touch hum on LP Studio

[Sgt.]

There is a noticable electrical hum emanating from my 2011 LP Studio when the tone knobs are on full. I usually have to roll them off to about 3 to reduce this buzz when the guitar is plugged in and vol. turned up. It is the 'touch hum' ground issue. The noise is reduced when I touch the tailpiece with my hand. That means that I am the ground, right? I can live with the vol./tone settings the way they must be to deaden the noise but it certainly doesn't allow me full tonal range options. I'd thought with a guitar of this quality the ground buzzes would be worked out.

I am considering some upgrades to the guitar, mainly PIO caps. When I looked in the control cavity there was a pcb. I think that I have enough information on what I can do to put the caps in, but I was wondering while I have the guitar serviced for cap replacements can I also reduce some of the ground noise by replacing the standard wire in the LP Studio with braided/shielded wire along the signal path?

Question is: Would replacing the stock wiring in the 2011 LP Studio with braided/shielded wire reduce the amount of ground hum/noise I am experiencing when the tone and volume knobs are turned up full?

Is the ground hum noise that I experience a result of the stock Gibson 500ktone/300kvolume pots in the guitar? Would I hear a difference i.e. a quieter ground hum by changing the pots to higher quality CTS pots? Where is this noise coming from and how can I beat it?

I have considered cavity shielding with copper tape or paint but decided that it may rob tone from the guitar. If there was another way to reduce buzz without having to sheild the whole guitar, like replacing the stock wire with the braided type, I'd like to know.

Yeah, and let's not make this a messy expensive job (says the guy who pays the bills!) lol :o

 

I have tried the guitar through different amps and with headphones. When the volumes are up full the tones can only go to about 3 before there's a loud line hum. Is this normal for Burstbucker Pros in a Studio? Anyone else have this hum? How is it fixed?

[Mark]

Before you rewire your guitar are you sure you don't have an open ground in your house.

 

Make sure your not plugged into a circuit that has any lighting on it.

 

Buy a 3 prong tester. you may just have a reverse neutral

 

Make sure its not a switched outlet that may have a dimmer.

 

Bring it to a friends house

 

Try a ground isolator

 

If you do have an house electrical issue try a power filter. Panamax and APC make excellent power conditioners.

 

Good luck

[stein]

If the noise reduces when you touch the bridge, that is correct for a properly grounded guitar.

 

There is a wire from the bridge (or tailpiece) that goes to the back of a volume pot or the appropriate place on the board. It's purpose is to reduce hum, as you can't play without touching the strings. So, judge noise levels while you are touching the strings. You might not have a problem at all, and it is also normal for most guitars to hum a little when you are not touching the strings.

 

Other than that, it is hard to tell wether or not you have a problem or where it is comming from, and even hard to guess, over the net without knowing the rest of your situation. It could be SO many things. The above advice from MARK is good, as obviously, if your power is bad, you will be noisier regardless of what you do.

 

As for what wiring set-ups are quiter, I don't actually know. I can't say if the circuit board is quiter than shielded wire, or what types are the most effective. Shielding the control cavity often does make it quiter, but depending on the SOURCE of the hum, it may make it worse and pick up more noise. In addition to that, if it isn't done properly, will make it hum more. And it may change the sound, too.

[Rabs]

It could be the above suggestions.. But could be even more basic than that..

 

The best thing is to try the basics first.. Try new or different guitar leads... And mainly make sure your playing in a room where theres no TVs or PCs and other electrical stuff that can interfere with your signal.. (or make sure they are all truned off).

 

When I used to play in a band the other guitarist had something in his set up that used to pick up raido signals from somewhere lol.. now that was what you call interference :)

[stein]

It could be the above suggestions.. But could be even more basic than that..

 

The best thing is to try the basics first.. Try new or different guitar leads... And mainly make sure your playing in a room where theres no TVs or PCs and other electrical stuff that can interfere with your signal.. (or make sure they are all truned off).

 

When I used to play in a band the other guitarist had something in his set up that used to pick up raido signals from somewhere lol.. now that was what you call interference :)

Totally.

[Sgt.]

If the noise reduces when you touch the bridge, that is correct for a properly grounded guitar.

 

There is a wire from the bridge (or tailpiece) that goes to the back of a volume pot or the appropriate place on the board. It's purpose is to reduce hum, as you can't play without touching the strings. So, judge noise levels while you are touching the strings. You might not have a problem at all, and it is also normal for most guitars to hum a little when you are not touching the strings.

 

Other than that, it is hard to tell wether or not you have a problem or where it is comming from, and even hard to guess, over the net without knowing the rest of your situation. It could be SO many things. The above advice from MARK is good, as obviously, if your power is bad, you will be noisier regardless of what you do.

 

As for what wiring set-ups are quiter, I don't actually know. I can't say if the circuit board is quiter than shielded wire, or what types are the most effective. Shielding the control cavity often does make it quiter, but depending on the SOURCE of the hum, it may make it worse and pick up more noise. In addition to that, if it isn't done properly, will make it hum more. And it may change the sound, too.

 

Sept. 24/12

Yes, I can tell you that I had the tech at the shop where I purchased the guitar new, look at the electrical to see that it was sound, and it was. There wasn't anything loose or not proper. But, I do say that with this new LP Studio and my regular rig there is more hum than with my Ibanez AG86. Difference to get used to from hollowbody to solidbody? Somewhat. Also, the environment where the guitar is operated, at home, there are all kinds of crazy things operating on the same outlet, like lamps, tv, video game, fan, etc.... But, the hum is the same where I take it to a barroom as well, even different bar rooms. I've tried the obvious diagnostics: something wrong with guitar, no. Environment causing interference, no, hum is same in different locations. I say there is significant hum because the Ibanez hollowbody doesn't touch hum at all.

Question is mainly: will replacing the stock wiring with braided wiring reduce some of this hum in the guitar?

[Sgt.]

Sept. 24/12

Yes, I can tell you that I had the tech at the shop where I purchased the guitar new, look at the electrical to see that it was sound, and it was. There wasn't anything loose or not proper. But, I do say that with this new LP Studio and my regular rig there is more hum than with my Ibanez AG86. Difference to get used to from hollowbody to solidbody? Somewhat. Also, the environment where the guitar is operated, at home, there are all kinds of crazy things operating on the same outlet, like lamps, tv, video game, fan, etc.... But, the hum is the same where I take it to a barroom as well, even different bar rooms. I've tried the obvious diagnostics: something wrong with guitar, no. Environment causing interference, no, hum is same in different locations. I say there is significant hum because the Ibanez hollowbody doesn't touch hum at all.

Question is mainly: will replacing the stock wiring with braided wiring reduce some of this hum in the guitar?

Am I asking the right question: will wiring change address the hum? Or is the hum coming from inferior pots? Otherwise I can understand that with an electrical device there will be some electrical hum.

[Sgt.]

Am I asking the right question: will wiring change address the hum? Or is the hum coming from inferior pots? Otherwise I can understand that with an electrical device there will be some electrical hum.

How can I address this electrical hum directly, with say a wiring change, cavity shielding, or changing pots, aside from environmental explanation: just don't operate it near other appliances. duh

I'm not changing the pickups if that's what is different, the hotter Burstbucker pros. I like them. :)

[CowboyBillyBob1]

My gut is telling me the tech you brought it to is incompetent, lazy, or both. Does it hum when you go direct to amp or just with your pedals and such inbetween? If no hum when direct then add pedals one at a time till you hear the hum. You will then have identified the evil pedal in your chain. If it hums directly into your amp and other amps than bring it to another tech.

I may be totally wrong but I go through the same procedure when I have a funky problem like that. It usually turns out to be a bad cable or a pedal that just does not want to play nice.

It wont cost you anything to do this and you may id what is wrong.

[Sgt.]

My gut is telling me the tech you brought it to is incompetent, lazy, or both. Does it hum when you go direct to amp or just with your pedals and such inbetween? If no hum when direct then add pedals one at a time till you hear the hum. You will then have identified the evil pedal in your chain. If it hums directly into your amp and other amps than bring it to another tech.

I may be totally wrong but I go through the same procedure when I have a funky problem like that. It usually turns out to be a bad cable or a pedal that just does not want to play nice.

It wont cost you anything to do this and you may id what is wrong.

Yeah, it is hard to reign over the guitar universe! lol I'll definitely break down the cables and try each pedal in series to see where in the signal path the hum arrives. My tech did look at it internally, it's sound and we checked it and the 'hum' was hardly present with one of their amps. It bugs me because it DOES hum when I use it with my equipment and can't isolate the problem to fix it. Thank you forum users for helping me diagnos where the problem is coming from.

I don't have much practical knowledge using a DI box but could this be AC hum that stems from ground loops, which a passive DI could solve?

[Sgt.]

Yeah, it is hard to reign over the guitar universe! lol I'll definitely break down the cables and try each pedal in series to see where in the signal path the hum arrives. My tech did look at it internally, it's sound and we checked it and the 'hum' was hardly present with one of their amps. It bugs me because it DOES hum when I use it with my equipment and can't isolate the problem to fix it. Thank you forum users for helping me diagnos where the problem is coming from.

I don't have much practical knowledge using a DI box but could this be AC hum that stems from ground loops, which a passive DI could solve?

It's a pain in the #$% to do all this again (test each cable and pedal, etc...) JUST tell me where the problem is ! ! ! heh heh

[Sgt.]

Yeah, it is hard to reign over the guitar universe! lol I'll definitely break down the cables and try each pedal in series to see where in the signal path the hum arrives. My tech did look at it internally, it's sound and we checked it and the 'hum' was hardly present with one of their amps. It bugs me because it DOES hum when I use it with my equipment and can't isolate the problem to fix it. Thank you forum users for helping me diagnos where the problem is coming from.

I don't have much practical knowledge using a DI box but could this be AC hum that stems from ground loops, which a passive DI could solve?

The amp ckecked out fine at the shop, that's what is frustrating because the problem is somewhere in my equipment. The amp I use is an Ibanez TSA15 and the guitar is silent wide open on clean channel but the hum appears when the tubescreamer is engaged ... the tubescreamer is part of the amp! I suppose plastic cased pedals (Behringer) don't help the hum any more. But circular argument here is okay there's a hum, it's my equipment, what to do? It's not likely I'll be changing amp heads or pedals and the cables all worked fine. Is there a mod for the guitar that can address this, such as shielded wiring or is there an external solution, such as, a di box. And I'm tired of the people who suggest noise gating, I don't want one of those.

 

Signed -- Tough Customer