New Jag, possible problem?

Jagged

Just got my '62 AV Jag. She's a lovely Ice Blue Metallic goddess. This guitar is it.

I just have one question: I notice it has a noticeably louder hum when the strangle switch is engaged. The hum goes away when I touch anything metallic on the guitar, so obviously there's some kind of grounding issue. I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this specific problem with the strangle switch only. All the other settings just have that normal 60 cycle hum. Any ideas?

I repeat, I love this guitar. I've already recorded a couple songs with it. It's a keeper.

Rick

you are talking about 60 cycle hum, and not just regular buzz from grounding when you don't touch the strings (or any other metal part that is grounded)?

even when you have both pickups on, to cancel 60 cycle hum, if you turn the tone knob down even a little bit, the hum does seem to come back a bit. since the bass cut switch is performing a similar action, maybe this is the same thing

Jagged

No, this is definitely not 60 cycle hum. the louder hum is there even when I have all three lead switches on (the two pickups in hum canceling mode plus the strangle switch.) It also has no relation to any sort of interference in the room. Doesn't matter if I'm near a TV or computer.

Again, it's ONLY with the strangle switch on. And it's much louder than the slight increase you get in hum when you turn down the tone knob.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

echelon

there's a jag wiring diagram on this site

http://www.jag-stang.com/JaguarHtml/Ima ... ematic.gif

im no expert, but it looks like the strangle switch simply routes the signal through a tiny circuit containing one capactior.

My first though would be that one of the wires either side of the capacitor is bare and is touching something metal in the guitar (control plate? metal shield under the pickguard?).

The metal control plates would pick up and massively amplify any hum..so this will create noise till the whole thing is grounded.

(i'm no electronics expert..but that would be my guess)

Rick

mine does exactly the same as yours does. i don't think there's anything wrong with it.

http://fenderjaguar.net/hum.mp3

and imo, it is 60 cycle hum. or something very similar

Lou

not to be confused with dynamo hum

Jagged

Rick, thanks for the clip, but my Jag's hum is definitely louder than that. I wish I were technically proficient enough to record and post it here.

I'll check the wiring and see if anything is out of place.

Thanks for all the help. I'm still really digging this Jag. This is really just a minor annoyance, and I'll get it figured out eventually.

Jagged

I listened to that clip again, Rick. Is the strangle switch on at the beginning of the clip? And then you turn it off and back on a couple times? If so, it is kind of similar sounding.

I also noticed that if I touch my amp, the sound goes away. I tried it with another amp and it was the same situation, so it's definitely not an amp problem.

Rick

Jagged said: Is the strangle switch on at the beginning of the clip? And then you turn it off and back on a couple times?

yeah, that's right

Jagged

I think it's just kind of an artifact of cutting out the bass frequencies with that capacitor. I get the same hum when all the switches are off. It's very manageable with a little bit of amp tweaking, like turning down the bass.

As a side note, I think your sound clip has potential to become a pretty cool industrial/ambient piece.