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Post subject: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:42 pm
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I just bought a brand new American Tele Special with Noiseless N3 pups. As I dial in a little gain I am noticing a buzz in the pickups that goes away when I touch metal. I've experienced this with other guitars but I thought these were noiseless. In contrast, my SX Tele with single coils and copper shielding does not buzz. Several other people over on the Telecaster Forum have experienced the same thing while some say they are silent. There was no ground to the bridge but adding one did not solve the problem. I love the guitar but the pups are not noiseless as advertised. Is this to be expected or do I have to go in and add shielding? Very disappointed in the N3's to say the least.


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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:19 pm
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Does not sound normal. As the guitar is brand new and under warranty, suggest you contact Fender directly:

consumerrelations@fender.com

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:16 pm
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Wound3rd wrote:
I just bought a brand new American Tele Special with Noiseless N3 pups. As I dial in a little gain I am noticing a buzz in the pickups that goes away when I touch metal. I've experienced this with other guitars but I thought these were noiseless. In contrast, my SX Tele with single coils and copper shielding does not buzz. Several other people over on the Telecaster Forum have experienced the same thing while some say they are silent. There was no ground to the bridge but adding one did not solve the problem. I love the guitar but the pups are not noiseless as advertised. Is this to be expected or do I have to go in and add shielding? Very disappointed in the N3's to say the least.


Welcome.

Actually, it is not only to be expected, but it is normal. "Noiseless" is merely Fender's name for their stacked humbucker line. I wish more people would realize this for these pickups are certainly not 'noiseless', per se. Rather, they are 'less noisy' where as you've found out, they behave just like any other humbucker. Calling these lines, "Noiseless" is indeed and had been, misleading to many but a great selling point for Fender.

Additional shielding will not help as one of the base coats on your guitar's body is shielding paint. Any further shielding is redundant and will rob your pickups of output and frequency response. Of course, your playing environment also contributes to line noise but the fact of the matter is, for all practical purposes, your guitar is as quiet as it is going to be.

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:54 pm
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Martian wrote:
Wound3rd wrote:
I just bought a brand new American Tele Special with Noiseless N3 pups. As I dial in a little gain I am noticing a buzz in the pickups that goes away when I touch metal. I've experienced this with other guitars but I thought these were noiseless. In contrast, my SX Tele with single coils and copper shielding does not buzz. Several other people over on the Telecaster Forum have experienced the same thing while some say they are silent. There was no ground to the bridge but adding one did not solve the problem. I love the guitar but the pups are not noiseless as advertised. Is this to be expected or do I have to go in and add shielding? Very disappointed in the N3's to say the least.


Welcome.

Actually, it is not only to be expected, but it is normal. "Noiseless" is merely Fender's name for their stacked humbucker line. I wish more people would realize this for these pickups are certainly not 'noiseless', per se. Rather, they are 'less noisy' where as you've found out, they behave just like any other humbucker. Calling these lines, "Noiseless" is indeed and had been, misleading to many but a great selling point for Fender.

Additional shielding will not help as one of the base coats on your guitar's body is shielding paint. Any further shielding is redundant and will rob your pickups of output and frequency response. Of course, your playing environment also contributes to line noise but the fact of the matter is, for all practical purposes, your guitar is as quiet as it is going to be.


Thanks for the response! Yes, I agree you shouldn't call it "noiseless" if it's just another stacked humbucker. I'm curious about the base coat you mentioned. The inside of my control panel looks and feels like bare wood. I noticed in the American Special wiring diagrams on the Fender site that all of them show a wire grounded to the cavity. Mine has no such wire, although none of the drawings show "N3" on the pickup, either nothing or just "Noiseless." If there is no shielding paint then I suppose it won't hurt to try. I have a roll of aluminum foil tape I might take for a spin. I also noticed this is the first Fender-style pickguard I've ever run across that had no foil backing on it. So no foil backing, there appears to be no paint inside, a hole was drilled for a bridge ground but none was attached - did I get the last guitar off the line on a Friday afternoon? :?


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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:55 pm
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Martian wrote:
Actually, it is not only to be expected, but it is normal. "Noiseless" is merely Fender's name for their stacked humbucker line. I wish more people would realize this for these pickups are certainly not 'noiseless', per se. Rather, they are 'less noisy' where as you've found out, they behave just like any other humbucker. Calling these lines, "Noiseless" is indeed and had been, misleading to many but a great selling point for Fender.

Additional shielding will not help as one of the base coats on your guitar's body is shielding paint. Any further shielding is redundant and will rob your pickups of output and frequency response. Of course, your playing environment also contributes to line noise but the fact of the matter is, for all practical purposes, your guitar is as quiet as it is going to be.


I hate to disagree, but .....

Having eliminated all ground loops in my rig, my Strat SCNs, Tele Seymour Duncan Vintage Stacks, and humbucker equipped guitars are dead quiet. There is no difference in hum or buzz when touching the strings or not. Just dead silence. Even my single-coil equipped Esquire is almost as quiet.

I do agree that additional shielding on an already shielded guitar is a waste. However, since neither of us have heard the amount of buzz in the OP's guitar, it is a little presumptuous to declare it "normal" or not. It certainly is worth investigating further to find the underlying cause of the OP's complaint.

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:01 pm
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Wound3rd wrote:
Thanks for the response! Yes, I agree you shouldn't call it "noiseless" if it's just another stacked humbucker. I'm curious about the base coat you mentioned. The inside of my control panel looks and feels like bare wood. I noticed in the American Special wiring diagrams on the Fender site that all of them show a wire grounded to the cavity. Mine has no such wire, although none of the drawings show "N3" on the pickup, either nothing or just "Noiseless." If there is no shielding paint then I suppose it won't hurt to try. I have a roll of aluminum foil tape I might take for a spin. I also noticed this is the first Fender-style pickguard I've ever run across that had no foil backing on it. So no foil backing, there appears to be no paint inside, a hole was drilled for a bridge ground but none was attached - did I get the last guitar off the line on a Friday afternoon? :?


Ok. I am confused about the guitar you own. American Specials, both Strat and Tele, are equipped with Texas Special pickups which are assuredly NOT noiseless. You do not get N3 pickups until you buy an American Deluxe. And the pickups themselves have "N3" marked on them. If you have no such markings you do not have N3 pickups, just regular single coils.

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:11 pm
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bluesky636 wrote:
Wound3rd wrote:
Thanks for the response! Yes, I agree you shouldn't call it "noiseless" if it's just another stacked humbucker. I'm curious about the base coat you mentioned. The inside of my control panel looks and feels like bare wood. I noticed in the American Special wiring diagrams on the Fender site that all of them show a wire grounded to the cavity. Mine has no such wire, although none of the drawings show "N3" on the pickup, either nothing or just "Noiseless." If there is no shielding paint then I suppose it won't hurt to try. I have a roll of aluminum foil tape I might take for a spin. I also noticed this is the first Fender-style pickguard I've ever run across that had no foil backing on it. So no foil backing, there appears to be no paint inside, a hole was drilled for a bridge ground but none was attached - did I get the last guitar off the line on a Friday afternoon? :?


Ok. I am confused about the guitar you own. American Specials, both Strat and Tele, are equipped with Texas Special pickups which are assuredly NOT noiseless. You do not get N3 pickups until you buy an American Deluxe. And the pickups themselves have "N3" marked on them. If you have no such markings you do not have N3 pickups, just regular single coils.


I sincerely apologize for the confusion! I was looking at the wrong thing when I was typing - it is the Fender American Deluxe Telecaster Electric Guitar and they do have the N3 marking on them. If you'll bear with me, this is the first brand new Fender I've ever purchased guitar-wise in my life (and I'm not a spring chicken!) other than 2 basses. I got a little confused on the model.


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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:29 pm
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Wound3rd wrote:
I sincerely apologize for the confusion! I was looking at the wrong thing when I was typing - it is the Fender American Deluxe Telecaster Electric Guitar and they do have the N3 marking on them. If you'll bear with me, this is the first brand new Fender I've ever purchased guitar-wise in my life (and I'm not a spring chicken!) other than 2 basses. I got a little confused on the model.


Ok, then. :D

Like I said, my SCNs (the predecessor to the N3s) and all my other "noiseless" or humbucking pickups are dead quiet. You could have a bad solder joint/ground in the guitar or a ground loop. When I added a second amp, I developed a major ground loop buzz. I use a Radial Big Shot ABY switch now and everything is dead quiet. Even quieter than before I added the second amp. I would recommend having your guitar looked at by Fender as it is brand new and under warranty. Good luck.

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 7:53 pm
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I'll probably have to take it in, much as I hate to do that. The guy on the Tele Forum that started the thread had the same issue and the local Fender-authorized tech told him Fender considered it "to spec." I have a feeling it will be a useless trip and either I take a lesser guitar, live with this one or wait for an identical one to be shipped and who knows if it will be any better? I did buy a roll of aluminum foil tape today but I don't want to alter the guitar in any way until someone has looked at it. My copper-shielded, single coil Franken-Teles don't have the buzz that this one does. That's why I don't see how it could be the amp, the chord, the wiring in the house, etc. Thanks a lot!


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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:03 pm
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Wound3rd wrote:
Martian wrote:
Wound3rd wrote:
I just bought a brand new American Tele Special with Noiseless N3 pups. As I dial in a little gain I am noticing a buzz in the pickups that goes away when I touch metal. I've experienced this with other guitars but I thought these were noiseless. In contrast, my SX Tele with single coils and copper shielding does not buzz. Several other people over on the Telecaster Forum have experienced the same thing while some say they are silent. There was no ground to the bridge but adding one did not solve the problem. I love the guitar but the pups are not noiseless as advertised. Is this to be expected or do I have to go in and add shielding? Very disappointed in the N3's to say the least.


Welcome.

Actually, it is not only to be expected, but it is normal. "Noiseless" is merely Fender's name for their stacked humbucker line. I wish more people would realize this for these pickups are certainly not 'noiseless', per se. Rather, they are 'less noisy' where as you've found out, they behave just like any other humbucker. Calling these lines, "Noiseless" is indeed and had been, misleading to many but a great selling point for Fender.

Additional shielding will not help as one of the base coats on your guitar's body is shielding paint. Any further shielding is redundant and will rob your pickups of output and frequency response. Of course, your playing environment also contributes to line noise but the fact of the matter is, for all practical purposes, your guitar is as quiet as it is going to be.


Thanks for the response! Yes, I agree you shouldn't call it "noiseless" if it's just another stacked humbucker. I'm curious about the base coat you mentioned. The inside of my control panel looks and feels like bare wood. I noticed in the American Special wiring diagrams on the Fender site that all of them show a wire grounded to the cavity. Mine has no such wire, although none of the drawings show "N3" on the pickup, either nothing or just "Noiseless." If there is no shielding paint then I suppose it won't hurt to try. I have a roll of aluminum foil tape I might take for a spin. I also noticed this is the first Fender-style pickguard I've ever run across that had no foil backing on it. So no foil backing, there appears to be no paint inside, a hole was drilled for a bridge ground but none was attached - did I get the last guitar off the line on a Friday afternoon? :?


You're welcome. Based on what you've said, they've evidently cut a lot of 'frills' out with your particular model.

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:56 am
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Martian wrote:
You're welcome. Based on what you've said, they've evidently cut a lot of 'frills' out with your particular model.


The OP has an American Deluxe, not an American Special. He admitted his mistake a few posts back. IMHO his guitar has a problem.

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:18 am
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bluesky636 wrote:
Martian wrote:
You're welcome. Based on what you've said, they've evidently cut a lot of 'frills' out with your particular model.


The OP has an American Deluxe, not an American Special. He admitted his mistake a few posts back. IMHO his guitar has a problem.


I didn't catch that and agreed. Clearly, he is never going to be happy with the guitar and should seek some kind of remedy.

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:40 pm
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Took the guitar back to GC today and they agreed there was too much noise coming from the guitar. Thankfully it behaved badly for them too! I opened my American P Bass before going and sure enough, it has shielding paint as described in an earlier reply and a ground wire attached to the body. This Tele doesn't have that and based on the schematics from the website, all the American models I looked at have this feature. It's a big ol' honkin' screw and it's hard to miss. They are ordering a new one and we'll have a look when it arrives. I'm very curious to see if this one has the shielding. If it is supposed to have the shielding then I'll probably swap guitars. If it does turn out that the new one isn't shielded and this is just the way the guitars are made, I'll just shield it myself. I told them I don't want anything more than the normal guitar that Fender cranks out. They were very apologetic and very helpful so kudos to GC. I know I've seen bad reviews written about my particular store but they've always treated me well.


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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 6:58 pm
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Looking at the schematics of previous generation American Deluxe Teles that used either Vintage Noiseless or SCN pickups shows that the control cavities were shielded with a grounding lug installed. Sounds like you got one that slipped through quality control one day. :(

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Post subject: Re: Noisy Noiseless pickups
Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:00 pm
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