My New Firebird is noisy - what to do?

[Jedi Grunge]

I hope this is the right forum. I finally landed my much desired Gibson Firebird V, new, from Guitar Center. She's a beauty! But she's noisy. When I take hands off strings it buzzes. Get worse the higher the treble. When I switch, it crackles. None of my other guitars do this with the same amp and cable (tele, strat, Gretsch, J Bass). I took it back to the shop. They plugged it in to their rig, and the noise did not show up. We then tried my amp and cable, and the buzz came. We switched out the cable (still using my amp), and no noise. So I replaced the cable. Got it home, and the noise was back. Plugged it (and the rest of my guitars) into my bass amp, and the problem was less bad (but not gone). Should I live with it? Take it back and have them look at the ground? Do something else?

 

Thanks,

 

JG.

[Mad Rax]

This one is hard to awnser since noise can come from a zillion places. What I can tell you are my own experiences, it´s usually bad grounding obviously asuming you have a good cable.

1. - Cheap Chinese made pups which are noisy, did some shielding which does a really good job. It will help any ax and here´s how http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php
   
2. - Potchy garbled soldering on the pots, resoldered and fixed.
   
3. - Loose, and/or broken grounding wires on the ax. Resoldered them in 5 minutes on Strats or Floyds, but on a Les Paul tipe guitar I once had to pull out the bridge post to reinstall the broken cable. It´s the post inside the body on the treble side. Hours work.
   
4. - I once lived in an old building with bad wiring, the noise was so bad that one could even hear the radio, cops and taxis thru the amp. Without even conecting the guitar! I was told that an electrician should come and fix the grounding "soon", so I moved.
    
   

[Versatile]

I feel your pain Jedi...I had something similar with an amp recently : very noisy hums etc...none of my other equipment suffered....back to the dealer, plugs in no problem...huge embarrassment. Dealer suggested check grounding and cable. I messed with cable and found that proximity had an influence but was able to eliminate the problem thus. Shows how sensitive things can be. Enjoy your Firebird...sex on a stick....!!

[St James]

Do ya have P-90';s or ? mini-hums?

The P-90's being single coiled may be a bit noisey but it sounds like a grounding issue or as As It was said above CHEAP CHINESE POTS N CHEAP CAPS.....especially the caps and he is DEAD ONE with is possibility.

Check with RSGUITAR WORKS have them send you the VINATGE CONTROLS for the BIRD there POTS are fantastic and the TRUE SPRAGUE BUMBLE BEE'S will make that baby sing without the noise interference.

I change em on EVERY GUITAR I have, VINTAGE GUITARS have the better stuff in em.

 

Be carefull ordering from GUITAR CENTER as they have been known to spec Guitars with lesser quality wood and electronics.

Also check the be sure anyting ya get IS NOT A GUITAR CENTER MODEL ONLY as the values drop fast on em and they are HARD to sell !!

 

Are you running a lot of pedals???? If so you may have the pedals in the wrong order or plugged into a dirty circuit.

It may also be CHEAP CABLES or your amp!!

 

In the front of the forums there is a thread under STYLES that hsa about 30 tips on setting up and getting the best tone from your GIBSON...those tips all work and I ended up using that knowledge for stting up my pedals and Ive been playing 40 plus years.

 

IF you;re unhappy with the MINI-HUMS with a bit of work you can fit P-90 in the space......

I have three FIREBIRDS all Vintage and two have P-90's and one mini-hums.....

I like the P-90s for an all around tone guitar and the Mini-Hum is great especially for slide.

 

Either way the FIREBIRD is a special guitar and not for everyone if it fits you as it has me MAN it;s gonna bring ya a ton of fun and great tone.Perfect for BLUES, ROCK and can fit into anything ya want.

 

Enjoy it...think of the greats that playes this special Guitar, Johny Winter, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters., Buddy Guy Steve Winwood and plenty of others who also wanted a sound NO OTHER GUITAR HAS.

 

Each guitar needs something to it when ya first get em to get em to have your SIGNATURE TONE, maybe you'll find yours changing those CAPACITORS and POTS and your noise problem will go way along with the fix (still sounds like Grounding)

 

GOOD LUCK

 

ST JAMES