bscha Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Hello everybody. I am a electric guitar noob and have what may be a silly question. I have had gibson acoustics for years and love them, especially a my J45. Well, for christmas this year my wife bought me a beautiful Les Paul Traditional 2013 in honey burst. I love the guitar, but here is my question. When plugged in to my amp, the guitar has a buzz when you are not touching the strings. As soon as you touch anything metal (including the strings) the buzz goes away. My question is, is this normal. Like I said, I am new to electric guitars. When this situation occurs on my acoustic it is a bad ground and gets repaired. Thanks in advance for the wisdom from this board! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauloon Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Does it still buzz/hum when both pups are selected?....middle position? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bscha Posted December 14, 2013 Author Share Posted December 14, 2013 Does it still buzz/hum when both pups are selected?....middle position? yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauloon Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Sounds like it's a grounding problem. Check the wiring , make sure you don't have any cold solder joints on the ground connections to the pots or at a ground point off the output jack. Check the wiring on the output jack. Check wiring on pup selector. Check all solder joints. If all seems well you could shield the cavity as with a strat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Shielding is possible and useful but not required in my opinion. The behaviour seems basically normal to me. However, it is a good idea to check your home/practicing/rehearsal room and your guitar amp for electrical safety, in particular proper grounding. Electrocution among wired players still happens. Last year a guitarist died on stage during soundcheck before a concert managed by a bandmate of mine. The ground connection of his amp was faulty, as they found out during criminal investigation. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsinla Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Hello everybody. I am a electric guitar noob and have what may be a silly question. I have had gibson acoustics for years and love them, especially a my J45. Well, for christmas this year my wife bought me a beautiful Les Paul Traditional 2013 in honey burst. I love the guitar, but here is my question. When plugged in to my amp, the guitar has a buzz when you are not touching the strings. As soon as you touch anything metal (including the strings) the buzz goes away. My question is, is this normal. Like I said, I am new to electric guitars. When this situation occurs on my acoustic it is a bad ground and gets repaired. Thanks in advance for the wisdom from this board! All my electric guitars have some hum. On most of them the hum goes away when I touch the strings. On the Traditional, a very slight hum is probably normal, it will never be absolutely quiet in my opinion. Also many things can make your guitar hum besides grounding and shielding problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 I, too, would check the grounding of the amp thoroughly. If that isn't the problem then check with a different guitar cable. It would also be a good idea to check your guitar through another amp/cable. If none of that helps take your kit to someone else's house. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Electrocution among wired players still happens. Last year a guitarist died on stage during soundcheck before a concert managed by a bandmate of mine. The ground connection of his amp was faulty, as they found out during criminal investigation. :( Why does that sort of thing still continue nowadays in what I have understood to be near universal use of RCDs on the mains supply? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauloon Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 If none of that helps take your kit to someone else's house. P. [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] . I found this amusing because the wife says our electricity bills are to high....and it's because I play an electric!(and I play it too loud?)....She has actually said....go play in pauls (son) garage!:( . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 To the OP - Your guitar is likely o.k. The humming comes from an outside source. Like from the electrical stuff in or around your house. Check to make sure that, if you have any flourescent light dimmers in your house, that they're turned off or all the way on. If you live in a crowded neighborhood, the interference might be coming from somebody else's place. If you live in an area where they have three phase power service - with 3 big wires running on top of the power poles - then you may have interference from unbalanced loads on the lines. You can't do anything to stop that kind of outside interference. So check for dimmers and see what happens. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Right. Don't be mislead here. This is quite normal, you'll find some amps will make your guitar buzz more than others and some houses will too. Unless this a very bad buzz just ignore it. BTW, if you can jump in the air while touching strings and the buzz doesn't come back then grounding has nothing to do with it and it's your capacitance that stops the buzz. This will prove there is no fault. Things you can do if it is bad enough to bother you are... Try another room. Move your amp. Move you and the guitar. Try a different, maybe shorter, cable. Avoid coiling excess cable. Avoid dimmer switches. Avoid flourecent lights, including energy savers. Plug your amp in to a spur with no electric motors connected ( heating, fridge, freezer, air con, oven etc etc) the return from these is noisey. As a last resort, shielding the guitar can help but is a pain, can be difficult with an LP and often has no effect. Enjoy your guitar! HNGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bscha Posted December 15, 2013 Author Share Posted December 15, 2013 Thanks. It was a bad ground. Hum is very minor now and dead quiet when I touch the strings. Gonna go play more now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsinla Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Thanks. It was a bad ground. Hum is very minor now and dead quiet when I touch the strings. Gonna go play more now! Yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauloon Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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