Hum or Buzz Problem

[Chris]

Hello,

I've been replacing the pickups in an Epi Les Paul with some Nailbombs, and I've got a bit of a problem...  I've wired it up and it kind of works in that the guitar makes a noise when it's played - but there's a constant buzz or hum when the tone control is turned up, and the output seems lower than I remember.  If I turn the tone control down the buzz is cured.

I thought it was just my soldering, but I've tried re-making the connections a few times to no avail.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

Cheers,
Chris

[PhilKing]

Sounds like you have a grounding (earth) problem.  Have you checked that you have only one ground to each pot other than one where the bridge wire comes in and you take out a wire to the jack?  I have had problems with more than one path to ground in the past and now this is the first thing I check.  

Are you using 4 wire or 2 wire?  With 4 wire make sure the Green and White are connected to each other and are not connected anywhere else (or touching ground).  The black and screen should go to ground and the red to the volume pot.  

If you have 2 wire then make sure that you don't have a stray wire from the screen touching the live wire.

[Chris]

Thanks for the advice PhilKing.  The pickups are 4 conductor and wired up as you suggested.  I'll double check all of my grounding.