It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 1:13 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: Dirty Electricity
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 8:19 am
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Sat Feb 08, 2014 12:28 pm
Posts: 107
Location: Scotland
I was quite unhappy that my first ever Fender Japan '62 Stratocaster was making so much ugly noise, so I changed all pots, cap and cables, shielded the cavity with conductive paint and stuck a copper sheet on a pickguard.... and, while it improved the overall sound quality, it was still very hissy and "dirty". I gave up and decided to play the guitar unplugged (which is what I do in most cases anyway).
Just recently I moved in to a new accommodation: an old 3-storey building, which used to be a hotel. After I unpacked all my stuff, I couldn't find my guitar tuner, so I plugged the guitar to a laptop to tune up via Guitar Rig. when I put my headphones on, for a second I thought something is not connected because I couldn't hear anything... :shock: ... hit the string.... and WOW a note so clean I got an instant boner! I checked all switch positions, and after 2h of "checking" (ie. playing the heck out of the strat) I concluded that it must have been the quality of electricity in that previous house.
my left hand is shaking as I type this, but I wonder.... could it really be THE reason for $@!&#* hissy feedback from pickups?

relief and happiness dominates :mrgreen:

_________________
Fender '62 Reissue Stratocaster 2005
Gibson Les Paul Custom '68 2004


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Dirty Electricity
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 11:53 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:01 pm
Posts: 1479
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Could very well be. Remember all the pickups do is pick up the movement of the strings. They don't have any sound of their own. But stray noisy electrical fields are notorious for causing an audible humming/buzzing, especially with passive single coil pups. As I recently stated in a post regarding this I have played in certain old clubs where the wiring was so messed up that even using top quality humbucker equipped guitars did not help.

Now certain amplifiers have ground lifts and phase reversal which can in some cases cut down or eliminate the noise but if it is severe enough of a problem there is really nothing other then to deal with it with a noise gate or simply turning off the volume in between songs. No one in the audience really seems to care much (other then guitarists) as long as while you are playing it covers the noise up.

To note...just painting the cavity with shielding paint and copper on the pickguard is not really enough or the proper way to do a thorough shielding job. Not saying it would have helped for certain since the exact source of the noise in your last place is still not 100% known for the best possibility of a shielding job to work you should use an actual material such as copper in the cavity, make sure with a meter you have good continuity to the pickguard, then remove and rewire rewire all the grounds of the pots, bridge, pup wire shielding (if used which is suggested), and jack to a common point to eliminate potential ground loops. Not that hard but if unfamiliar with the technique and terminology such as ground loops there are some good instructions and explanations on the internet.

_________________
I'm almost out of stuff to sell.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Dirty Electricity
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 12:44 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
Posts: 14049
Location: Province de Québec, Canada
Before doing any work, repair it is important to know the cause of the problem.

But often it is not as easy as you think


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Dirty Electricity
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 12:53 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:01 pm
Posts: 1479
Location: Los Angeles, USA
stratele52 wrote:
Before doing any work, repair it is important to know the cause of the problem.

But often it is not as easy as you think


That is true. It all depends on the skills of the troubleshooter. The worst thing to do is just throw parts at something and hope. There is a process to follow in order to isolate issues. Granted this posters problem self diagnosed when the noise totally vanished in his new place but this is not to say issues could arise again if it is a shielding problem and he is playing the guitar at another location with stray fields or dirty electric.

_________________
I'm almost out of stuff to sell.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Dirty Electricity
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 1:08 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
Posts: 14049
Location: Province de Québec, Canada
If noise problem with a guitar , fist thing to do is to test a know working good guitar same type ( single coil.... )
Or try the guitar in another house .


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Dirty Electricity
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 2:21 pm
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Sat Feb 08, 2014 12:28 pm
Posts: 107
Location: Scotland
I wanted to upgrade the guts in my guitar anyway, so it's not like I was frantically trying out all solutions at once. I did check with multimeter for continuity and all seemed fine. I put 4 coats of paint and it conducts electricity just as well as copper foil. It was my first attempt at working with a guitar at this level, so I'm satisfied :) It is really difficult for a novice to identify the cause of noise.... it never even occurred to me to try playing in a different house/environment. live and learn.
thanks for the feedback :)

_________________
Fender '62 Reissue Stratocaster 2005
Gibson Les Paul Custom '68 2004


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Dirty Electricity
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 5:00 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:01 pm
Posts: 1479
Location: Los Angeles, USA
stratele52 wrote:
If noise problem with a guitar , fist thing to do is to test a know working good guitar same type ( single coil.... )
Or try the guitar in another house .


That is certainly a logical first step and one I would always suggest.

_________________
I'm almost out of stuff to sell.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: