Larry Lion Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Folks I have a brand spanking new ES-339, very happy with it, except that I notice that it is susceptible to electronic interference. My band practices in a brand new studio in our bass-player's basement. The lighting system in there has fluorescent dimmer circuits (just in case that's a factor), and I play through tube amps (what else?). The hum is only present there - in my own home, the guitar is dead quiet, same settings, same rig. If I touch the strings while the hum is happening, it goes away. Which leads me to think that this ES-339 of mine does not have interconnected grounding (common ground), or it is otherwise unshielded in some way. I figure I can fix this issue after some testing (copper tape, linked groundwires, etc), but I'm scared of voiding warranties, etc. Anybody had a similar experience, and anyone know what Gibson's policy is? Does anyone know if the ES-339 is shielded already, before I open her up? Can someone post pictures of the ES-339 with pickups removed so I can see the routing/hole structure, etc? Many Thanks! Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Hi Larry. Don't mess with that 339 yet. Sounds like a problem with the dimmers on the lights. Here's a copy of a post from another forum from Bruce Egnater, owner of Egnater Amps. He's a big time amp guru: Useful information:::: On the subject of dimmers.....many years ago, our band rehearsed in the basement of a home. For a very long time, we would have random/intermittent hum and buzz problems with the guitar amps that we could not figure out. It would come and go with no pattern. Would be fine for days or weeks and then unbearable for one day...two days.....who knows. After literally years of wrestling with this, I discovered there was a dimmer in an upstairs room that, if it were set anywhere other than full off or full on, would make the gear in the basement buzz!! Since that discovery 30 years ago, I have told countless people with buzz problems about this and, in many instances, they found a dimmer causing the same problem at their place. Of course, for a number of potential reasons, the guitars are most succeptible to it. Can happen at home, a friends house or even at a gig where there may be a dimmer in the building. It is nearly impossible to filter it out with any of the "line filter" gadgets. The only way to stop it is to find the dimmer and turn it off or on. I have even had customers bring amps in for buzz/noise problems only to discover it was being caused by a dimmer in their home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Lion Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Many thanks, badblues. I guess we will have to go thru my bandmates' house until we find the culprit. It's a big house, with lots of dimmers. Hopefully he has a case of beer to help the investigation! Cheers Hi Larry. Don't mess with that 339 yet. Sounds like a problem with the dimmers on the lights. Here's a copy of a post from another forum from Bruce Egnater, owner of Egnater Amps. He's a big time amp guru: Useful information:::: On the subject of dimmers.....many years ago, our band rehearsed in the basement of a home. For a very long time, we would have random/intermittent hum and buzz problems with the guitar amps that we could not figure out. It would come and go with no pattern. Would be fine for days or weeks and then unbearable for one day...two days.....who knows. After literally years of wrestling with this, I discovered there was a dimmer in an upstairs room that, if it were set anywhere other than full off or full on, would make the gear in the basement buzz!! Since that discovery 30 years ago, I have told countless people with buzz problems about this and, in many instances, they found a dimmer causing the same problem at their place. Of course, for a number of potential reasons, the guitars are most succeptible to it. Can happen at home, a friends house or even at a gig where there may be a dimmer in the building. It is nearly impossible to filter it out with any of the "line filter" gadgets. The only way to stop it is to find the dimmer and turn it off or on. I have even had customers bring amps in for buzz/noise problems only to discover it was being caused by a dimmer in their home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Discovered the same problem in my own home a number of years ago. A dimmer installed in the living room was creating a nasty buzz. I believe what clued me in was an amp that previously had not buzzed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Tried it with my dimmer and it didn't do anything. No worse no better. All of our lines are buried (I live in a newer development), so maybe that has something to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Lion Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 I set up my entire rig today, in my own home, and found a little buzz with either neck or bridge pup selected, no buzz on middle position. Turned fluorescent lights off (no dimmer in my place), all buzz vanished. So I must conclude that the -339 is no completely shielded. Spoke to my dealer (authorized Gibson dealer, of course), who said that if I can do the troubleshooting and figure out the grounding and/or shield fix, they will implement so that my warranty is intact. Can't complain about that. I'll post the fix and the results here. Discovered the same problem in my own home a number of years ago. A dimmer installed in the living room was creating a nasty buzz. I believe what clued me in was an amp that previously had not buzzed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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