LEDREW Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 i have a 2011 les paul traditional with the bigsby...i thought it would look cool to remove the cover of the bridge pickup...i removed the strings, then the pickup from the body, then took the pickup out of the mounting ring. i took the 6 screws out of the top of the pickup, then sliced out the solder and removed the cover with little issue. obviously there was a little wax under the cover. i put the 6 screws back in and re-assembled everything. i put on some new strings, and now, there is a sort of an electrical hiss/buzz present. the noise is present in BOTH pickups, on at the same time OR separately. this noise goes away when i touch either of the pickups, the metal part of the toggle switch, the guitars output jack, or any one of the pots in the cavity. I have read that noobs have ****ed pickups up removing the covers themselves & this was my first time. i also heard that the covers almost act as a capacitor in a way and tend to lessen treble response. the pickup i removed the cover of is a gibson 57 classic plus pickup. did i ruin my bridge pickup? i have a dmm and what not, i just need to get this problem resolved ASAP!!! haha. any info would be greatly appreciated!!! thanks ledrew
Malchik Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 i took the 6 screws out of the top of the pickup. That was unnecessary. The screws do not need to be removed. i put on some new strings, and now, there is a sort of an electrical hiss/buzz present. the noise is present in BOTH pickups, on at the same time OR separately. 'Sounds like a grounding issue. Possibly a weak solder joint that you just happen to break. this noise goes away when i touch either of the pickups, the metal part of the toggle switch, the guitars output jack, or any one of the pots in the cavity. OK, now it seriously sounds like a ground issue. The best solution you can take is to check all the ground solder joints (the blobs of solder on the posts) and adjacent wires. You can kinds tell if a joint is poor by it's dull coloration, or sometimes a bad solder job is evident just by looking at it.
Guest BentonC Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 I agree- it does indeed sound like a grounding issue. it is possible you may have disturbed a ground connection when modifying... I'd take it to a qualified luthier and have them test it.
pippy Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 Has anyone mentioned grounding issues....... ...I also heard that the covers almost act as a capacitor in a way and tend to lessen treble response... Back in the 'sixties a fad started for removing p-up covers as it freed-up some of the very high frequencies but, as Yas Iwanade says in his 'The Beauty of the Burst'..."The resulting unintentional capacitance is called 'stray capacitance' and is very small in value..." Nowadays the benefit from removing the covers has been nullified to a certain extent because of improvements in modern amp design. Unless you already have every tone control set at full-treble and still feel the need for more top-end clarity I would doubt the removal of the cover could have any noticeable effect. If you prefer the look of the uncovered p-up then that's a different matter. P.
LEDREW Posted November 2, 2011 Author Posted November 2, 2011 gentlemen, thanks so much for the insight...i went at it with the DMM this morning and things seemed OK. however, i think i have found an issue. the thick bare wire that is soldered to the neck pickups tone control (im assuming a ground to something else) can be pulled freely out of the hole it is run into. as a test, i jammed the wire back into the hole as far as i could. and sure enough the noise went away. i pulled it out again, and obviously, my mystery noise was back...what does this wire connect to at the other end? all i did was jam the thing back down the hole, and im enjoying some noise free playin again... i would really like to secure the ****in thing in there! any info is much appreciated.. thanks again! ledrew
pippy Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 Pictures would help identify which wire you mean... There are many different ways to wire-up a two-pup Les Paul but this should help you spot which lead you are talking about. Here's a link to more circuit options: http://www.google.co...AQ&ved=0CCAQsAQ P.
LEDREW Posted November 2, 2011 Author Posted November 2, 2011 the wire is the MAIN ground wire for all of the pots. its soldered to the neck pickups tone pot (ground), it is then routed into the body somewhere. the hole that its routed into is NOT the main channel in the body where the switch and pickup leads come through to connect to the pots at the bottom, its just a very small hole..looks like it could go to the bridge pickup? maybe the saddle posts? all i know is that it comes all the way out.
Eracer_Team Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 there is one ground wire that runs to the bridge to provide the ground to everything that touchs the bridge. maybe you pulled it out from under the bushing that the bridge screws into. pull the wire back a bit till you buzz.. then meter the back of the pots to the bridge or stop tail. does the meter read 0?
GibSinCity Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 there is one ground wire that runs to the bridge to provide the ground to everything that touchs the bridge. maybe you pulled it out from under the bushing that the bridge screws into. Yes. Most likely the ground that should be between the bushing for the tailpiece and the body of the guitar. Seen here in the hole drilled for the tailpiece bushing
Angellus Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 yes you need to secure the ground wire back to the bridge bushing. it doesnt sold on it just gets jammed to the bushing. removing pickup cover will barely make a tonal difference and can be adjusted on your amp as said above
LEDREW Posted November 3, 2011 Author Posted November 3, 2011 ok,,so,,,how do i get that ****er back under there?......also, my LP has a bigsby on it,,im wondering if the ground goes to the same spot
Angellus Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 ok,,so,,,how do i get that ****er back under there? remove the strings and remove the stopbar, unscrew the stopbar posts out of the guitar whats left will be the metal bushings. feed the wire through to the bushing then screw down the post to it jams the tip of the wire in. Reassemble. Bear in mind that your setup can change if you do not set everything back to the heights you had them previously so i would reccomend measuring the height of your stop bar so you can put it back to the same measurement. Also measure your bridge as you'll notice this will be loose when you remove the strings. purists like me love you have the stopbar screwed all the way down to the bottom. better resonance sustain but this depends on how far your bridge will let you. as long as the strings dont touch the back of the nashville bridge after the saddles you can screw down to the bottom or to just before the strings touch the back.
LEDREW Posted November 3, 2011 Author Posted November 3, 2011 thanks for the tip angellus....but my LP has a bigsby...so ill remove the strings and take the whole bigsby off? do you guys think that this ground wire is grounded to the bigsby tailpiece? or under the posts for the bridge or wha?
Angellus Posted November 3, 2011 Posted November 3, 2011 thanks for the tip angellus....but my LP has a bigsby...so ill remove the strings and take the whole bigsby off? do you guys think that this ground wire is grounded to the bigsby tailpiece? or under the posts for the bridge or wha? it'll still be the bigsby not the bridge
LEDREW Posted November 3, 2011 Author Posted November 3, 2011 excellent!!! thanks a lot EVERYONE for all the wisdom...ill be sure to let you guys know how it goes!
LEDREW Posted November 10, 2011 Author Posted November 10, 2011 just a quick update...the main ground is NOT under the bigsby angellus, it would appear it is indeed under the bridge bushing.
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