Single Coil Buzz

Shivelblah

If this has already been discussed, please direct me to the relevant posting, but I was wondering what I can do about the incredibly annoying buzz coming out of my amp when I play my Mustang. I know some buzz is to be expected with single coil guitars, but what I'm experiencing seems to be excessive and inappropriate.

Any suggestions about what to do about this?

Could it be cheap pickups? I just took off the pickguard and noticed the pickups do not have a name stamp on them (I'm not sure if companies would even stamp the pickups). How can I tell what kind of pickups I have?

Thanks

Shiv.

Malik

Does the buzz change when you touch the metal on the guitar? For example, if you plug it in, you'll hear buzzing, then when you touch the strings you should get a quieter buzz, is this the case? If not, your guitar is not earthed properly. If your buzz does get quieter when you touch it, it does mean your pickups are a bit noisey and could always be replaced.

Dana

Cheap pick ups or not they are essentialy made from the same base materials,you will get rid of 90+% of the buzz and 60cyc hum if you shield ALL the routes with copper tape.

Do it so there is no wood showing and solder each piece to the next for extra assurance,also have that grounded by solder to the original shielding plates or if it has no shielding plates-to the back of a pot.

If you wax pot your pups along with this youl have solved 99% of all your problems,i have single coils and i have ZERO buzz or 60cyc hum.

Rick

you will get rid of all buzz by grounding. you will get rid of hum by having a reverse wound/reverse poled neck pickup and having both pups turned on. i'm not sure if the japanese mustangs do have them. but i know the jaguars don't

Shivelblah

Response to Malik:

The buzz does not change when I touch the metal or the strings. The buzz seems to go down dramatically if I position my guitar toward a certain area of the room.

With the guitar slung around my shoulder as usual, if I pivot in a circle, there is about a 5-degree area where there is no buzz. All other 355 degrees of the circle produce the buzz. I have moved my gear to different areas of the house and noticed the same phenomenon.

Fluorescent Lights? Patch cord?

Thanks

Rick

that's 60 cycle hum. does it dissapear if you put both pups on, out of phase?

Shivelblah

A little bit, but still quite prominant.

Perhaps I could use the copper tape as suggested by Dana to get rid of the hum.

I want to start small before I go and change the pups

Dana

Dude,its $10usd and if your gonna pull ur geetar apart 4 that u could pay $3 for some wax and pot the pups too.....youl be happy with the results.

Shivelblah

Ok, My guitar is apart and I'm gonna buy some tape tonight. I'm a beginner at guitar repair so please bear with me. I have a couple questions:

1. I am going to shield all the routes. I seem to have a shield plate at the bottom of the pickup routes. Do I need to get under those and apply tape, or just tape everywhere else? This plate seems to be anchored to the bottom so I don't want to yank it out if I don't need to.

2. What kind of wax should I get, and what exactly do I do with the wax?

Thanks man.

Rick

wax potting is for feedback trouble. and imo, this will not solve your woes. but here's a useful thread for wax potting:

http://www.jag-stang.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13166

Dana

Shivelblah said: Ok, My guitar is apart and I'm gonna buy some tape tonight. I'm a beginner at guitar repair so please bear with me. I have a couple questions:

I am going to shield all the routes. I seem to have a shield plate at the bottom of the pickup routes. Do I need to get under those and apply tape, or just tape everywhere else? This plate seems to be anchored to the bottom so I don't want to yank it out if I don't need to.

What kind of wax should I get, and what exactly do I do with the wax?
Thanks man.

Just tape a little bit over the plates so its connecting,dont forget to solder every tape join,that way its secure and grounded.You just put a little over the seem is all.

Also make the copper tape fold out of the rout onto the top of the guitar body about this much:|====|,just so your pick gaurd covers it all.

With what tape u dont use in the body try and tape the back of the PG between the PUP PG routes at least,but make sure the PG tape connects with a piece of the body tape when the PG is screwed back on.

Ricks already gave the 411 on wax but il put some links here for you dude and if you are UNSURE of ANYTHING just pm me and il take some photos of mine and post them for you but i think youl be alright as it aint rocket science.GdLuck

SHIELDING

WAX POTTING