quality control perhaps?

This is what I'd expect from a beginners sincle coil guitar, not a mid priced humbucking guitar.

I guess it will have to send it back.

This is the downside of ordering guitars from another country.

Fran

Sounds like a grounding problem.

Check everything is grounded, all the switches, pots.. I'm not sure if them bridges should be grounded too.

purr

Another Tool said: He is exactly right, it's more likely a problem with your amp, a lead or anything else other than the guitar.
Do you sit infront of the monitor when you're playing? I have to turn away from mine and walk away to get rid of the humming, and i have noiseless pickups.

Monitors, tvs, flouressent (sp?) lights...almost anything else electrical will be picked uped. Lights seem to be the worst for me. Cell phones too, even if it's on silent the pickups will pickup the incomming message...electronically, not literally.

grunge-fan

yeah i have had my hh for about a year and a half and have never had any issues what so ever in fact its possibly my favorite out of my 2 strats, mustang,and jaguar(hh).

Pedro

Mr Arkadin said: Also io believe the Dragster pups are two wire, whereas replacement humbuckers are often four wire - i don't know if that improves hum cancellation or not though.

every guitar I've owned buzzes a bit when you're not touching any of the metal parts, especially with higher gain or whatever. Can't say I've noticed it particularly on my HH jag (which doesn't hum at all if you've got your hand on the strings) but strange if you find it's happening more than on your other guitars. Double check that all the wires are well soldered onto the vol and tone pots. If it goes away when you touch any metal part I fail to see how it's a earthing/grounding issue though.

No it doesn't - 4 wire pickups just allow to muck around with the circuit more easily than 2 wire - a 2 wire pickup still has the other 2 wires like a 4 wire, they're just locked up inside the pickup where you can't play with them. If that makes sense...

quilted

I just opened up the lower control plate again. There is no ground cable connected to the output jack, only a green one (going to the circuit selector I suppose). There should be one right?

I made a couple of recordings.

This is how it sounds when I turn the volume knob. The really loud hum is when the pot is halfway down. Same thing in both circuits.

http://www.rivermind.se/guitars/jag_hum_volpot.mp3

And these are the loud pops from the discharges I get whenever I touch the strings.

http://www.rivermind.se/guitars/jag_hum_discharge.mp3

I was going to take the Jag to a gig this weekend, but I guess it will have to stay home. Unless I can find some easy temporary solution.

quilted

Could any Jag HH owner check where the ground (black) cable is supposed to go from the output jack? I suppose it's either to the vol or tone pot housing. But it could possibly go elsewhere. A photo would be super, but that might be asking for too much 😀

If that's the only issue then I suppose I could easily fix it myself. Would make me super happy.

GP

It definitely sounds like a grounding issue.

All your hardware/screening will connect to ground one way or another. A check with a multimeter will reveal if it all connects up. Set it for resistance and measure between all points that are shielded. Resistance should be zero (or as good as). If your meter is digital and has a continuity meter, use this (it'll beep if there's continuity).

Often, if the wire from the bridge to the control cavity (this grounds the strings) comes undone, you get the hum you described. If the wire's in tact, it could be a dodgy joint that is causing the problem (reflow the solder).

GP

quilted said: I did a setup and replaced the pickguard when I got it and figured that I might have messed something up in the process.

And your new pickguard is shielded, right?

quilted

Thanks GP!

Well, I've put back the original pickguard just to make sure there wasn't any problems there.

I don't have a multimeter at the moment so I've only been able to check for loose cables or visibly bad soldering points. Couldn't find anything wrong besides the fact that there's no ground cable from the output jack.

But I did consider that I might have messed up the string grounding since I had to remove the bridge to install the pickguard. I just haven't figured out where they have put the cable onto the bridge since this is a Tune-o-matic bridge with a hardtail. And I can't figure out what I had possibly done to damage it either since I was very careful.

robertoriginal

you got a grounding problem,

it is ok that there is only one wire going to the jack.

fender usually grounds the metal pates on jaguars, mustangs, and jag-stangs so there for the ground wire is like the metal plate and the hot is where it usually goes, make sense?

anywho, if you can't find anything wrong with it, take it to a tech, the easiest way to check without taking it apart is touching each plate individually to see when it gets louder or softer and then try touching two of them at the same time to see if it cancels out at all.

if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself then take it to a tech/ luthier.

its not worth sending to fender cuz you will have to wait about a month and pay shipping, with a tech it will be a quik fix for likr 5 bucks

quilted

No I wont send it to Fender. I ordered it from Thomann in Germany, and they'll either give me a new one or fix it in their workshop. And the shipping is free.

It would be quicker and easier to take it to the local tech, but I'm not sure if that will void the warranty or not. I'll have to check that first.

I've been unable to find the issue myself. And even though there are several posts on the net about the issue no-one has reported back saying what the problem was 😀

Such a shame, I was really looking forward to gigging with it this weekend.

If they give me a new one, it should be pretty much identical right? Or how much does factory made guitars differ these days? The neck on this one is very nice, I wouldn't want to get one that's not so good.

GP

I've never looked inside a HH, so don't know how they've done things, but there'll be a wire somewhere from the bridge (usually stuffed into the hole for the bushings with tunomatics: which is how contact is made) to a common ground point. They might have done something like staple the other end of the wire into the wood of the control cavity, on the surface, and this makes contact with the metal plate with the controls etc?

Cheap Multimeters cost around

Fran

The multi meter is your best bet at this point. If the readings are okay then one of the other components is damaged. I still think its a grounding problem though.

I did have a HH but never took much notice inside it.

Pedro

Fran said: I still think its a grounding problem

*crawls sheepishly back into hole*