Over the years my Strat has developed a nasty buzz. It sounds like a grounding issue. The guitar came stock with the string claw grounded to the input jack only. So I ran a separate wire from the claw and grounded it to all 3 pots.. Still getting the string buzz. Not just the strings though. I can even touch one of the screws to the 3-way and it'll stop. Touch the bridge, input jack, tuner, basically any piece of metal involving the electrical system, and it'll go away.

So where would you troubleshoot next?

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Do a search here on this issue as it has been covered many, many times.

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You dig?

Have you ever actually tried that Martian?? The searches on here are horrible. What keywords to use? Guitar buzz? Electrical buzz? Guitar noise? Grounding? Grounding issue?

Ok.. Check it out. I just typed in Guitar noise in a search. Pretty basic wording. In the Stratocaster forum, Fender guitar category.

7,691 matches!!

Let's see what we have here..

Hey hey!! Someone wants to know if anyone's has the Ritchie Sambora Strat! I personally do not. Heard they were pretty good though.

Ok someone want's to know if he should get a Strat instead of a tv.. Not sure what that has to do with guitar noise. But go with the Strat dude. Just test it out to make sure it doesn't have a buzz.

Alright now this is promising.. "Wiring Question" let's see.. Nope, dude has a coil tap question.. Ok.

Next up.. A 24-ct Strat!!!! Holy good god!! That thing is freaking SICK!!! I'd want to be buried with that fine piece of guitar!!! My God!!

Hey now, there's my question. See answer A. Ok I'll search again.

Wiring problem. Easy enough.

2,415 matches..

let's see... Same ones as before. let's check out some of the topics. Sustain of a high E?
Cheap strat sounds good, mid bad?
S-1 switch
Ibanez INF3 & INF4 in a strat?
Storing my guitars?
Hendrix monterey pop?
The Official Vinnypop Lounge??????

OK, I'll try something else..

How about Buzz.. Noise.. Only this time, I'll search posts.

1,513 matches.

Well there is one guy who has a noisy 60's strat and the solution he came up with himself was to shield the cavity. Says it tamed it enough.. I could try that.

But is that a true solution? I think the guitar should be able to perform as it did years ago without having to do that. It didn't need shielding when I first got it. Why now all of the sudden?

Oh well, forget it. I'll just figure it out myself. I don't have all day to sift through 50,000 so called matches.

Martian, I'm not trying to be condescending toward you, but that's how frustrating a search really is. I admire your knowledge, you seem like a descent guy. But I think I'll just figure it out on my own. I've relied on that so far. It's just that sometimes people can point you from point A-B faster than trying something, having it not work, then taking it apart again, re-stringing, etc... This guitar has never been worked on before, and I was hoping to have to do as little as possible to curb the noise.

I think I'll get some Copper Shielding and a new input jack and see how that pans out.

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I agree that the search function here is almost useless. At least to me. I've just not figured it out I guess. Hope it's better in the new site.

I can find some things but it's just dumb luck.

Shred

First thing I'd check would be those extra ground wires you put onto the pots.
you may have caused a loop. The ground from the trem claw should go to the base of the volume pot only.

I agree with you, the search function on this site throws up every topic ever posted, no matter what you put in the search criteria.

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No no and no

Thanks man. I'll try that. I appreciate your reply.

This is my baby. I've had it for 25-years, it was my first electric guitar ever. I have a show coming up for my 40th birthday, and buzz or not, I'm gonna play this guitar on that night. I'm actually more surprised that I didn't do more damage to this guitar than it's displaying. When you get a guitar at 15, at first you take care of it, then you get to be about 18-20 and it's thrash time.

Wanna see a cool pic.??



That's a picture of me in high-school playing my '57 RI with my friend Reggie. Reggie eventually went on to be the Bass player for KORN. We were playing "Shook Me All Night Long" at a rally. Hahaha..

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Note the short trousers. It just had to be a DC track with them on.

Very cool pic.

Btw If the problem just came up recently, like one minute fine the next its texas chainsaw massacre in your speaker. It may be worth getting the amp checked once you've checked all your wiring is secure. If the amps ok with other guitars it can be ruled out. Also could it be a noisy lead?

You have to be methodical at chasing these problems out. Start at one end of your gear and double check it try it out with different amps/guitars. When its passed its double check, move onto the next thing. Check pedals too.

BTW a shop selling vintage gear that I have visited a lot lately is selling a candy apple red 1987 57AVRI for £1400/$2334. It would appear that those 80's ones are raising in value. Yours would be a 84 wouldnt it? CBS lost the blueprint to that guitar when they handed over to FMIC. Apparently those CBS ones are a world above the later FMIC 57's.

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No no and no

Yea, it's a 1984. But I haven't exactly treated it very well. I don't know that it would be worth as much as that. There were times when I took it to a guitar tech in Bakersfield and this guy kept talking me into doing things to it. At one point it had a fine tuner installed just passed the nut, and a bigger Block was installed in the bridge. The paint has cracked all over the place, and I've done my share of dings and dents and wear in it. The pickguard is warped pretty bad. It's got rust in the saddle adjusters, pickups, pickguard screws.. Finish taken off in some spots on the fret-board. Damn man some people do actually pay for that stuff don't they. Hahaha. I feel like I'm describing a worn series.

The electronics look great. I thought it was odd to see the claw wire going to the input jack, but I did see that on a schematic somewhere. The only issue I ever had with this guitar is it had the frets hanging over the sides a little too much. It was never really that comfortable in that sense. But the sound of the pickups are ungodly good. There's no way you can pick this thing up and not get bluesy. It's just the soul of the guitar.

I did my own filing on the frets to knock them back from the edge so it would be comfortable, now it's just a matter of the buzz. It's been a gradual thing Nikki, and the input jack seems like it needs to be removed. It's just getting weaker. The more I push the tang back, it just seems to get worse. Just age I guess.

I'll let you know if I get it fixed. I'm going for round 2 tonight. Now are you saying I should remove the original claw wire to the input jack, and just solder it to the Volume pot?

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If i were you I'd make a rough drawing of the guitars current wiring. Then rewire it as a modern AVRI57. If that sorts the problem, bobs your uncle. If not you can go back to how it was wired.

Heres the wiring diagram
http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/stratocaster/0100102B/SD0100102BPg2.pdf

Unusually theres no groundwire shown on it. I'm 100% certain it does go to the base of the volume pot though.

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No no and no

My profound apologies, I didn't realize the search was such an utter waste of time. In truth, I never used it.

Allow me to try and make amends.

First off, OEM, the claw gets soldered to the volume pot, not the jack. Resolder that claw to the volume pot.

For all terminals and wires, including the eyelets (where the leads go into and out of) of your pickups.:

- Check the quality of the soldering in general;
- Check that no stray lead wire strands are touching anything they shouldn't be;
- Check that the mating mechanical contacts of all components are firmly in place and connecting. Of course, ensure that dirt, grit and oxidization are not present but it is common that one of the contacts simply has to be, "plumped up" a bit;
- Check that the bottom of any pot or the toggle switch is not grounding out under pressure against the body or a foiled area on the pickguard. Oftentimes, the toggle will ground out when it comes in contact with the shielding paint or foil in some Strats. Possibly just the installed pickguard forces the bottom of the toggle switch too close to the body, causing a terminal to bend and this in turn, will cause poor mating with a mechanical contact and can create hum. The same holds true with the tip of your cable if it is touching the wood once plugged into the jack in the guitar.
- Make sure ALL pots and the toggle are snugly attached to the shielding plate, the same with the output jack being tight to the cup.

Hopefully, I've served you better than before, Again, my apologies.

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You dig?

Thank you Martian, I do appreciate it a lot. I'm getting ready to dive in right now. I'll get some pics of the insides for you guys.

Time to fix up my old friend for another 25-years.

Thanks again Martian and Nikki, if it works, you'll both be my uncle. You know in my culture, the uncles buy the nephews all the beers..

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I almost forgot. I did take some pics yesterday to show how the paint job has aged. When you have something for a long time you don't notice, so it was kind of surprising to me.



If you look closely, you'll see the claw wire going to the input jack. I'm guessing that's my problem. I'm gonna try what Nikki suggested first, then run through Martian's checklist and see what happens.

I'll get more pics later when my camera charges.



Edit:

Ok so round 2 is over.. Still there.

Ive got some pics of the original wiring. The only difference is that I soldered the claw wire to the Volume pot instead of the Input jack.

I have 2 areas of concern that I'm looking at here.

The bottom tone pot looks either oxidized or burnt. It does it's job, but it is something I noticed before I soldered the ground jumpers from pot to pot (now removed). Not sure what this is. I did live in Huntington Beach for some years, sometime the salty climate has odd effects on certain metals. It's where I acquired a brunt of the rust the guitar has on it. Could be an unprotected spot on the pot..



The other is this jumper wire on the switch. It could possibly be touching the wood when I put the pickguard back on. So I'm going to try to address that issue.



Other than that, I'm kind of at a loss. I'm probably just going to shield the guitar anyway. I'll take a certain amount of interference as a happy medium. If it's still there as strong as it is now, I'm going to think about revamping the electronics.

Once again, thanks for your help guys.

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Based on your pictures, stated history of the guitar and judging by the grime collecting at the base of your pots, I'd say it's time for a total components replacement even before shielding as shielding it first would most likely only be treating a symptom and not a cause. Further, your results would not be all that dramatic any way. I must also presume the toggle to be equally 'tired' as your pots. Odds are, your existing components are beginning to internally deteriorate which indeed, would could be the source/cause of the noise.

And yes, you can reuse the existing capacitor if it is still good (as it appears to be).

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You dig?

+1 time for a rewire job with new pots & a jack.

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Ah yes.. Success.

Bit of a pain in the $@! though. I gutted the parts, installed new ones.. put it back together. No sound at all. The volume knob felt funky when I turned it. It would do nothing, then, "click" noise (but no sound). After checking over the wiring a few times I came to the conclusion that GC sold me a bunk Fender pot.

Sure enough.. Had to swap it with one of the tone pots, put an old one in the tone position.. Success... At.....Last.

I've got one more round to go, and my boy is back in action!! I got rid of almost all of the noise. A good shield job should take care of the rest, swap the old tone pot, and I'm good to go.

Thanks again Martian and Nikki. This guitar smokes all of my others. Long weekend, but it was well worth it,

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