Im modding my strat, please help

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mitchellsronce

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hi, i have a strat which i added a seymor duncan humbucker in the neck position. the tone pots are 500k. my problem is when the strings are played hard i get this static sound which is annoying, i dont know if it is because of which way the humbucker is sitting or something to do with how i wired it to the capacitor ...can someone help tell me what this noise could be from...
 
Check for a poorly soldered connection-either ground or the hot connection from the pickup-resolder the connections to play it safe. And is this only with the new pickup or with all pickups? Could be the ground to the bridge/tremolo claw.....
 
when i built my most recent strat, i bought a brand new scratch plate (pickguard) from warmoth.

i had a lot of static buildup from the new pickguard, and it caused this noise you describe.

the faster you strum, the worse it gets.

i took the scratchplate off, taped copper shielding across the entire back, grounded it, and then took clothes dryer freshener sheets, and wiped the whole thing down every day, for about a week.

in about 2 weeks, the static charge went away, and never returned.
 
well i re-soldered all the wires and installed 3 toggle switches to replace the 5-way selector. The static sound is still there with all the pickups, but it goes away when i turn the volume down so i dont know if that could be the shielding but im going to try and shield it better anyways. any tips are appreciated
 
i never had issues with static, but since shielding was mentioned, check out this site:

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

i just finished a friend's Squire today (also upgraded to bridge humbucker with a pearloid pickguard from GFS). it's a really nice description of how to do it - i did mine with heavy duty aluminum foil from supermarket and a bit of glue. was hesitant at first, but ended up being easy. just make sure the shielding is actually grounded and there's no ground loops (like the site explains with diagrams).

best no-cost upgrade i've ever done. there's still minimal hum, because they're single-coil, but definitely much better.
 
I have this problem as well...still trying to figure it out but from what I can tell its a combination of things....
 
mitchellsronce said:
well i re-soldered all the wires and installed 3 toggle switches to replace the 5-way selector. The static sound is still there with all the pickups, but it goes away when i turn the volume down so i dont know if that could be the shielding but im going to try and shield it better anyways. any tips are appreciated
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can you send the pickups back, maybe their defective?

your guitar didn't have any of these issues before, so it seems its not the pots or the height or anything previous the pup.

the wiring shouldn't be that complicated, so once thats checked out...I'd get the receipt and call them for a return #.

just one input...
 
it could be from hitting the front of the amp too hard. also it could be buzzes and stuff on your guitar that you just didn't notice before. do you hear similar noises with the guitar unplugged?
 
This may sound really dumb, but did you double check your wiring connections? For instance, wiring your input jack backwards will cause a loud hum when you touch the strings.

Just a thought.
 
...and this could be an equally dumb reply, but are you sure it's static and not fret buzz? I've got the electronics aptiture of your average medium-rare steak, but when I hear "staticky noise when I strum hard" my first thought is it's the strings vibrating against the frets...
 
mitchellsronce said:
hi, i have a strat which i added a seymor duncan humbucker in the neck position. the tone pots are 500k. my problem is when the strings are played hard i get this static sound which is annoying, i dont know if it is because of which way the humbucker is sitting or something to do with how i wired it to the capacitor ...can someone help tell me what this noise could be from...
Click to expand...

I would either hook up an O-scope or record a wavefile to see if the static is actually the electrical signal distorting or fret buzz. then you can at least know where to concentrate for a fix.
 
I'm not one for guitar electronics, but it would seem to me that you probably had the strings off the guitar for a decent portion of time while replacing the pickup, and as such, perhaps the neck warped or settled somehow (hence fret buzzing, if that ends up being the case). I know that having them off for a few hours shouldn't do THAT much once you put other strings back on, but its just one more thing to consider :)
 
Anfontan said:
Check for a poorly soldered connection-either ground or the hot connection from the pickup-resolder the connections to play it safe. And is this only with the new pickup or with all pickups? Could be the ground to the bridge/tremolo claw.....
Click to expand...


Bingo.

+1
 
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