beatleman1943 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 OK, so i have a Les Paul, which i bought as a project. It was in need of repair. So i bought a new wiring kit from Stewart Macdonald and wired the guitar according to the diagram. I then installed a new 57 Classic PLus and a used 57 classic, which had no problems upon removal. Now, when i plug it into the amp, and crank the volume on clean, i get a buzzing sound. It's not a "mmmm" hum, but a "NNNNNNN" sound, like buzzing. When i touch anything metal on it, it goes away. I have read so many posts on this, but no one really gave an answer. Humbuckers are supposed to cancel this out, but i get the buzz anyway. If i turn down the tone knobs it goes away as well. A worse noise comes when, on either pickup, i take the volume off 10, and put it at any other number- 9,8, 0, etc. It still buzzes, but is deeper sounding and when i touch metal, it goes away. To recap- -Volume and tone (on either pickup or both) at 10= buzzing. When i touch my strings/metal parts, it goes away. -Volume 10, Tone 0 on either pickup, no buzz. -Volume 0 tone 10 on Bridge (Classic Plus) huge buzz. TOuch the metal, it goes away. -Volume 0 tone 10 on Neck, more buzz. Touch metal= goes away I really want to figure this thing out. Thanks to all who help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatleman1943 Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Let me elaborate a little on the wiring. The Switch has coaxial cable from it to the two pots and end jack. This means, the hots are connected to the appropriate locations and the grounds from the same wires are connected to the other end. So there are three grounds on the switch- one to each pot and one to the end jack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Sounds like a grounding/shielding problem to me. Make sure you have a common ground connecting all the metal covers of your pickups and control pots, output jack, etc. Here is a simplified explanation. Typically your pickup covers should be soldered to their bases, and that connection is carried to the controls by the braided sheild around the wires. This braid should be soldered to the back of the cover of the pots (cans) and a wire soldered connecting the cans all together, and then out the the ground side of you output jack. One lug of your vulume pots should also be connected to the cans , as well as your tone caps. The reason the buzz stops when you roll the tone pots down, is they are doing exactly what they're designed to do, filter off high frequency, which filters out your buzz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatleman1943 Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Sounds like a grounding/shielding problem to me. Make sure you have a common ground connecting all the metal covers of your pickups and control pots' date=' output jack, etc. Here is a simplified explanation. Typically your pickup covers should be soldered to their bases, and that connection is carried to the controls by the braided sheild around the wires. This braid should be soldered to the back of the cover of the pots (cans) and a wire soldered connecting the cans all together, and then out the the ground side of you output jack. One lug of your vulume pots should also be connected to the cans , as well as your tone caps. The reason the buzz stops when you roll the tone pots down, is they are doing exactly what they're designed to do, filter off high frequency, which filters out your buzz.[/quote'] I dont have covers on the pickups- they are the double black 57 classics, but I wired everything the way they said to on stewmac.com since it was their wiring kit. BUt other than that, i soldered the braid to the bottom of the volume pot, and the hot to the "lug." The volume pots are grounded to their own tone pots, and then the tones are grounded together. The volumes are gounded to it self, and the capacitors are connected to the tones. Each volume pot has a hot wire from it to the switch, and since it's coaxial, the ground inside them is connected to the ground on the other side of the switch. One coaxial wire is going from the switch to the end jack as well, which means the ground is connected to all the grounds from the volumes and the end jack (there are three coaxial cables from the switch. One ground and one hot from each pot, and one hot and ground from the "middle" position and ground that goes to the end jack) Is it possible that the used pickup it the culperet, even though when the bridge is isolated, it does the same thing? It's so frustrating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleSixx Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Is there a grounding plate ? Not all Les Pauls have them, and when they don't there's are individual ground wires going to each pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatleman1943 Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Is there a grounding plate ? Not all Les Pauls have them' date=' and when they don't there's are individual ground wires going to each pot.[/quote'] What is that? Where would it be? I have a ground and hot from each volume to the switch as well as from the end jack to the switch. The volume and tones are connected together with a hot on each, and the volumes are grounded to themselves. COnnecting the volumes and tones is a hot lead and capacitor. the tones are grounded to each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleSixx Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 The pots are threaded through the grounding plate from my previous post. OK I did a quick google search here's a pic : https://www.skatterbrane.com/images/hovlands.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatleman1943 Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 No, i dont have that. Do most les paul have this? Is it going to eliminate buzz/hum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatleman1943 Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Here's the wiring kit i bought and assembled- http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Wiring_kits/Wiring_Kit_for_Les_Paul.html and Here's the diagram (it's the second one down (#0133), wired with the independent volume setting)- http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Wiring_kits/1/Wiring_Kit_for_Les_Paul/Instructions/I-1217.html#details Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleSixx Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 No it may not eliminate you buzzing. In fact I can't find anyone that sells one. Could you post pictures of what you've done ? Maybe someone will have an answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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