Pickup noise

[paz8473]

I have been doing a lot of recording lately using my Jackson DX10 with the Duncan design humbuckers without any problem with hum or noise, I don't even have to turn the volume down and they are dead quiet, my noise gate closes off any little bit of noise that might be left after a chord fades, no problem, great guitar.
I just purchased a top of the line USA built Jackson SL2H with the Seymour Duncan pickups and this thing is a beautiful guitar except for the excessive noise I get from the pickups, I realize the real Duncans probably have a higher output than the generics on my DX10, but I have to turn the volume down about 1/4 turn to eliminate the hum, I am running through a DI and a noise gate.
Can someone tell me what the deal is with pickup noise/hum and what can I do to eliminate it, I want to record with my new axe but I have gone back to the cheaper one until I figure out what to do about the noise.
I would expect a $400 guitar may have this problem, but not an instrument costing 4 times that much, I have many other guitars and some are quiet and some are not, maybe I could fix them all if I understood what causes this problem.

Thanks

 

[dinorocker]

Hmmm, that doesnt sound right. Even "hot" PUs shouldn't produce such an enormous amount of noise, especially not if they are humbuckers, and that too SDs.

I would suspect a dry/bad solder point somewhere in the circuit.

If the axe is user-servicable (i.e. you can open it without voiding your warranty), and you know your way around electronic circuits, you could also do this yourself as a preliminary check. Simply plugging it in and touching various contacts will probably reveal the culprit.

Else I'd take the thing to the nearest authorized service centre and have it checked out.

 

[Phyl]

Try swapping out the guitar cable as well. I had a problem this morning with my Kinman equipped strat; turned out to be a bad cable.

 

[paz8473]

Okay, I'm pretty sure it's not the cord, I use the same cord for all my guitars, also it's one of those core2 noise canceling cables, practically brand new.

I did make a discovery that might help solve this mystery, touching the contacts did nothing and I don't see anything unusual with the wiring, if I set the 3 position switch to center (both pickups on) all the noise disappears, even if I bypass my gate there is no noise at all with the volume maxed on the guitar, if I set it to the neck pickup there is very little audible noise, but when it is set to the bridge pickup, there is a constant hum/buzz unless you turn the volume down quite a bit.

Seems like this would be a dead giveaway to someone who knows the electronics of guitars, unfortunetly that is my weakest area of knowledge.