Guitar has electrical buzz - is less 'buzzy' when i touch control knobs or strings..?

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Obstacle1

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Anyone know if this means its fucked, or can this be fixed and could i do it, or would it be best to have a pro look at it?
 
Obstacle1 said:
Anyone know if this means its fucked, or can this be fixed and could i do it, or would it be best to have a pro look at it?

Ground issue. When you touch the strings, you are grounding the guitar through your body. Totally normal. Shielding will cut it down and proper grounding techniques on your AC line will help too.
 
Okay - i'll look into shielding and grounding - thanks alot MCI2424
 
Obstacle1 said:
Okay - i'll look into shielding and grounding - thanks alot MCI2424

Is your guitar a Telecaster by any chance???

(It's perfectly normal, by the way)
 
Obstacle1 said:
It is... is this typical with tele's?

Yeah, it's a feature that comes as standard with all Telecasters! You can get around it by resting your hand on the bridge as much as possible when you play, but that's not ideal.

I believe TelePaul uses a noise suppressor pedal to solve the problem. I'm sure he'll be around shortly to help you out.
 
okay - well i have a noise suppresor on my boss multi-effects but can't seem to figure it out - it has no guide on the knobs, i'll wait for telepaul's advice then - thanks alot
 
Heylo my fellow Tele player! This isn't so much a 'problem' with Teles as a problem with single coils. Yup, i get it too, but it isn't really an issue, because I'm making contact with the guitar when I play. When you're not playing, like if you wanted to address the audience without annoying buzz etc, use an NS, ISP Decimator or similar noise suppressor pedal. I'm assuming theres alot of buzz when you're on the OD channel? That's another reason the NS 2 helps. You could try switching to noiseless pickups. Anfontman is awesome at Teles, he'll be able to help out more.
 
I have a 72' Deluxe RI Tele, and I have the same problem. Mine has humbuckers too.
 
Obstacle1 said:
okay - well i have a noise suppresor on my boss multi-effects but can't seem to figure it out - it has no guide on the knobs, i'll wait for telepaul's advice then - thanks alot


oes your NS 2 have any presets? Is there anything that says 'Threshold'?
 
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pdadda said:
I have a 72' Deluxe RI Tele, and I have the same problem. Mine has humbuckers too.

You most definitely have a ground problem there, it should be almost dead quiet with Humbuckers in it. Doesn't it have volume & tones controls for both pickups and a 3 way Gibson style toggle switch like a Les Paul? These should - I believe - have a wire grounding the control pots to the bridge, a standard Tele with single coils is grounded that way I know. This schematic should roughly be what your guitar's electronics look like~
Tele Deluxe with 2 H'buckers
 
Anfontan said:
You most definitely have a ground problem there, it should be almost dead quiet with Humbuckers in it. Doesn't it have volume & tones controls for both pickups and a 3 way Gibson style toggle switch like a Les Paul? These should - I believe - have a wire grounding the control pots to the bridge, a standard Tele with single coils is grounded that way I know. This schematic should roughly be what your guitar's electronics look like~
Tele Deluxe with 2 H'buckers


How bout on standard Teles? Is the gorund hum normal? Are the red and white wires the grounding?
 
TelePaul said:
How bout on standard Teles? Is the gorund hum normal? Are the red and white wires the grounding?

Yeah, on a standard 2 wire single coil you are going to get that hum. About all you can do is to find the spot in the room that is less susceptible to that hum. I sometimes have to turn several ways to find that quiet spot when I record with my Tele with single coils in it. At gigs I don't have a problem, I can be far enough away from the amp its not too bad.
And like I've said before-Dimarzio makes some nice single coil sized humbuckers for Teles-I like them a lot!

Wiring for standard 2 wire Teles
 
Anfontan said:
Yeah, on a standard 2 wire single coil you are going to get that hum. About all you can do is to find the spot in the room that is less susceptible to that hum. I sometimes have to turn several ways to find that quiet spot when I record with my Tele with single coils in it. At gigs I don't have a problem, I can be far enough away from the amp its not too bad.
And like I've said before-Dimarzio makes some nice single coil sized humbuckers for Teles-I like them a lot!

Wiring for standard 2 wire Teles


Cheers Tony, I'll definetely consuly ya before my next Tele.
 
Yeah TelePaul my NS does have a threshold knob (its a Boss ME-20), can you explain what i need to do with the NS - the manual given says very little about how to use it. Thanks,

Anfontman - so changing pickups should help the grounding issue?
 
Obstacle1 said:
Yeah TelePaul my NS does have a threshold knob (its a Boss ME-20), can you explain what i need to do with the NS - the manual given says very little about how to use it. Thanks,

Anfontman - so changing pickups should help the grounding issue?

No, if you are using 2 humbuckers I believe its in the wiring. The pickups are probably just fine, a bad ground WILL cause a horrible buzz in the system. I had a buzz in a Tele that was the volume pot not having a good ground, after I redid the connection with good rosin core solder & a bit of flux it quieted it totally!
 
I see - okay well it sounds as if I need to have it looked at by a pro as I'm no electrician - thanks for your advice anfontman!

Obstacle :)
 
Anfontan said:
No, if you are using 2 humbuckers I believe its in the wiring. The pickups are probably just fine, a bad ground WILL cause a horrible buzz in the system. I had a buzz in a Tele that was the volume pot not having a good ground, after I redid the connection with good rosin core solder & a bit of flux it quieted it totally!


Oh wait, is he using single buckers? Obstacle are you using coils or humbuckers?
 
But what about the guy who gets a small a/c jolt when he touches the strings and the mic at the same time?? Anybody know how to put a 3 prong power cord on an old Champ amp?
 
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