guitar hum

  • Thread starter Thread starter greyharmonix
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greyharmonix

greyharmonix

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i get a hum from the guitar, but when i touch the strings or a metal face on the guitar the humming stops. I tried to look for maybe shotty soldering spots, but it all looks ok to me. i know its not the amp because when i unplug the cable from the guitar the amp's not humming. It's not an insanely bad hum but it's annoying because whenever i play an open note and don't touch the strings on my guitar there's an annoying hum. any suggestions?
 
It's probably a shielding problem. If you're using a Strat or Telecaster, you can google "strat shielding" and find some how-to guides on properly shielding the inside of the guitar to reduce or eliminate this hum. Here's a good article on the subject:

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

If you're using a guitar with humbucking pickups, then you may be picking up interference from a computer monitor, flourescent light fixture, or light dimmer switch. In this case, you'll have to find a playing position in your room that isn't close to any of these elements.
 
greyharmonix said:
It's not an insanely bad hum but it's annoying because whenever i play an open note and don't touch the strings on my guitar there's an annoying hum. any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Yeah...if it's a single coil guitar...they tend hum at some level.

But what you can do to overcome the problem, is let your right hand rest on the bridge/tailpiece...that way, even with open notes, you are still making contact.
 
I agree with the above posts. But as another possibility, if you do have single coil pickups, you can get yourself some noiseless pickups that do, to a certain degree, do the job. They will, however, minimalize your output and your pickups will not be as hot as before. I did this on a strat and do not regret it. It still has the strat sound, just a little more subdued, to the extent where you can't really tell if your amp is tunred up enough. They work allright. I would not do this to my telecaster however because I would not want to sacrifice the sound my pickups give in it. I have a set of 51 nocasters in there and they sound great. So take that with a grain of salt. It's up to your sound.
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0992105000

Another idea is a noise gate (I got this before the pickups) it has tunred out to be helpful for other things but I do not use it on my guitar anymore. It is very picky but has its place.
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXR-M135-Smart-Gate-Pedal?sku=151112
 
The first thing I would check is to make sure the ground wire to the bridge is connected properly. If it is not, you will get the symptom that you describe. Touching the strings should not make much difference in noise level if the strings are properly grounded.

I just recently had that same problem on a LP, the ground wire was making contact, but not very well. The noise was not all that bad, but I knew something was wrong since it would disappear when touching the strings. I was measuring a few ohms resistance between the bridge and the pot casings - not good. I had to remove the tail piece bushing, and re-do the wire in there - on guitars like that, its just the bare wire being in contact with the bushing, held in place due to the tight fit into the wood; over time the bare wire can oxidize and lose connectivity. On trem equipped guitars, the wire is soldered to the spring claw. Not sure how it is connected to tele or hardtail strat type bridges.
 
ranjam, i think that link may have been the answer i was looking for. Because i couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong with my setup at home so i just said screw it and put my guitar back together and later that day took my guitar to my band rehearsal. where my band rehearses they have amps there that i could use, and when i plugged in the hum i got in my house was gone. Maybe i was less of a "noise bucket" at the rehearsal space? i don't know exactly what i did differently, but the hum was gone. i'm gonna play with my socks and shoes off, see if that makes a difference.
 
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