Telecaster making unbearable Humming noise. Changes when I move

[Bad Machinery]

Originally Posted by sonic dogg

The fact is the wiring of guitars is lacking in so many ways. If you were to wire your house with the techniques employed for all these years you would have burnt it to the ground by now.

None of what you say is wrong in any way. And yet, I doubt copper tape would've improved Jimi's All Along the Watchtower...

Anyhoo, we all agree it's a ground problem. Likely wires come lose from the bridge.

[2pulse]

Originally Posted by Bad Machinery

Anyhoo, we all agree it's a ground problem.

Not I... Sounds like a location with horrible EMI pollution. Remember that he gets the buzz even with nothing connected to AC and it diminishes when he points the guitar in certain detections?

The problem is coming through the air, not the wires. Motors, HVAC equipment, power transformers, etc, can all add their own flavor to this curse...

[2pulse]

Here's a quick way to determine if the EMI source is originating from within your house: shut off every circuit in your breaker box and see if you still get buzz when recording to your laptop on battery power. If it's still there, you're absolutely hosed. If not, turn the circuits on one by one and take note of which circuit the buzz comes back with. What's connected to it?

edit: nevermind, went back and saw that you already turned off the mains and you're still buzzing. Well that sucks.

[GordZilla]

My money is on a pooched input jack.

[sonic dogg]

Originally Posted by Bad Machinery

None of what you say is wrong in any way. And yet, I doubt copper tape would've improved Jimi's All Along the Watchtower...

Anyhoo, we all agree it's a ground problem. Likely wires come lose from the bridge.

LOL! The fact is I saw Hendrix twice and both times he had a terrible hum in the guitar circuit. It did NOT, however, distract from the playing and the soaring around the room of most peoples' heads who were there.

BTW...I have seen situations where the ground had gone gunnysack and the guitar would hum louder in certain positions much like EMF interference.

[BurnStudios]

Originally Posted by GordZilla

My money is on a pooched input jack.

This... take the screws out of the input jack and check the wires.. I just had a guitar player in here last weekend with the same problem.. I said gimme that guitar and immediately took the input jack plate off and voila the ground was hanging on by one wire... snipped it and re-soldered it for him and away we went

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by Bad Machinery

Point of order: I didn't say it would hurt the tone, only that it was largely unnecessary.

And I, for one, don't want a pound of copper tape in my thinline tele, or a bunch of sticker goop on my nice Ric just because somebody made a website about stargrounding, once.

Sure, ignore the laws of physics, at your own peril.

My thinline has copper tape, it added about 2 grams of weight, my knob choices make more weight differences. It also has a dummy coil shoved into the cavity and one of my humcancelling circuits installed. It has an 80 db signal to noise ratio, quieter than most humbucking Gibsons. I can take my hands off the strings; no buzz nor hum. It's got a high output, vintage tone and pickups and no noise, sounds like a solution to me.

Most importantly, my guitars are not lethal like yours are. My string ground has a .022 uf 600 volt cap in series. That prevents lethal 60 hz from killing you. I often get a large laugh watching the other guys get a nice lip burn from a crappy PA system knowing that won't happen to me.

[MarvinDog]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Most importantly, my guitars are not lethal like yours are. My string ground has a .022 uf 600 volt cap in series. That prevents lethal 60 hz from killing you. I often get a large laugh watching the other guys get a nice lip burn from a crappy PA system knowing that won't happen to me.

Speaking as someone who's gotten a nice lip burn from a crappy PA system, this is a fantastic idea.

[Boschen]

Originally Posted by Musiclab

After you're done doing all of that shield it.

Fixed my hum issues with my strat.

I used the high end copper foil stuff, which cost almost as much as my cheap strat (I beat on them mercilessly), but it is silent as the grave at full volume with no fingers on the strings.

Here's a link to a how-to:

Shield A Telecaster With Aluminum Foil | Guitar Wiring How To's

And a link on guitar safety, mods, and lethal voltage prevention, like JW's mod adding a cap at the ground, which is a great idea. I've heard that doing this may add hum, so shield the cavity at the same time you add the cap!

http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/...fety/index.php

According to the site linked above, other metal pieces of the guitar like the jack plate can still conduct the lethal charge, even if the ground has that .22uf cap, so take care.

Also, be damn sure you are aware that lip burn is the best result; the worst is a pathway to ground through your beating heart. Always test the stage outlets and the booth outlets at your gig with one of those simple AC plug testers. Or use wireless on the guitar, or the mic, or both.

[Bad Machinery]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

Sure, ignore the laws of physics, at your own peril.

My thinline has copper tape, it added about 2 grams of weight, my knob choices make more weight differences. It also has a dummy coil shoved into the cavity and one of my humcancelling circuits installed. It has an 80 db signal to noise ratio, quieter than most humbucking Gibsons. I can take my hands off the strings; no buzz nor hum. It's got a high output, vintage tone and pickups and no noise, sounds like a solution to me.

Most importantly, my guitars are not lethal like yours are. My string ground has a .022 uf 600 volt cap in series. That prevents lethal 60 hz from killing you. I often get a large laugh watching the other guys get a nice lip burn from a crappy PA system knowing that won't happen to me.

This is getting comical, now. The OP has a lose GROUND WIRE issue. People are demanding he star ground his guitar, which is not a solution to his problem. All the rest of this rant is off topic.

And btw--guitars with dummy coils sound like crap. And guitar so equipped most certainly does not have a "vintage tone". But that isn't what any of this is about, is it? It's about being an "expert" and lecturing people on topics they didn't inquire about.