damn hum

  • Thread starter Thread starter AlfredB
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A

AlfredB

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hi there,

I get the typical 50/60hz hum on my guitar ... it nearly diminishes to zero if I touch any metalic parts of the guitar (bridge, etc...)

so its probably a ground loop or so (i am NO expert) ...

is there something I can do to avoid this? touching anything metal, like the heating pipes or so?

thx for any help
alfred
 
Is the amp grounded? Check the outlet it is plugged into to see if it is properly wired.

Take the guitar to a tech and make sure it is wired properly. It isn't a ground loop, it is just a bad ground somewhere.
 
i'm sure its not the guitar as all guitars have this problems ... and yes, i checked, the 3rd cable is connected in the wall outlet and i use a "3legged connector"

any other ideas?
thx
alfred
 
I saw somewhere that you could strip both sides of a wire and make a few twists around the groundpart of the plug in the guitar, and then step on the other side with your foot as a quickfix. You could probably in this case twist it around the bridge instead...

Haven't tried this myself so I don't know how well it works or if it's a good idea. So use at your own risk.
 
Does it do this everywhere you take the amp? This used to happen to me a lot in crappy bars that were badly wired. Take it to a friends house and see if it does it there.
 
Just run a ground wire from your amp to all of your boxes. Ground the chassis on each and every piece and the hum will go away.
 
What kind of guitar is it? Because the awful truth is, with some guitars, this is completely normal. All guitars will have some hum which goes away when you touch a metal part of the guitar, because you are providing a path to ground. With single coil pickups, this hum can be really bad. You either need some form of hum-canceling pickups, or you have to live with it.

Without seeing your guitar, I can not possible tell if this is the issue at hand. The best advice I can give you is to take it to a good repair shop, and have them look at it. They will be able to tell you if the hum is normal, or a problem.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
its a 95 Gibson Les Paul Studio ... so we are talking humbuckers here ... also i use an older Ibañes w/ humbuckers and get the same hum

again, thx to all of you
alfred
 
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