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esonic2 hum problem


wildkat1

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Hey Masterbilt owners or owners of any Epi with a esonic2 preamp pickup system....I know this is a rehash of an old thread and problem but I am requesting any help possible to solve this annoying "hum/buzz" problem??!! It appears to be when I blend the two pickups and use the straplock jack only. I have tried intertwining the wires as one owner suggested...but it did not solve the problem. I can use the nanomag p/u with the jack located lower on the lower bout of the guitar labeled STEREO/nanomag, but I can't use the nanoflex jack......Any suggestions??? The Talk2us site hasn't answered two attempted contacts yet!! [confused]

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Hey Masterbilt owners or owners of any Epi with a esonic2 preamp pickup system....I know this is a rehash of an old thread and problem but I am requesting any help possible to solve this annoying "hum/buzz" problem??!! It appears to be when I blend the two pickups and use the straplock jack only. I have tried intertwining the wires as one owner suggested...but it did not solve the problem. I can use the nanomag p/u with the jack located lower on the lower bout of the guitar labeled STEREO/nanomag, but I can't use the nanoflex jack......Any suggestions??? The Talk2us site hasn't answered two attempted contacts yet!! [confused]

Probably a grounding problem—does the hum vanish if you touch the medal part of the jack with your hand while playing? What's the exact guitar model you're using? More information plus pictures would probably yield a greater response here or elsewhere.

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Thanks for the replies......some additional info; it is a 2008 AJ500 RE nat satin no longer warranteed. I originally bought the guitar because it played like a dream and sounds absolutely great acoustically. I never intended to use the electronics and was looking for one w/out them. Now I get together on Saturday afternoons with a few guys who use amps so I suddenly need it.. I can get by with the nanomag for now. And, oh yes.....the hum disappears when I put a finger on the metal part of the outer jack when playing it. Grounding sounds like an issue??!! I'll take further suggestions gladly (but I'm keeping this guitar for life!!}

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And, oh yes.....the hum disappears when I put a finger on the metal part of the outer jack when playing it. Grounding sounds like an issue??!!

It's a grounding issue then, as I suspected, but I'm not sure you can fix it yourself. Any of the Shadow pickups I tried were susceptible to malfunction, and this seems to be the norm if we go by anecdotal evidence. Often they even refuse to function properly out of the box. They got a real bad rep.

 

When I had experienced such a grounding issue myself, I made the retailer swap out the electronics entirely at their cost which fixed the problem (the guitar was brand new and still under warranty at the time). I still let the guitar go in the end. Get a high-end Ovation instead and don't bother with crappy tech.

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On my Epi Masterbuilt Olympic, the esonic/Shadow pickup started to hum after the nut and washer on the outside of the pickup came loose and I re-tightened it by hand. I took the nut and washer off and pulled the pickup out and sure enough one of the wires had broken off when I re-tightened the nut and washer, but the real issue was the pickup mechanism itself was turning when I re-tightened the nut and washer, causing the wire to break off from mechanism turning. I resoldered the wire back on, but the underlying issue of the mechanism turning when I re-tightened the nut and washer, because it had broken off from where it was fastened within the mechanism. So it then worked for a few weeks, but then the outside nut and washer loosened again from the vibration of me playing the guitar. And, of course, when I re-tightened the outside nut and washer, I could again feel the mechanism moving again and strangling the wires inside. Though it didn’t hum again at that point, I knew it was inevitable that this same outside nut and washer would eventually loosen again from vibration, causing me to repetitively have to re-tighten it, and eventually again snap the inside wire connections because the jack mechanism was no longer attached to its base.

 

So, I made the decision, at the possibility of voiding the pickup’s warrantee, to Goriila Glue the inside jack mechanism back to its base after untangling the inner wires again and putting some new solder on all three terminals to restrengthen them from the prior tangling/turning. And, once that was strengthened, I put the pickup back in the guitar and put a small dab of Gorilla Glue on the washer and nut before I re-tightened the washer and nut, so that when it all set, the pickup and it’s jack mechanism inside was solid as a rock to itself with clean electrical connections, and solidly affixed to the body of the guitar, immune to vibration and coming loose at the washer and nut affixing it to the guitar. The risk being, it might be a bit testy to again loosen the washer and nut, should I ever want to remove the pickup, again, (from its entire base, attached to the guitar by two screws) but I figured why would I if it no longer loosened itself from vibration and subsequent wire entanglement occurred, since it no longer could as the jack mechanism was now firmly re-attached to the pickup’s base.

 

It’s been solid as a rock without any hum or loosening or wire entanglement or breakage or the nut and washer coming loose for 5 months now, where before the surgery it was loosening every three weeks from playing vibration.

 

One other thing if you re-attach or re-solder wires. Make sure you have them on the correct terminals. When I first messed around doing it, I found connecting the wires to their non-original terminals created a hum that was corrected by putting the wires to their correct terminals with trial and error.

 

Works super now. Why I had to go through the repair is another matter, but, I am very happy with the esonic/Shadow’s performance now and believe my home repair removed the problem I was having. However, if you are adverse to the high risk (but fun) of creative/successful home repairs, I suggest taking it to a luthier to fix.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 years later...

This might sound odd, but I changed the strings on my Masterbuilt, and the high E string no longer responds to the nanomag pickup.  It's the strangest thing. 

All strings have good response to the pickup, but that one string .  On the Nanoflex pickup, all strings have good response.  

If I fret the B string at the highest fret and bend it toward the E string, it still transmits.  If I bend the E string to the same spot, there is no response.   So it can't be the pickup?

My only theory is that the string may be too light?  I put on a set of 10s.  So now  thinking of going to an 11 (this one goes to 11).

Anyone else  experience this?  Any theories?

Thanks.  

Edited by jeffscottnb
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