check out this movie. I just spent $1600 on this guitar expecting it to be top quality and listen to this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t7gfih52KM

what can I do to ensure that my pickups are actually noiseless, and check out what happens as it gets louder in noise between 2 and 8.

I had some serious deadlines on a project for the NFL this week, and this new guitar pretty much ruined that shot. I sure hope fender folks are watching and can help out.

I plugged in all my other guitars including a 12 string japanese strat of mine, and none of my other guitars to anything remotely as loud and unusable as this.

Dave Taylor
American Deluxe Ash Strat

You probably have a loose ground. Turn it on, and get it with the hum loud; does it go away when you touch the metal bridge, or any screws? If so, you'll want to check all the ground connections; back of the pots, the wire that goes to the spring claw. That will make noiseless pickups hum.
If not, it may be something in your signal chain, unplug from any effects, plug right into the amp. IF the hum is gone, go one by one adding your pedals, until you isolate the trouble maker.
Noiseless pickups are just humbuckers, so there shouldnt be any real hum to speak of (of course there will be a little, especially with a lot of gain).

I'd wager on a bad ground. Take the pickguard off; look at where all the wires are going from the BACKS of the pots, take the piece of wire you have, put one end on the back of the pot, and the other to whatever the soldered wire is connected to. If the hum goes away; desolder, then resolder the wire.

That could be it too if its not a bad earth solder. I have a '76 Dyna Comp, an actual 35 year old one, not custom shop. When i had it on my board (its since been retired to my closet, and replaced with a Custom Shop Custom Comp), and i hit the button on it in my place (not anywhere else), if i left my foot on it; I'd get the spanish language radio station come through my amp clear as day.

I thought it sounded like Godzilla gargling in the bathroom.



Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

ok, so I did some testing. Touching the metal on the bridge and screws does nothing. Touching the metal near the input on that particular piece of metal reduces the sound, but only slightly.

also, I'm not running any effects. That's straight in to the Boogie. I plugged in other guitars and get hum, but no radio like that, and certainly nothing that only appears to happen on the volume between 2 and 8.

and yes, that would be a radio signal... Queen: We are the Champions. How fitting.

OH and interesting note. With the SI pushed in, and on the top 2 in series settings (closest to the neck settings), it's totally quiet.

Dave

Both of my SCN/S-1 Strats are as quiet as the proverbial church mouse.

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

That just isn't right. I have the N3 pups on my guitar (loaded pickguard off of an MIA Deluxe swapped into my MIM Standard).

They are as quiet as can be, little to no noise and definately nothing like what you have there.

I'd take it back where I bought it and have the tech check it out or contact Fender and see what they have to say.

I agree with others that it sounds like a shielding or ground issue and is probably a pretty quick fix.

Jeff

Take it back - it is clearly wired incorrectly and this shouldn't be your problem. Have your dealer lend you a guitar in the mean time. The guit is wired up wrong such that is oscillating internally and acting the detector section of a radio. You are picking up radio interference on a harmonic frequency. I wouldn't be surpised if you told me the tone pots don't work - but it could be a number of things.

The problem with Am Dlx's is that theres so many damn wiring choices, its really difficult to make a diagnosis without actually having your guitar in front of me. If i was to take a shot in the dark, since it works in some of the parallel positions; is that it's "possible" when it was wired, they only wired the regular coils, not the wires for the dummy coils that cancel out the hum. Another problem is that if you're not familiar with wiring pickups, it would be hard to just look at the wiring, since again, there are so many different wirng paths for all the features on it.

If the store you got it from has an inhouse repair shop, try to schedule bringing it in when they'll be free. This will; 1)make sure when they fix it, they actually fix it.
2)give you a better chance of getting it done right away.

It has to be faulty.

When my number1 Strat had properly fitted SCNs on it, it was spookily and un-naturally quiet. Even under a fluorescent lamp fitting..

_________________
Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Sounds like a problem with the S-1 system being hosed.

_________________
"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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[quote="DetroitBlues"]Sounds like a problem with the S-1 system being hosed.[/quot
+1
This is very ilkely. I've had to replace MANY S1 switches for different switching systems. They're very well thought out switches, unfortunately, they are prone to malfunction