CBLPPlayer Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hi All- I am new to the forum but have been playing guitar for many years. Haven't done much in the way of electronics however although I have a baseline understanding of how it all works. I bought a LP trad Pro II in early January of this year. The guitar has the overdrive control on the tone knob. The guitar had been fine with the exception of the overdrive working intermittently. Of course each time I took it to the tech at the Guitar Center it worked fine. 3 days ago, out of the blue the guitar started buzzing like crazy! So loud I can hear it over playing it. I have tried 3 different amps and two different locations so the guitar is the issue. The buzz does not stop when I touch the guitar. I'm thinking a ground issue but all connections seem ok...but........ Before two days ago this guitar was dead silent. Any suggestions? I'm going to take it back to the tech and force him to look at the wiring and circuitry but I'd like to see what you all think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hello and welcome... Does the buzz get worse when you touch the guitar or stay the same? If its a grounding issue it usually gets worse when you actually touch a metal part.... Otherwise there may be a loose wire somewhere or something wrong with that overdrive control (boost switch?) of which I cant tell you much about personally.. but there are certainly folks on here who can tell you more.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBLPPlayer Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hi Rabs, Thanks for the reply...... The buzzing does not get worse when I touch it. It stays the same. Does seem to get less buzz when using the middle pup selection but other that the buzz is constant and loud. Does seem to me that the Boost may be an issue since it does seem to cut out on me and also seems to eat batteries quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hi Rabs, Thanks for the reply...... The buzzing does not get worse when I touch it. It stays the same. Does seem to get less buzz when using the middle pup selection but other that the buzz is constant and loud. Does seem to me that the Boost may be an issue since it does seem to cut out on me and also seems to eat batteries quickly. Well two of the guys you can ask directly if you want (PM them) are Searcy or Donny (D-Ray)... Donny has done loads of wiring work like this and Searcy builds pickups among other things and really knows his stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hello CBLPP and welcome here. Does the buzz appear constantly, or does it depend on signal level and/or use of the boost circuit? A low battery might cause this as well as contact corrosion. I often had to deal with distortion due to tarnished contacts, even on brand-new guitars. Cleaning switches and contacts always did the trick, at least on passive instruments without batteries. It's also a good idea not to touch the plug's contacts with the fingers or anything else apart form air or cleaning tissues. Moreover, I always leave toggle switches in the middle position when putting guitars in cases to avoid contact spring fatigue. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich1978 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 sounds like it could be a dry joint in the boost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBLPPlayer Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 The buzzing is constant, however when I turn down the volume on the guitar it lessens. I know more gain will add some more possibility for buzz or noise but this buzz is not your normal pup buzz. It's crazy loud. If I have the guitar vol on say 7 and the amp on 4 it's ridiculous and overpowers the guitar sound. Using the boost circuit doesn't change the buzz at all. Even with the battery out it still buzzes loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBLPPlayer Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hi rich1978, What do you mean by dry joint? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich1978 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 do the tone pots effect it at all? a dry joint is where the solders gone a bit funny and sort of breaks contact on the joint, there easy to sort it's just a case of heating the solder again, but they can be hard to find Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich1978 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Do you mean a cold solder joint. It is when the solder joint is not soldered correctly and can crack and cause problems. A good solder joint should be nice and shinny. yeah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Yeah you can get a bad joint like this So you can see there is solder around the wire BUT you can see a small gap in the middle, this will mean that the joint will probably move and is not solid... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich1978 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 I had a 100watt h&h amp that had a dry joint, worked fine for about 2yr's then suddenly started mucking about so I found and sorted the joint and worked fine. then some git nicked it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBLPPlayer Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Thanks for the info guys......... As soon as I get a chance I am gonna check it out. Ive been looking for my multimeter but can't find it. I may just buy another one. I will let you know what I find out. The tone pots do not have any effect on the buzz at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 The buzzing is constant, however when I turn down the volume on the guitar it lessens. I know more gain will add some more possibility for buzz or noise but this buzz is not your normal pup buzz. It's crazy loud. If I have the guitar vol on say 7 and the amp on 4 it's ridiculous and overpowers the guitar sound. Using the boost circuit doesn't change the buzz at all. Even with the battery out it still buzzes loud. Seems to be a contact problem causing nonlinear transition resistance, typical for semiconducting metal oxides. As mentioned above, a bad soldering point or contact corrosion could be the culprit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueblooded Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 I have to assume you know that when your volume pots on your Trad Pro II are pushed so that the stems are extended your pickups are split into true single coils. You will have hum (if that is what you're describing) when in this mode. This is different from the many Gibsons with Coil Tapping which still cancels hum. Does this happen with your amp on a clean setting (not overdriven) as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBLPPlayer Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Hey guys, this is my brothers guitar , I'm logged into his account now and I'm looking at it for him. After checking all the wiring,I decided to narrow things down to troubleshoot. So I ran the bridge pickup directly to the output and also tried hooking it directly to the cable, it still buzzed the same, everything was by passed, the tone and volume pots and the overdrive circuit. With all that by passed, the ground to the bridge wouldn't be involved right, as long as the ground from the pickup went to the ground on the output jack, correct? This may be a dumb ? , but should the pickups be picking up my electric screw driver from the back of the guitar, through the cavity cover and all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billymagnum Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Hey guys, this is my brothers guitar , I'm logged into his account now and I'm looking at it for him. After checking all the wiring,I decided to narrow things down to troubleshoot. So I ran the bridge pickup directly to the output and also tried hooking it directly to the cable, it still buzzed the same, everything was by passed, the tone and volume pots and the overdrive circuit. With all that by passed, the ground to the bridge wouldn't be involved right, as long as the ground from the pickup went to the ground on the output jack, correct? This may be a dumb ? , but should the pickups be picking up my electric screw driver from the back of the guitar, through the cavity cover and all? seems a lot of people are having issues with LP trad Pro IIs lately... can you confirm that your instrument cable is not the problem? sometimes those connections give.... just a thought since nothing else seems to be the cause... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBLPPlayer Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Yeah we have tried multiple cables, amps, locations etc..... problem still exists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billymagnum Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 After all that., my only guess is the pickup is bad. Did you run both pickups straight individually? Or just one of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBLPPlayer Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 After all that., my only guess is the pickup is bad. Did you run both pickups straight individually? Or just one of them? I actually only ran the bridge pickup direct so far. I guess it would be a good idea to try the neck pickup as well, my brother does want to take it back to guitar center today though. As he mentioned, the hum dies down a lot when both pickups are selected, but returns when either the neck or bridge is on ny itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billymagnum Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 back to guitar center? does that mean you have a warranty? if you do, you may have voided it by screwing around with the electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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