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Author Topic: Buzzes and hums and loose switch ... grounding?  (Read 4381 times)

carlaz

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Buzzes and hums and loose switch ... grounding?
« on: November 03, 2005, 11:21:07 AM »
So I've been messing around with my LP a bit more, recently, gearing myself up to put some BKPs in it.  Besides the issues with the G-string tuning peg that doesn't seem to go away no matter what I do with the strings, I seem to have some funkiness in the electronics, perhaps a loose connection in the pickup switch. The switch itself seems to swivel a bit more than desireable (i.e. at all), and I get a very fearsome hum/buzz when the gain goes up.

OK, I know I'm always going to get a certain amount of noise at higher gain, and yeah, moving closer to or farther from the computer has an effect.  But the buzz/hum from my LP is much more noticeable than from the single coils on my bass, which is surely wrong (yes, I did try cranking the gain on the bass to guitar levels :twisted:).  The buzz is pretty bad with the bridge pickup selected, slightly less bad with the neck pickup (because of the lower output, presumably), but least obnoxious with the switch in the middle position.

Anyway, that loose switch is surely not right, and I wonder if something like a grounding wire has come loose with it?  I'm no electronics expert, though! :?  I suppose the best thing to do is get the luthier to check this out when I'm eventually getting the pickups installed ....
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HJM

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Buzzes and hums and loose switch ... grounding?
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2005, 11:50:11 AM »
I think you've answered your own question....new switch and check the grounds!
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Ratrod

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Buzzes and hums and loose switch ... grounding?
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2005, 03:03:11 PM »
There should be a sticky post in the tech section that says: It's a grounding problem.
BKP user since 2004: early 7K Blackguard 50

Tellboy

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Buzzes and hums and loose switch ... grounding?
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2005, 08:43:26 AM »
I recently installed a set of Crawlers on my Les Paul and noticed a bad hum afterwards which was obviously an earth problem. After checking the control cavity wiring for problems I removed the pickup selector switch to find that the earth wire had broken off. I'm sure like all LP owners you get the problem of the switch collar becoming loose - continually retightening it will sometimes twist the switch around a little if you don't hold it and this will put strain on the wiring. The wiring from this runs behind the pickups to the control cavity so if it is fairly long and if it is unearthed is will probably pick up hum from the pickup magnets as well as the usually stuff.

Resoldering this completely cured it. The Crawlers are amazing.
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