Longtime player here (mostly gibsons)...got my 1st strat (deluxe HSS) 6-8wks ago. Playing today and noticed an odd pop. Finally localized it. Turns out, i get a pop sound if i touch the lower pup height adjuster screws (treble side) on the neck and middle N3's. Just pops like a static discharge, but can do it over and over. Pretty loud/annoying when I got any pedals active. No noise from the humbucker and no noise from the adjusters screws above the Pups (Bass side). Weird?? any thought folks??

thanks

Welcome.

Sight unseen, I suspect those two screws' grounds are floating. As a diagnostic tool, rig one end of a bare securely around the two offending screws with the other end of the bare wire securely wrapped around the metal part of your pickup selector switch and see if this solves your problem. If it does, we'll take it from there.

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Thanks for the reply... i will try that out later today...got to find some wire!

Anyway in poking around i found these players who had a similar issue...check it out...


http://acapella.harmony-central.com/archive/index.php/t-2525008.html


http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/index.php/t-177100.html


wierd, huh??

BCY123

Actually, it is a rather common phenomenon. This is why I said to try the bare wire for if this solves your problem, then you can remove the surgical tubing used as springs on the offending screws of the pickups and replace the tubing with outright metal springs. The springs will then be in contact with the screws and the foil underneath the pickguard, thus grounding those screws to the rest of the circuit and solving your problem.

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+1

Hi Martian

Ok, checked it out. Ran wire from Pup selector switch to treble side of neck N3 and then the pop is gone. did same for the middle pup and also gone. hard to believe i have a grnd issue with a new strat. wondering what i should do. seems like fender should fix it??

thanks

BCY

You're quite welcome.

Yes, it is certainly a covered warranty issue. You could easily fix it yourself if you or someone you know is familiar with underneath a Strat pickguard. This way, you don't have to deal with the hassle of bringing it in and leaving it there for who knows how long. I'd even be happy to walk whomever through it.

All things considered, if you do prefer to bring it to an authorized Fender center, tell the tech what the problem is and how you've diagnosed it. Like I've said a million times, just because a facility is authorized by a given manufacturer, it doesn't always follow that the current tech is competent. One would think (s)he should and would be but alas, this is not always the case. I've seen it way too many times that they only know 'just enough' which can be dangerous.

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I'm pretty handy. So I'll give it a try if you would be so kind as to tell me the solution. Thanks!!

Bad solder joints happen on guitars all the time. Just heat up your iron, set it about 10 watts higher than you'd use to connect wires. Touch the iron to the offending connections. Its probably a cold joint (where what's being soldered doesn't get hot enough to melt the solder to it, so pretty much the iron melts it and leaves the solder on the ground and the wire, not actually soldering them). Touch the iron to the spots until the solder pools, leave it like that for a couple second. It should be fine after that. If you want to add solder you can.

OK...but which joints need resolder.....I am not familiar with the wiring of the strat. I assume there is a grnd wire on the pup not sure why one side would be ungrnded and the other would be OK?? a pic would be useful if you got it.

bcy

This has absolutely nothing to do with deficient solder joints nor does this repair require any soldering.

Loosen the strings, unscrew the pickguard and flip the pickguard over being careful not to scratch the body of the guitar with any of the components underneath.

Locate the two offending screws, completely remove them from their respective pickups and from the pickguard. The surgical tubing serving as springs on these two screws are to be removed as well.

There are two simple and efficient methods to solve your problem. Here's both, you can choose either one (or both if you feel industrious):

1. Reinstall each screw through the pickguard. Instead of reinstalling the surgical tubing on each pickup, you'll replace each screw's surgical tubing with a metal spring of similar length and width. Once the springs are installed on the screws, turn the screws into the pickups by say, two threads. Ensure that these springs are in contact with the foil on the back of the pickguard. Button the pickguard up, retune and reset the height of each of the pickups as necessary.

Or:

2. Premising you have no copper foil with adhesive backing, cut two small pieces of household aluminum foil, each approximately a half inch square. Fold each piece in half and firmly scotch tape them by their edges over each respective screw hole; it doesn't have to be super exact, just be overwhelmingly in the ballpark. Take a pin and poke some holes through the foil you've added so that you are piercing clear through to the foil already on the back of the pickguard. This will ensure a firm connection between the foils. From the underneath out, poke through the screw holes. Now, gently start inserting each screw through their respective hole, ensuring that your added foil is clearly rubbing against the screw threads. Reinstall the tubing onto the screws; turn the screws into the pickups by say, two threads. Ensure that the foil and the screws are maintaining contact. Button the pickguard up, retune and reset the height of each of the pickups as necessary.

That's it!

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Got it. 1st I'm gonna call fender and get them to feel responsible. Then maybe
Theyll offer to fix it. I will ask to use my guy. If not then I'll check out their guy.
If I'm not confident. Then i'll do it ur way. Sounds logical and fairly straight forward. Thanks for being so generous with your expert advice.

Byron

Good luck and glad to help!

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Hey Martian...
was thinking about this issue and wondering why these screws are not grounded in the 1st place. When I got the gtr the plastic wrap on the pickguard was a mother to get off....so my luthier wanted to see the gtr and he took it off for me. He had to remove the pickguard and loosen the pups to get all the cello off. Anyway – you think - that might have contributed??? I think not, as he is very experienced and had done this maneuver many times B4.

Also, I am pretty handy with gibsons and not so with strats. I assume when I remove the pickguard, that the pups come with it?? Also I assume I can just remove the adjuster screws that are causing the problem, swing the pup out of the way, put the copper tape on, then reattach??

Any hints, pointers would be appreciated..

Again my thanks.

The design of the pickups is such so that there is no metal coming into contact with the height adjustment screws to ground them via the pickups.

The foil on the back of pickguards is extremely thin and is easily pushed aside or eaten away by component abrasion, component pressure, tooth washers eating through, oxidization, etc. Any one of these reasons is why your screws lost their ground continuity. Yes, your "luthier" could have easily caused the problem by disassembling the components from the pickguard and not verifying all components being in contact with the foil upon reassembly.

Yes to your copper tape scenario. Again, poke a few pin holes through the applied copper foil to the pickguard foil thus assuring solid, enduring conductivity between the two and of course, ensure that some of the screw threads are in contact with the copper foil. The easiest way to do this would be to run some foil shards up the screw holes in the pickguard. The head of the screw (from underneath) will also come in contact with the foil and hide these shards as well.

As always, you're quite welcome.

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