Just passed by to say that this is one of the best guitar troubleshooting videos ever on RUclips. You know why? Because this is the one you will remember. Saw this video and others from this guy and I never forgot them. Thanks and congrats!
Im an electrician so I don't need to know how to check the system. You told everyone what to check, but not how to check. I'm sure there are many viewers that would have loved to see an extended video of the testing process with a meter. Other than that a great way to demonstrate the ground circuit.
I would have liked that kinda video, if you're going to make one, I'd definitely give you a like to it. I did check every wiring on my guitar, and every ground connects, but somehow it still has the bzzz thing going on. It's not that bad but still. I think it might have something to do with the wall outlet not being grounded either.
I think, use a multimeter. Turn to ohm meter reading. Clip the black wire to the common ground of the guitar, then point the red wire to each of the ground leg on the potentiometers to see which pot is not connected to the ground.
I did the ground testing and the last thing I suspected was -- the output jack was wired in reverse! Should be -- hot wire to outside (so plug makes hot contact at tip) ground wire to inside (so the lug nut will test positive for grounding). It was the reverse when I got it back from my 'guitar tech'! Thanks for your help!
I've just bought a P93. I've followed all your instructions on replaceing the bridge, pickups et cetera, and I would just like to let you know that my guitar is infinitely better. Thank you so much fella.
Holy moly! I've been re-soldering and replacing pots trying to figure out this exact issue. You explained it so perfectly. I found the loose ground and BOOM! Nice clean sound now. Thank you so much!
My wooden guitar under saddle pick up wire with a soldered 2.5 mm jack to the positive pre-amp was not sealed properly. I used a piece of aluminium tape wrapped around the soldering n now the low-pitched hum has gone forever.
Thanks man.Just changed a pickup switch and was having weird noise in the background no matter how high my noise gate was cranked. But I saw that I didn't solder the ground wire to it. You're the man.
And what's the fix for that? lol I live in an apartment, have the same problem. One of my guitars (the with humbuckers) is making noise, the strat is not. When I toich the metal plate where the input jack goes, the noise goes away.
just what i suspected after checking with a multimeter, but search led me to this video first, and coincidence that the issue is also happening to my epi P93....
Thanks, this helped me fix my problem. I had a buzzing problem with my Epiphone Les Paul - noisiest humbuckers I ever heard - and it turned out to be bad / no ground in the switch cavity. I was able to run a ground wire and connect it to the main tone pot ground, and the problem was solved!
the buzz only dissapears when i touch the jackcable or the ring on the toggle switch or pickups, not when i touch the machine heads or bridge. is this still the same issue?
if it's not the guitar, it might be the amp itself that is not grounded properly i.e. connected to the outlet (or extension cord) without ground. I am not a pro electrician in any way but have some idea - if you don't have proper grounding it creates a shock hazard. There are test devices that you plug into your electrical outlet and can show if everything is properly wired (hot, neutral, ground).
Very handy info thanks! I had a brand new telecaster that even the local tech couldn't fix and I have no doubt it was a grounding issue! What's even more strange is that the buzzing would only occur in the winter, not summer....I'm in Ottawa Canada and it gets really cold and dry here I'm sure that has something to do with it
Thanks for the tip :] My father is an electrician and he found ibanez prints on how to connect guitar properly and i will help him with rewiring whole guitar by a good proven way :)
Thank you this tip really help. I did play the new guitar that I have for a while and just was stuck even though I was looking at the wire hanging down in the Guitar. The sticky stap they use seem to be milting by the heat in my apartment. No even a lose wire .they groung the wire to the Guittar with a tape holding the gound to the body for proper grounding. Was stuck to see it. Thank you .
Nice vid thank you. if you have this problem take a look at the solder joints themselves, sometime the solder is really dull and this can show that it's not a good contact. You may need to re solder it, sometimes called a dry joint. Can be hard to track down as it can look connected.
I had the same problem, and my guitar also produced a really loud high pitched noise sound on some of the presets of my multi effects pedal. The problem was that the shield of the cable was completely severed.
oh your video helped me so much! nust bought a brand new guitar and was trying to convince my gut that it was totally fine but it(my guy) just wouldn’t settle and here i am stumbling on your video, turns out as usual the gut is right. there is way too much hum for it to be okay haha i’ll be contacting the dealer and figuring this out right quick haha thanks!
Thanks for the advice :D. I got my amp fixed by a very enthusiastic technician, who said that the problem was just the head send/return jacks. So its all good now :). But thanks for the advice, much appreciated :)
Great video! Short, to the point, and very informative. Nice job illustrating the issue and explaining the phenomenon. Just confirmed my guitar's issue is grounding. Time to get to work and fix the issue!
@johnplanetz The bridge wire. Is that a wire connected to the bridge of the guitar? That might actually be the problem. I will certainly check that out! Thanks a lot!
If it's making "crunchy static" noises only when turning the pot, you may be able to clean the pot, or you can replace it. If it's continuous static when you turn the amp up loud, I guess it's probably just hiss, which is common with amps at high gain.
I play a schecter raider, but this vid actually helped a lot, ive been wiring and adjusting guitar for a couple weeks. and my favorite guitar is having ground issues. hopefully I can go home and fix it now :) thanks!
john, how about ground connections in guitar amp? I have several basic questions and hope that you could help me: 1. How do I make ground connection to amp chassis with screw? Is there any special screw for that? 2. I read oft about "star grounding" but I don't really understand how many screw ground connections do I have to make, is it only one? Thank you and I hope you could help
@decomposing1 This sounds like a problem with the neck pickup itself, I'd check all the wiring first, just to make sure, but typically the high squeal is caused by microphonic feedback meaning that the bits inside the pickup are moving and they shouldn't be. With regular pickups you can 'pot' them (seal them with wax). This principle certainly applies to the EMG's too but depending on how they're constructed it may not be that quck a fix. You might need a new pickup.
Hey, I think there's a problem both with the ground wires and the jack socket on my guitar because not only does it buzz when i'm not touching any metal parts on the guitar, it also goes nuts if the jack socket is jogged a little or even if the wire moves. The only way to stop it is if i hold the jack lead in the guitar extremely firmly. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.
So the guitar that I have is having some pretty bad hum issues. Same things with yours, where any metal parts that are touched stop the noise, and so forth. I can't see anything wrong in the back with the wiring between the pots and selector switch, but I tried covering the pickup with aluminum foil, and if I do it right the hum is completely gone with that pickup. It's hard to keep it like that and I'm not quite sure what's making it do that, but I can get rid of it by putting the foil on right
Missing bridge wire probably would not cause your amp to be quiet- I'd suspect some other problem with the amp. (Try plugging another guitar or audio source into the amp to confirm). Hopefully, by now, your amp has been fixed. :)
Well, tried it out. Computer was definitely making the noise. Turned the gain and volume way up, and had no noise. Not bad for an MIM strat. I also found that if I grab the body/neck tightly, it does hum. I guess that is the fact that I am NOT connected to ground myself? It does go away when I touch the strings. Am I on the spot with this analysis?
John, I have a Rickenbacker 330. Grounding issue. When I'm not touching the strings, you can hear the slight buzz. I've taken it to 3 different shops, and there is still a slight buzz
why is it considered poor practice? is it because of the needs of long cable for star grounding that can leads noise and hum? so, which method do you prefer to ground an tube amp?
@Clipster15 I have the same problem on my LP, I double checked and all the grounds are connected per the diagram I used but they weren't connected well enough. Check the continuity between all the individual parts and the ring on the jack.
I have two guitars doing this, a tele and a strat. They are both bought of ebay; one is just old and the other one had the pickups swapped poorly, it seems, by someone who forgot the ground. I am worried about getting electrocuted, so that's why I found this video... If I solder a wire from the bridge to the volume pot, will that take care of it? I have 2 guitars doing this, so I'm hoping this would be the correct solution for both the tele and strat.
I bought a new American (so it's shielded and grounded) Standard strat to replace my squier that hummed obnoxiously. I checked out the same guitar at 2 different stores and took my amp & wah, so much quieter than my squier! I ended up buying it, and when I took it to my house, it hums just like my squier. the amp buzzes slightly without the guitar plugged in (ground loop) and the mains hum on the guitar (shitty grounding=shielding useless). I think it's both, what do YOU think?
yes! thank you for this vid. I'm a beginner and I've been dealing with this issue with one of my guitars for a while. taking it in to be repaired soon :)
From the beginning also the amp must be are grounded to eliminate buzz/hum. to make the chain from amp & guitar complete. great tutorial video anyway : )
I changed my cable when I have this problem. It works for me. Guess my problem was my cable since I stepped on it until it's head was almost dislocated. I also tried restarting (on-off-on) my amp and leaving my effect pedals on. That stopped my buzzing for a decent amount of time.
Good one, my martin acoustic has a ground noise. I will see if i can find a broken wire to the output jack? If i touch the cable metal or jack the noise goes away..
I wish this video was up a year ago :(. I bought a schecter on clearance for $200 (yeah I know, $250 dollars off the original $450 price) and was ecstatic. I get the guitar and it has this problem, I return it and then I get a call saying they are out of stock and I can't get the sent guitar back. Nice to know about how to fix it, thanks a lot for the info.
@johnplanetz you mean the bridge pickup? anyway, my other guitars have the same buzzing problem but I'll check the ground wiring I don't really know how to fix it myself but I'll check it out. Thanks!
yeah. i remember myself placing the pickups near the amp's speaker to get some feedback. could that been the cause of it? it's not too loud but i still hear it and it definitely adds noise when im using drive and dist. if you could know how to remedy that, i would really appreciate it if you share it to me. i still learned. thanks man.
Hey, I'm getting something similar, but a lot worse of a buzz. The only way to silence it is to actually touch the pickups under the strings or to touch the metal part of my cable. Touching the strings does nothing. Do you think it's the same problem?
I just learned how to solder properly last week and I ran out of things to fix. I'm hoping to find a problem with one of my old guitars so I can fix it! Lol!
okay, so i have two questions. First, you video. When ground was off, you had increased noise in most spots, except where you touched the volume and tone on top, I believe, where the noise seemed to disappear. Is this just the video, or did it really disappear? If it did, I am wondering why, considering all ground was gone. Second, I have a new strat (MIM), and I get a hum that disappears whenever I touch a metal part. Is this because of the computers in the room? Or is there something else I should consider? I'd turn them off to test, but then I'd lose this message. I will update soon as I do.
does the bridge ground have to go to the back of a pot or can it go to the ground lug of the switch or anywhere as long as its connected to the other grounds?
I took my guitar to be repaired for this and now, the grounding issue is louder because the repairman thought I had a sheilding issue. Now the unit is shielded more than it is but the bridge to my acoustic electric is plastic. Maybe there is a loose wire or could it be that the electrical card connecting to the 9 volt battery is messed up. Would the repairman need a multimeter? Just curious.
Hey John, thanks for replying. It more of an unbearable sequel if anything, not fuzzing or a hum. No it's not on the clean channel. I have a peavy vypyr 30 and if I turn the post gain all the way down on the dirty/red channels it goes away. Problem is that when you turn the gain off, the volume goes with it. It will produce no sound at all. Even with me I keep my gain at about half, and I play through earphones.
If i intentionally disconnected my guitar's string ground, would it's microphonicity increase, as far as toying with feedback or doing pickup screams? Thanks.
i have an epiphone riviera with gibson p94s in it. Just like thedonace, my guitar beggins to hum when I'm not touching the strings. As soon as I touch it, it quits (although, there is quite a bit of hum that happens regardless). When I reach across my guitar and my arm brushes agains the strings, I receive a small shock. IDK if i cant feel it through my calouses or what, but it doesnt happen when i touch it with my hands. I think it is probably a ground issue seeing as it is an epiphone and
@johnplanetz the buzz in the amp and the 60hz hum is only heard plugging into my house, the guitar I bought was the same exact one I had checked out the day before with my own amp and wah and it was a dream come true, and there were lights everywhere, but it was still quiet.
I have that exact same noise from my guitar!! The only metal that stops the noise from happening is when I touch the metal on the output jack. Touching the strings or the tuning pegs doesn't do anything. Just when I touch the output jack then it stops buzzing. I had a lose ground wire and I just re-soldered my output jack's ground back on and I still have the exact same problem.
this happened to my bass but there is a wire going from the tone pot to the bridge and it hall a little bit of fuzz and like you said when you touch anything metal it gets worse. do i need to change the wire to the volume pot or input jack on my bass?
So does this mean a guitar with proper ground wiring into a vintage 2 prong plug amp will still sound as if the ground wiring in the guitar is disconnected because the amp doesn't have proper grounding through the wall plug's ground?
I just refinished a Epiphone Sg and i think there is a grounding problem. The ground wire goes through the body into a hole where the the bridge is slides in. Am i just supposed to set the bridge on top of it and hope it touches?
If i look at electrical diagrams theres always a cable going to the 'ground'. should that cable just be connected to the bridge then? i really have no idea i need some help!
Hi John I'm so glad I found your video. I have exactly the same problem. But mine is an ibanez, how do I find that "black" wire? Is it always a "black" wire that causes the problem? Thanks John.
they are mass produced, but I am hesitant to start taking it apart as I dont have the tools are skills to put it back together. If I take it to the shop, what should I say, and is there any way to shield semi hollow electronics?
haha, mine does that when I'm not touching anything, but when I do touch it, perfectly grounded sounding. My first "successful" pick up install and swap. I use the term, successful, loosely. First thing I disconnected was the ground, accidentally getting it confused with the neck pick up lol, so I know what's next on my list of errands
@johnplanetz this is probably a stupid question but i am not to keen on the wiring yet. I have not soddered the ground wire to the bridge post, but even when i touch the ground wire to the post it makes that loud buzzing noise ( the one when you touch the strings or any metal part on the guitar). Does it only do that because i'm holding the ground wire or the bridge post?
I just finished installing a new tone cap in my project telecaster, but when I tried the guitar it had a ground problem, so I went through and fixed some suspicious looking connections, then checked with a multimeter to make sure all everything was grounded, which it was. But now my guitar still buzzes and the tone pot doesn't work now. What should I do to fix this?
My problem is that there is noise when I'm not touching anything it makes noise and once I touch any metel part or the strings then the noise goes away. It is worse at different times of the day or less at different times of day. I have used an outlet tester on the outlets that my gear is plugged into and they all check out fine. What could be my problem, doubt it is the grounding of my guitar(s) as my main one is brand new and the others ALL do it too, and both my tube amps as well.
Hello John! Thank you for the video, I think I have a similiar problem to what appears in the video, only that my guitar won't play ANY sound at all and is causing very annoying buzz noices. Do you have any idea of how to fix this or what it could be? I also don't want to break anything in the guitar since it's quite costly to replace some parts of it. :)
sorips95 - most likely the signal wire from the pickup has become disconnected from the pots. Cold or broken solder joint. Should be easy to fix if you can easily access the pots. If it's a semi-hollowbody, it's much hard to access the pots through the f-holes, as you can see here: ruclips.net/video/mS9ZB_Sgi6Q/видео.html
I'm running a GFS VEH through one volume knob and then the output jack. the ground is connected to the back of the pot, and I'm getting an incredibly annoying brittle/static hum. How do I fix this?
I changed pickups in my LP to two humbuckers with phase invertion. All the components are grounded correctly - there's connection between pots, 3way, shield-wire and sleeve. I also grounded dpdt switch case. However, when I touch any of metal components (except pickguard's screws ;) there's a big hum. It's bigger in medium positions of volume pots, smaller on max volume and none on muting. It's urgent, I've recording session in two weeks! :(
Hi John, my gear sounds great at home, but jamming at my friend's house there is a terrible buzz (that can be stopped by touching metal on the guitar). What's wrong with the electricity in his house? (we tried several outlets). Are there products that can stop this happening? Thanks for your time mate!
hi I think I have same problem,I have an accoustic guitar yamaha CGX 171 CCA nylon ..when I increase the 'low' on the guitar EQ the noise more bigger ..but when I try to touch the jack that connect to the guitar, the noisy is disappear.. then i try to change the wire inside the guitar,the problem it still there..i worry about the guitar EQ was broken???
I have an Ibanez RG270 with 3 pickups. I took it to Guitar Center to replace the bridge pickup only to SD JB. Upon coming home and plugging it in, the bridge pickup and neck were both quiet. However when flipping the switch to the middle position I'm hearing a lot of buzz/hum, even with my hand covering the strings. Is this ground noise that's causing it? It wasn't happening before. I called the guy that did the repair and he tried to explain it's because single coil pickups will buzz/hum more than humbuckers. I told him it wasn't doing that before!
Single-coil picks hum and noise- and this will change as you move the guitar around. If your noise is constant then it is NOT single coil noise. Take it back to the guitar tech and demonstrate it for him, and get him to make it right.
What is the commom noise hmmm on the electric guitar itself, cable, or on the amplifier? Thanks God bless because my cable is working, my amp is ok also and my guitar also is good but theres a hum, hiss, and not a loud noise but theres a noise still and i dont know where the origin of the noise.
How about it you have a bass you love but the plug makes poor contact with the output jack and it makes that loud cracking noise every time I move or twist my body one inch - what can I do? Do I need to change out the jack? Do you have a video? Thanks
man.. what did you clip on the back of the pot? i mean literally.. is that a magic cable or something? can you please tell me what did you clip on that? please
I'm assuming he connected the ground wire to an alligator clip (the clip he used) so that the connection could be made through clipping that on rather than soldering the wire on the back of the pot. 4 years for a reply, but I hope I'm right and this helps LOL
Alright!, maybe I can finally clear this up, I'm digging around a little for the problem. I have a 1977 Les Paul. The hum goes away only when I touch the pickups and the jack. Hmm, I was just thinking, could this be an amp grounding prob? I can also touch the jacks going into pedals and it goes away. But when I plug into the computer, I get the same buzz and touch pattern.
hey john awesome vids, im having a buzz problem with noiseless pickups, it stops buzzing with i touch the strings... or even reduces when i touch metal on my effects machine ( even when im not touching the guitar.) i heard that if the volume and tone pots are touching the metal foil on the pickguard ( stratocaster) it could cause this ground problem? other than that... my wiring looks good. thanks john
I just replaced the neck pickup.I didn't touch anything else.My grounding wire is on the back to the tremolo thing( i don't know the word sorry) where she is supposed to be.So the problem is that i have this buzzing sound like yours in this video but when i touch the strings or anything metal sound disappears. Any tips???Please
Hey John I am having the problem you described. When the tone pots are turned past 2 there is major feedback. If I roll the tone back on both the bridge and neck then it goes away. Also during the feedback when I play it stops, but as soon as I switch to a new riff, say 1 second in between, then it starts again until I hit another string/note. What's the problem? Opened my LP Standard every solder joint looks good and well connected.
I have the same issue except for the following: The pickups arent working and i get the loudest 'noise' when I touch the switch casing. help/suggestions please?
also if an amp has no ground plug you can run a wire from chassie to center pin of wall plug thats earth ground just be sure the amp dosent use floating ground if it has use a disc capactor of .01-.05 uf 25-50 volt u can get them in radioshack i was a tv electronics tech for 25 yrs and know all about this stuff
Same is the problem with my guitar. The hum/noise stops when i touch any metallic parts on my guitar. My amp and guitar is properly grounded. I'm not sure what is causing the noise.
@johnplanetz guitar was made in usa and already shielded. but shielding will never do it's job unless there is a good ground. I want every pickup to be as quiet as it was in the store. the 2 + 4 settings are nice, but they don't have that punch like the 1,3,5
Hello there, i also have some weird problem with my guitar that i've discovered yesterday, my neck pickup is either broken or not grounded because when i want to play on it, the sound is really low and when i touch the screws that adjust the height of the pickup it buzzes very loudly, my other pickup works fine, without any buzz or signal loose, Can You tell me where lies the problem?
I just had a look and it appears as though there's a wire connected to one of the pots that doesn't lead anywhere. It looks like its been cut right down and just left as it is. I couldn't look at the jack connection because the screws are too tight but I know there's something wrong there too.
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My guitar sounds great when I don't play it.
Sgtcaco me to
LOL
Bwahahaha
Lol
Just passed by to say that this is one of the best guitar troubleshooting videos ever on RUclips.
You know why? Because this is the one you will remember.
Saw this video and others from this guy and I never forgot them.
Thanks and congrats!
Im an electrician so I don't need to know how to check the system. You told everyone what to check, but not how to check. I'm sure there are many viewers that would have loved to see an extended video of the testing process with a meter. Other than that a great way to demonstrate the ground circuit.
I would have liked that kinda video, if you're going to make one, I'd definitely give you a like to it.
I did check every wiring on my guitar, and every ground connects, but somehow it still has the bzzz thing going on. It's not that bad but still.
I think it might have something to do with the wall outlet not being grounded either.
I think, use a multimeter. Turn to ohm meter reading. Clip the black wire to the common ground of the guitar, then point the red wire to each of the ground leg on the potentiometers to see which pot is not connected to the ground.
good point.
I did the ground testing and the last thing I suspected was -- the output jack was wired in reverse! Should be -- hot wire to outside (so plug makes hot contact at tip) ground wire to inside (so the lug nut will test positive for grounding). It was the reverse when I got it back from my 'guitar tech'! Thanks for your help!
I've just bought a P93. I've followed all your instructions on replaceing the bridge, pickups et cetera, and I would just like to let you know that my guitar is infinitely better. Thank you so much fella.
Holy moly! I've been re-soldering and replacing pots trying to figure out this exact issue. You explained it so perfectly. I found the loose ground and BOOM! Nice clean sound now. Thank you so much!
My wooden guitar under saddle pick up wire with a soldered 2.5 mm jack to the positive pre-amp was not sealed properly. I used a piece of aluminium tape wrapped around the soldering n now the low-pitched hum has gone forever.
Thanks man.Just changed a pickup switch and was having weird noise in the background no matter how high my noise gate was cranked. But I saw that I didn't solder the ground wire to it. You're the man.
I have an issue with my guitar where it only buzzes when my hands are off the metal, and when I touch anything metal the noise is gone.
did you found a solution?
Anton St Yeah. it ended up being my house that wasnt grounded. built in the 1940s...
And what's the fix for that? lol
I live in an apartment, have the same problem. One of my guitars (the with humbuckers) is making noise, the strat is not. When I toich the metal plate where the input jack goes, the noise goes away.
Flagstone Pictures That's very insightful actually, my house was also built in the 40's so I think it's probably it. Cheers man
Same Problem for me bro, any solution ?
just what i suspected after checking with a multimeter, but search led me to this video first, and coincidence that the issue is also happening to my epi P93....
I never noticed the ground connected to the screw under the bridge...now my old guitar doesnt buzz. thanks for uploading this video
Thanks, this helped me fix my problem. I had a buzzing problem with my Epiphone Les Paul - noisiest humbuckers I ever heard - and it turned out to be bad / no ground in the switch cavity. I was able to run a ground wire and connect it to the main tone pot ground, and the problem was solved!
the buzz only dissapears when i touch the jackcable or the ring on the toggle switch or pickups, not when i touch the machine heads or bridge. is this still the same issue?
I think some of the ground wire is broken and not connected to common ground.
if it's not the guitar, it might be the amp itself that is not grounded properly i.e. connected to the outlet (or extension cord) without ground. I am not a pro electrician in any way but have some idea - if you don't have proper grounding it creates a shock hazard. There are test devices that you plug into your electrical outlet and can show if everything is properly wired (hot, neutral, ground).
You can't even imagine how helpful you have been!!!
Very handy info thanks! I had a brand new telecaster that even the local tech couldn't fix and I have no doubt it was a grounding issue! What's even more strange is that the buzzing would only occur in the winter, not summer....I'm in Ottawa Canada and it gets really cold and dry here I'm sure that has something to do with it
Thanks very helpful no theories just facts to the point trouble shooting an issue many of us have or have had
Thanks for the tip :] My father is an electrician and he found ibanez prints on how to connect guitar properly and i will help him with rewiring whole guitar by a good proven way :)
Thank you this tip really help. I did play the new guitar that I have for a while and just was stuck even though I was looking at the wire hanging down in the Guitar. The sticky stap they use seem to be milting by the heat in my apartment. No even a lose wire .they groung the wire to the Guittar with a tape holding the gound to the body for proper grounding. Was stuck to see it. Thank you .
many thanks from the Netherlands for helping me fix my guitarsound...very educational and helpful video!
Nice vid thank you. if you have this problem take a look at the solder joints themselves, sometime the solder is really dull and this can show that it's not a good contact. You may need to re solder it, sometimes called a dry joint. Can be hard to track down as it can look connected.
I had the same problem, and my guitar also produced a really loud high pitched noise sound on some of the presets of my multi effects pedal. The problem was that the shield of the cable was completely severed.
This video deserved way more views ...
oh your video helped me so much! nust bought a brand new guitar and was trying to convince my gut that it was totally fine but it(my guy) just wouldn’t settle and here i am stumbling on your video, turns out as usual the gut is right. there is way too much hum for it to be okay haha i’ll be contacting the dealer and figuring this out right quick haha thanks!
Thanks for the advice :D. I got my amp fixed by a very enthusiastic technician, who said that the problem was just the head send/return jacks. So its all good now :). But thanks for the advice, much appreciated :)
excellent demonstration, thank you!
Great video! Short, to the point, and very informative. Nice job illustrating the issue and explaining the phenomenon. Just confirmed my guitar's issue is grounding. Time to get to work and fix the issue!
+videobenji I think you replied to the wrong comment.
@johnplanetz The bridge wire. Is that a wire connected to the bridge of the guitar? That might actually be the problem. I will certainly check that out! Thanks a lot!
If it's making "crunchy static" noises only when turning the pot, you may be able to clean the pot, or you can replace it. If it's continuous static when you turn the amp up loud, I guess it's probably just hiss, which is common with amps at high gain.
I play a schecter raider, but this vid actually helped a lot, ive been wiring and adjusting guitar for a couple weeks. and my favorite guitar is having ground issues. hopefully I can go home and fix it now :) thanks!
john, how about ground connections in guitar amp? I have several basic questions and hope that you could help me:
1. How do I make ground connection to amp chassis with screw? Is there any special screw for that?
2. I read oft about "star grounding" but I don't really understand how many screw ground connections do I have to make, is it only one?
Thank you and I hope you could help
@decomposing1 This sounds like a problem with the neck pickup itself, I'd check all the wiring first, just to make sure, but typically the high squeal is caused by microphonic feedback meaning that the bits inside the pickup are moving and they shouldn't be. With regular pickups you can 'pot' them (seal them with wax). This principle certainly applies to the EMG's too but depending on how they're constructed it may not be that quck a fix. You might need a new pickup.
Hey, I think there's a problem both with the ground wires and the jack socket on my guitar because not only does it buzz when i'm not touching any metal parts on the guitar, it also goes nuts if the jack socket is jogged a little or even if the wire moves. The only way to stop it is if i hold the jack lead in the guitar extremely firmly. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.
Excellent video and I love how you have rigged the controls.
So the guitar that I have is having some pretty bad hum issues. Same things with yours, where any metal parts that are touched stop the noise, and so forth. I can't see anything wrong in the back with the wiring between the pots and selector switch, but I tried covering the pickup with aluminum foil, and if I do it right the hum is completely gone with that pickup. It's hard to keep it like that and I'm not quite sure what's making it do that, but I can get rid of it by putting the foil on right
Missing bridge wire probably would not cause your amp to be quiet- I'd suspect some other problem with the amp. (Try plugging another guitar or audio source into the amp to confirm). Hopefully, by now, your amp has been fixed. :)
Wow dude....you kinda just saved my life right now....good lookin out.
Well, tried it out. Computer was definitely making the noise. Turned the gain and volume way up, and had no noise. Not bad for an MIM strat. I also found that if I grab the body/neck tightly, it does hum. I guess that is the fact that I am NOT connected to ground myself? It does go away when I touch the strings. Am I on the spot with this analysis?
Nice
Straight to the point .
Really helpful
John, I have a Rickenbacker 330. Grounding issue. When I'm not touching the strings, you can hear the slight buzz. I've taken it to 3 different shops, and there is still a slight buzz
why is it considered poor practice? is it because of the needs of long cable for star grounding that can leads noise and hum? so, which method do you prefer to ground an tube amp?
@Clipster15 I have the same problem on my LP, I double checked and all the grounds are connected per the diagram I used but they weren't connected well enough. Check the continuity between all the individual parts and the ring on the jack.
What would happen if you'd have a wire going from a piece of metal on the amp to a radiator? Would it cancel out the hum without causing harm?
It helped. I have suddenly begun to experience hum noises with an acoustic electric Martin DX1e guitar. Any suggestions?
Maybe i missed it, but did you tell us what was causing the hum in your guitar?
I have two guitars doing this, a tele and a strat. They are both bought of ebay; one is just old and the other one had the pickups swapped poorly, it seems, by someone who forgot the ground. I am worried about getting electrocuted, so that's why I found this video... If I solder a wire from the bridge to the volume pot, will that take care of it? I have 2 guitars doing this, so I'm hoping this would be the correct solution for both the tele and strat.
I bought a new American (so it's shielded and grounded) Standard strat to replace my squier that hummed obnoxiously. I checked out the same guitar at 2 different stores and took my amp & wah, so much quieter than my squier! I ended up buying it, and when I took it to my house, it hums just like my squier. the amp buzzes slightly without the guitar plugged in (ground loop) and the mains hum on the guitar (shitty grounding=shielding useless). I think it's both, what do YOU think?
yes! thank you for this vid. I'm a beginner and I've been dealing with this issue with one of my guitars for a while. taking it in to be repaired soon :)
From the beginning also the amp must be are grounded to eliminate buzz/hum.
to make the chain from amp & guitar complete.
great tutorial video anyway : )
I changed my cable when I have this problem. It works for me. Guess my problem was my cable since I stepped on it until it's head was almost dislocated. I also tried restarting (on-off-on) my amp and leaving my effect pedals on. That stopped my buzzing for a decent amount of time.
Hi love the channel... i have a problem with ground buzz but all continuity checks were fine.. what else could the ptoblem be ?
Good one, my martin acoustic has a ground noise. I will see if i can find a broken wire to the output jack?
If i touch the cable metal or jack the noise goes away..
thanks john for the tutorial will try it out see if it resolves the problem,its real real bad when on overdrive mode amp...
I wish this video was up a year ago :(. I bought a schecter on clearance for $200 (yeah I know, $250 dollars off the original $450 price) and was ecstatic. I get the guitar and it has this problem, I return it and then I get a call saying they are out of stock and I can't get the sent guitar back.
Nice to know about how to fix it, thanks a lot for the info.
Thanks for a good video. Most video try and sell you some filter to stop the noise. my guitar does the same as yours.
Super helpful - thanks.
@johnplanetz you mean the bridge pickup? anyway, my other guitars have the same buzzing problem but I'll check the ground wiring I don't really know how to fix it myself but I'll check it out. Thanks!
yeah. i remember myself placing the pickups near the amp's speaker to get some feedback. could that been the cause of it? it's not too loud but i still hear it and it definitely adds noise when im using drive and dist. if you could know how to remedy that, i would really appreciate it if you share it to me. i still learned. thanks man.
Hey, I'm getting something similar, but a lot worse of a buzz. The only way to silence it is to actually touch the pickups under the strings or to touch the metal part of my cable. Touching the strings does nothing. Do you think it's the same problem?
I just learned how to solder properly last week and I ran out of things to fix. I'm hoping to find a problem with one of my old guitars so I can fix it! Lol!
okay, so i have two questions. First, you video. When ground was off, you had increased noise in most spots, except where you touched the volume and tone on top, I believe, where the noise seemed to disappear. Is this just the video, or did it really disappear? If it did, I am wondering why, considering all ground was gone. Second, I have a new strat (MIM), and I get a hum that disappears whenever I touch a metal part. Is this because of the computers in the room? Or is there something else I should consider? I'd turn them off to test, but then I'd lose this message. I will update soon as I do.
does the bridge ground have to go to the back of a pot or can it go to the ground lug of the switch or anywhere as long as its connected to the other grounds?
I took my guitar to be repaired for this and now, the grounding issue is louder because the repairman thought I had a sheilding issue. Now the unit is shielded more than it is but the bridge to my acoustic electric is plastic. Maybe there is a loose wire or could it be that the electrical card connecting to the 9 volt battery is messed up. Would the repairman need a multimeter? Just curious.
What if the electrical plug itself is not properly grounded? Wouldn't that make it buzz regardless of internal electronic setup?
yep
Hey John, thanks for replying. It more of an unbearable sequel if anything, not fuzzing or a hum. No it's not on the clean channel. I have a peavy vypyr 30 and if I turn the post gain all the way down on the dirty/red channels it goes away. Problem is that when you turn the gain off, the volume goes with it. It will produce no sound at all. Even with me I keep my gain at about half, and I play through earphones.
If i intentionally disconnected my guitar's string ground, would it's microphonicity increase, as far as toying with feedback or doing pickup screams? Thanks.
i have an epiphone riviera with gibson p94s in it. Just like thedonace, my guitar beggins to hum when I'm not touching the strings. As soon as I touch it, it quits (although, there is quite a bit of hum that happens regardless). When I reach across my guitar and my arm brushes agains the strings, I receive a small shock. IDK if i cant feel it through my calouses or what, but it doesnt happen when i touch it with my hands. I think it is probably a ground issue seeing as it is an epiphone and
@johnplanetz the buzz in the amp and the 60hz hum is only heard plugging into my house, the guitar I bought was the same exact one I had checked out the day before with my own amp and wah and it was a dream come true, and there were lights everywhere, but it was still quiet.
hey, awesome video man! good job!! i have one question : can this work with humbuckers?? i have the same problem but i have an epiphone les paul...
I have that exact same noise from my guitar!! The only metal that stops the noise from happening is when I touch the metal on the output jack. Touching the strings or the tuning pegs doesn't do anything. Just when I touch the output jack then it stops buzzing.
I had a lose ground wire and I just re-soldered my output jack's ground back on and I still have the exact same problem.
this happened to my bass but there is a wire going from the tone pot to the bridge and it hall a little bit of fuzz and like you said when you touch anything metal it gets worse. do i need to change the wire to the volume pot or input jack on my bass?
So does this mean a guitar with proper ground wiring into a vintage 2 prong plug amp will still sound as if the ground wiring in the guitar is disconnected because the amp doesn't have proper grounding through the wall plug's ground?
I just refinished a Epiphone Sg and i think there is a grounding problem. The ground wire goes through the body into a hole where the the bridge is slides in. Am i just supposed to set the bridge on top of it and hope it touches?
If i look at electrical diagrams theres always a cable going to the 'ground'. should that cable just be connected to the bridge then? i really have no idea i need some help!
Hi John I'm so glad I found your video. I have exactly the same problem. But mine is an ibanez, how do I find that "black" wire? Is it always a "black" wire that causes the problem?
Thanks John.
No- manufacturers may use different wire colors. They are not necessarily consistent.
they are mass produced, but I am hesitant to start taking it apart as I dont have the tools are skills to put it back together. If I take it to the shop, what should I say, and is there any way to shield semi hollow electronics?
haha, mine does that when I'm not touching anything, but when I do touch it, perfectly grounded sounding. My first "successful" pick up install and swap. I use the term, successful, loosely. First thing I disconnected was the ground, accidentally getting it confused with the neck pick up lol, so I know what's next on my list of errands
@johnplanetz this is probably a stupid question but i am not to keen on the wiring yet. I have not soddered the ground wire to the bridge post, but even when i touch the ground wire to the post it makes that loud buzzing noise ( the one when you touch the strings or any metal part on the guitar). Does it only do that because i'm holding the ground wire or the bridge post?
I just finished installing a new tone cap in my project telecaster, but when I tried the guitar it had a ground problem, so I went through and fixed some suspicious looking connections, then checked with a multimeter to make sure all everything was grounded, which it was. But now my guitar still buzzes and the tone pot doesn't work now. What should I do to fix this?
My problem is that there is noise when I'm not touching anything it makes noise and once I touch any metel part or the strings then the noise goes away. It is worse at different times of the day or less at different times of day. I have used an outlet tester on the outlets that my gear is plugged into and they all check out fine. What could be my problem, doubt it is the grounding of my guitar(s) as my main one is brand new and the others ALL do it too, and both my tube amps as well.
Hello John! Thank you for the video, I think I have a similiar problem to what appears in the video, only that my guitar won't play ANY sound at all and is causing very annoying buzz noices. Do you have any idea of how to fix this or what it could be? I also don't want to break anything in the guitar since it's quite costly to replace some parts of it. :)
sorips95 - most likely the signal wire from the pickup has become disconnected from the pots. Cold or broken solder joint. Should be easy to fix if you can easily access the pots. If it's a semi-hollowbody, it's much hard to access the pots through the f-holes, as you can see here: ruclips.net/video/mS9ZB_Sgi6Q/видео.html
I'm running a GFS VEH through one volume knob and then the output jack. the ground is connected to the back of the pot, and I'm getting an incredibly annoying brittle/static hum. How do I fix this?
I changed pickups in my LP to two humbuckers with phase invertion. All the components are grounded correctly - there's connection between pots, 3way, shield-wire and sleeve. I also grounded dpdt switch case. However, when I touch any of metal components (except pickguard's screws ;) there's a big hum. It's bigger in medium positions of volume pots, smaller on max volume and none on muting. It's urgent, I've recording session in two weeks! :(
Hi John, my gear sounds great at home, but jamming at my friend's house there is a terrible buzz (that can be stopped by touching metal on the guitar). What's wrong with the electricity in his house? (we tried several outlets). Are there products that can stop this happening? Thanks for your time mate!
make sure your amp is plugged into a kitchen plug, that for sure has a good ground, see all codes for house wiring.
hi I think I have same problem,I have an accoustic guitar yamaha CGX 171 CCA nylon ..when I increase the 'low' on the guitar EQ the noise more bigger ..but when I try to touch the jack that connect to the guitar, the noisy is disappear..
then i try to change the wire inside the guitar,the problem it still there..i worry about the guitar EQ was broken???
I have an Ibanez RG270 with 3 pickups. I took it to Guitar Center to replace the bridge pickup only to SD JB. Upon coming home and plugging it in, the bridge pickup and neck were both quiet. However when flipping the switch to the middle position I'm hearing a lot of buzz/hum, even with my hand covering the strings.
Is this ground noise that's causing it? It wasn't happening before. I called the guy that did the repair and he tried to explain it's because single coil pickups will buzz/hum more than humbuckers. I told him it wasn't doing that before!
Single-coil picks hum and noise- and this will change as you move the guitar around. If your noise is constant then it is NOT single coil noise. Take it back to the guitar tech and demonstrate it for him, and get him to make it right.
What is the commom noise hmmm on the electric guitar itself, cable, or on the amplifier? Thanks God bless because my cable is working, my amp is ok also and my guitar also is good but theres a hum, hiss, and not a loud noise but theres a noise still and i dont know where the origin of the noise.
How about it you have a bass you love but the plug makes poor contact with the output jack and it makes that loud cracking noise every time I move or twist my body one inch - what can I do? Do I need to change out the jack? Do you have a video? Thanks
man.. what did you clip on the back of the pot? i mean literally.. is that a magic cable or something? can you please tell me what did you clip on that? please
I'm assuming he connected the ground wire to an alligator clip (the clip he used) so that the connection could be made through clipping that on rather than soldering the wire on the back of the pot. 4 years for a reply, but I hope I'm right and this helps LOL
Alright!, maybe I can finally clear this up, I'm digging around a little for the problem. I have a 1977 Les Paul. The hum goes away only when I touch the pickups and the jack. Hmm, I was just thinking, could this be an amp grounding prob? I can also touch the jacks going into pedals and it goes away. But when I plug into the computer, I get the same buzz and touch pattern.
hey john awesome vids,
im having a buzz problem with noiseless pickups, it stops buzzing with i touch the strings... or even reduces when i touch metal on my effects machine ( even when im not touching the guitar.) i heard that if the volume and tone pots are touching the metal foil on the pickguard ( stratocaster) it could cause this ground problem? other than that... my wiring looks good. thanks john
I just replaced the neck pickup.I didn't touch anything else.My grounding wire is on the back to the tremolo thing( i don't know the word sorry) where she is supposed to be.So the problem is that i have this buzzing sound like yours in this video but when i touch the strings or anything metal sound disappears. Any tips???Please
Hey John I am having the problem you described. When the tone pots are turned past 2 there is major feedback. If I roll the tone back on both the bridge and neck then it goes away. Also during the feedback when I play it stops, but as soon as I switch to a new riff, say 1 second in between, then it starts again until I hit another string/note. What's the problem? Opened my LP Standard every solder joint looks good and well connected.
I have the same issue except for the following:
The pickups arent working and i get the loudest 'noise' when I touch the switch casing. help/suggestions please?
also if an amp has no ground plug you can run a wire from chassie to center pin of wall plug thats earth ground just be sure the amp dosent use floating ground if it has use a disc capactor of .01-.05 uf 25-50 volt u can get them in radioshack i was a tv electronics tech for 25 yrs and know all about this stuff
Same is the problem with my guitar. The hum/noise stops when i touch any metallic parts on my guitar. My amp and guitar is properly grounded. I'm not sure what is causing the noise.
@johnplanetz guitar was made in usa and already shielded. but shielding will never do it's job unless there is a good ground. I want every pickup to be as quiet as it was in the store. the 2 + 4 settings are nice, but they don't have that punch like the 1,3,5
Hello there, i also have some weird problem with my guitar that i've discovered yesterday, my neck pickup is either broken or not grounded because when i want to play on it, the sound is really low and when i touch the screws that adjust the height of the pickup it buzzes very loudly, my other pickup works fine, without any buzz or signal loose, Can You tell me where lies the problem?
I just had a look and it appears as though there's a wire connected to one of the pots that doesn't lead anywhere. It looks like its been cut right down and just left as it is. I couldn't look at the jack connection because the screws are too tight but I know there's something wrong there too.
I have a similar problem, but i get no sound from the strings when i strum. Any tips?