Guitar Hum

[soundprizm]

Anybody know what causes the electrical hum of a guitar? I'm getting a very loud hum when my guitar is plugged into a distortion pedal. Anyway to fix or reduce this hum?

[cellardweller]

You'd hum too if you didn't know the words.




Bad cables
ground disconnected inside of guitar
improper "wall-wart" on distortion
dimmer switches
other electrical appliances on the same circuit
noisy piece of shit distortion box/unit
not knowing the words

[apl]

Guitar pickups make dandy antennae for picking up stray power line radiation. Distortion pedals are very high gain amplifiers, bringing out the worst of the hum. One way to quiet the guitar is to stay away from sources of electrical waves like TVs, PC monitors, and fluorescent lights. There are also some options available for making the guitar less susceptible to this phenomenon.

Please describe your guitar.

[boomtap]

In my experience almost everything on planet earth, poor shielding, bad ground, bad cable, bad guitar connection, magnetic interference, tube computer monitors, and the list goes on and on.

Best solution is a noise gate, and to get your gain structure in a way that minimizes the amount you hear when the gate isn't catching it.

Lots of the new digital gear is free of hum.

[soundprizm]

haha

Thanks man, I will look into all of those

[boomtap]

Originally Posted by cellardweller

You'd hum too if you didn't know the words.





not knowing the words

lol guitar players are way funnier than drummers.

[zengeezer]

This may (will) sound ridiculous as hell, but it works for me.

Get about 18" - 24" of speaker wire. Strip both ends. Unscrew one of the bridge screws and attach one end of the wire, tighten screw. To the other end of wire, solder a large washer (1" diameter or larger). After solder has cooled and you're ready to play, put the washer end in your pants! Specifically, in your belt so the washer has full contact with your skin.
Again, it sounds weird, but it works for me.
Try it.

[soundprizm]

Wow, more replies... Hmmm... Well APL, my guitar is a horrid piece of poop... a lotus... I do have a tube crt monitor, and I've tried a noise gate, but then I lose pretty much all those nice harmonics and such, the hum is that loud. Maybe its just time to upgrade the guitar. I was fearing that, but hey, gotta do what I gotta do...

Thanks for the replies guys, still gonna look into those other option first...

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by soundprizm

Wow, more replies... Hmmm... Well APL, my guitar is a horrid piece of poop... a lotus... I do have a tube crt monitor, and I've tried a noise gate, but then I lose pretty much all those nice harmonics and such, the hum is that loud. Maybe its just time to upgrade the guitar. I was fearing that, but hey, gotta do what I gotta do...

Thanks for the replies guys, still gonna look into those other option first...

A noise gate shouldn't affect the timbre of your sound when it is open.

[soundprizm]

noise gate shouldn't affect the timbre of your sound when it is open.


Not exactly sure what that meant, but when I try to get that hum out of there I need to have the thresh hold up high, which is why it takes away some of the guitar with the hum. I'd just rather fix the guitar, or get a new one rather than mess with a bad beginning sound.

[matt rascal]

Boss makes a pedal for this:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...se_pid/151331/

I was recently watching a video of yngwie malmstreen (on the cdrom that came with guitar world) and he turned on his distortion pedal (causing a loud hum) then he kicked on the boss pedal and it killed the hum immediately.

never used one...

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by soundprizm

noise gate shouldn't affect the timbre of your sound when it is open.


Not exactly sure what that meant, but when I try to get that hum out of there I need to have the thresh hold up high, which is why it takes away some of the guitar with the hum. I'd just rather fix the guitar, or get a new one rather than mess with a bad beginning sound.

A noise gate is just an off-on switch. When it's on (open) it's passing everything through it, even the noise. All it does is turn off your sound when you are not playing. If the threshhold is set too high, it will prematurely cut off notes as they decay past the threshhold and it may make your attacks sound funny, but it doesn't affect your sound when you are playing.

[cellardweller]

Oh no... a Lotus!

My first guitar was a lotus les paul copy... it's still sitting in the corner in my cellar...

If you are confident that your house is wired correctly, I'd try the washer/speaker wire thing. Maybe the ground has come loose inside the guitar. If you are not sure about your wiring, I'm not sure I'd make myself the ground.

[SteveK]

What kind of pickups? Single coil, humbucker, P-90...?

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by zengeezer

This may (will) sound ridiculous as hell, but it works for me.

Get about 18" - 24" of speaker wire. Strip both ends. Unscrew one of the bridge screws and attach one end of the wire, tighten screw. To the other end of wire, solder a large washer (1" diameter or larger). After solder has cooled and you're ready to play, put the washer end in your pants! Specifically, in your belt so the washer has full contact with your skin.
Again, it sounds weird, but it works for me.
Try it.

There occurs to me a convenient way to make a good electrical connection to that large washer down your pants... ;^)