BKP H/S/S wiring - Ground Hum Issue! - ARRRGH!!!

[Riffmagus]

Evening All,

So - it's my first wiring job - and I have followed the H/S/S wiring diagram on the BKP site. New pots, cap, 5 way switch, graph-tech saddles and jack also used.

First time - I had horrible ground hum. So, I opened my Pacifica up again, tidied things up and re-soldered all the joints.

No joy.

I can take it to my local tech - who is going to cut the graph-tech nut I have also - but would appreciate if anyone can help here...

I have noticed the hum does go away occasionally - then return another time I play the guitar. So perhaps a loose connection? When I touch the strings, bridge or jack this grounds and dramatically reduces the hum.

One other thing - turning down the tone knob reduces the hum considerably.

Certainly appreciate any help with this!

Many thanks,

-Riff

[darkbluemurder]

Hi riff,

From the pictures I cannot directly detect anything wrong.

I guess you have already tested your rig with another guitar to exclude your rig as a potential source of hum. The fact that the hum comes and goes suggests to me that you also wired the jack correctly. If you switched hot and ground at the jack you would have a permanent loud hum which would not go away when touching the strings or any other grounded part. Hence the string grounding must also be good.

You could do then disconnect the tone control and the 5-way-switch temporarily. Wire the bridge pickup directly to the volume control. Is the hum still there? If not, add the tone control, switch until the hum reappears - then the problem was the last addition made. Yes, this approach is time consuming but randomly looking for a potential error can take you much longer.

If it hums with only the bridge pickup and the volume control then also bypass the volume control and temporarily wire the pickup leads directly to the jack.

Did you use shielded cable? If so ground the shield only on one end, otherwise you will get a ground loop.

Good luck
Stephan