Just some another hints - change the pots and tonecap. HB has by default wrong pot values, they used 500K pots (same as on passive guitars) on these active. You need replace all pots with 25K, which are standard values for active pickups. This simple mod will radically reduce the hiss, which is generated by active electronics output, connected into improper impedance. Now, impedance of pickups will be suitable with impedance of rest of guitar electronics. And, you can also suppress the hiss to even lower level, if you connect a small value resistor (about 10k) between middle pin of volume pot and wire, which was originally soldered into this middle pin. This will suppress hiss also when pot is open to full volume, because active circuit has limited output current, so it will generate significantly less of noise, even on high gain settings. After these two mods, you will got really quiet guitar, nice clean sound, and more detailed drive without flabby bass strings, and with precise reaction to pick hit even on lower notes. HBZ are not bad pickups, but they need sorted out rest of electronics, for squeeze the best from them.
Yes, no problem. Just one more thing - yesterday I tried replace resistor from central pin of pot to lower values - 2,2k instead of 10k. It sounds definitely better. It will supress hiss, when you open pot to full, but output level drop is not noticeable.
Thanks a lot for experimenting with every possible cause of this issue and taking the time to share the results, I’m about to purchase this model and now I know what to do as soon as I get it 🤘🏻
Hi Rodrigo! I'm glad that I could help you :) Since the guitar is not available since 2 weeks ("available in 2-5 days", since 2 weeks 😅), I guess they are going to fix the issue before sending them out (at least I hope so). Maybe you are the lucky one who gets a functional instrument 😎🤟🏼
Maybe there is still room left for some improvement of the string-bridge-connection. You have sanded down the back of the bridge plate (where it connects to the grounding wire) and the part of the saddles the strings connect to. BUT: There is still a "paint barrier" between the saddles and the bridge plate since the saddle screws and the threads in the bridge plate are most likely coated too. Unfortunately, here it gets a bit more tricky... If that can't be fixed, you should probably buy another black aftermarket bridge. There are some cheap ones around (e.g. from musiclily, although I don't know if they are any better than the HB ones). This could finally clarify if the noise we can still hear after your last fix really comes down to the pickups or not. EDIT: Glenn Fricker has the solution: You don't have to file down the saddles but the holes in the bridge plate where the strings go through and inevitably make contact to the bridge plate anyways: ruclips.net/video/FuQ8X_v4HwA/видео.html
@Shimmy X No, that's not possible, I assume. Or at least not without some serious PITA, and you would probably damage your strings and have to change them anyways.
@@matt4lands606 i actually managed without much issue. Just loosen the strings, unscrew the bridge and with a tiny file you can sand the paint while keeping the string out of the way For me now i need to shield the guitar with some copper tape and make sure everything is grounded correctly
No, EMGs work without the ground-wire to the bridge. I found an interesting post in a forum: www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/emg-pickups-question-connection-to-ground-earth.2150088/
Hello, I got the ST 20hh from Harley Benton, same issues here as everyone, bad setup, scratches and marks on the neck and body, grounding issues. After fixing everything is impossible for me to get a 3 semitone bend on the thinner strings, even a half step bend requires more effort than any other guitar I have played, the only way I can do that is by raising the action to 2.25mm witch is insane. I have 10 - 52 strings (skinny top, heavy bottom from Ernie Ball) in drop D. I tried a lower tunning, but nothing changes. When I bend the string, at some point it does not make any sound at all. Anyone knows what the problem is, or should I just return this thing?
Hi :) Just return it and get another one. My ST-20 came in flawless condition and is really fun to play. The issues on your guitar seem to be a manufacturing problem. There are better ones out there :) Cheers!
@@lithiumirl2238Not, there is an technical standard norm for guitar’s action. For electric guitar, there is 1,5-2,5 mm range on 12th fret on low E, and 1-1,5 on high E! Everything out of this range is wrong! Lower action is bad, because you will struggle with fret buzz and shortened sustain. Higher action will cause bad playability, orthopedic problems with left hand, and also bad intonation, especially when you play chords with opened strings, and/or on higher frets. This range is written also on each ruler for action adjustment, so don’t underestimate it.
Asking cause I don't know. My Ibanez is around 15 years old and has two single coil and a humbucker at the bridge. Playing through a Boss Katana 2X12. It is very much quieter. Possibly active pickup vs non active?
Hi Charlie! Since all my active guitars have the HBZs in it, I can not really tell, sorry 😅 I'm building a guitar at the moment which is gonne be equipped with EMGs. When the guitar is finished, I can make a comparison :)
That's very odd. It seems the frequency of the noise has changed too. What happens if you are on a very clean channel? Might be the amount of gain or perhaps the pickups are garbage.
I just plugged into a Fender Frontman, which is pretty clean: The noise is barely noticeable, but still there. I guess, at this point it really comes down to the pickups :/
Two quick asks- is internal shielding correctly connected to ground? And do you have conductivity on the all shielded area? Because, some copper tapes have non-conductive adhesive layer.
Did you test it with multimeter, if you have continuity of shielding on whole cavity surface? Also, some other hint - check the connector. On my guitar, I had wrong soldered wires on the output jack - sleeve was connected on the negatíve battery pole, and ring to signal ground. It’s wrong, sleeve have to be connected always on the signal ground, and battery negatíve wire is connected to ring! Another thing ... my guitar suffered by this type of noise, if switch cavity was not shielded. After I properly shielded the switch, most of this high-pitched buzz has gone. So, check carefully shielding of the switch cavity area. Please let me know, if these hints helped you.
@@Andreas_StraubTrue! Copper foil need to be grounded, otherwise the Farraday's cage effect is not working! And additional metal will act like resonator, increasing EMI interference.
hey man check into GRAPHTECH they make killer saddles and nuts especially the nuts... if you want a pro guitar the graphtech nut is better than bone....
Also, dann habe ich wohl mit meiner ST 20HH Active absolut Glück gehabt, denn hier noist gar nichts und das in Stock und ohne Mod! Nichtsdestotrotz sind die Maßnahmen, die du an der Gitarre im Video durchgeführt hast, leider nicht ausreichend, um ernsthaft eine Kauf dieser Gitarre zu erwägen. Dennoch danke für das Video und so kann wenigstens CO2 für das Versenden und Retournieren eingespart werden. Danke an Thomann dafür, dass ich offenbar eine der wenigen perfekten Gitarren erhalten habe. 🤟
This is still far from being quiet! Have you even found out, what is causing the high noise level in your room? Use the guitar as a detector to find the source (electronic dimmer, switching power supply .... or externally street cars?). It is always better to cure the source of the problem instead of reducing the effects ... One more hint: please also cover the pick guard with the copper foil and make sure that you use a copper foil with a CONDUCTIVE sticky side. If you have used a non conductive glue type of foil for the inner shielding use some small solder joints to make sure that the whole shield is connected to ground (measure the resitance!).Then ground the pick guard foil and the inner foil layer - otherwise they are not really effective.
Sorry .. this electronic system Is a very disastre .. change every .. two pickups Alnico 5 in P.A.F. style change this Guitar in a very Rock Guitar. Bye my Guitar Friends. 🤟🎸🤟
Just some another hints - change the pots and tonecap. HB has by default wrong pot values, they used 500K pots (same as on passive guitars) on these active. You need replace all pots with 25K, which are standard values for active pickups. This simple mod will radically reduce the hiss, which is generated by active electronics output, connected into improper impedance. Now, impedance of pickups will be suitable with impedance of rest of guitar electronics. And, you can also suppress the hiss to even lower level, if you connect a small value resistor (about 10k) between middle pin of volume pot and wire, which was originally soldered into this middle pin. This will suppress hiss also when pot is open to full volume, because active circuit has limited output current, so it will generate significantly less of noise, even on high gain settings. After these two mods, you will got really quiet guitar, nice clean sound, and more detailed drive without flabby bass strings, and with precise reaction to pick hit even on lower notes. HBZ are not bad pickups, but they need sorted out rest of electronics, for squeeze the best from them.
Wow! That sounds like really good mods. Thank you & I wanna try it! Do you mind when I do a video on this and show your comment?
Yes, no problem. Just one more thing - yesterday I tried replace resistor from central pin of pot to lower values - 2,2k instead of 10k. It sounds definitely better. It will supress hiss, when you open pot to full, but output level drop is not noticeable.
Thanks a lot for experimenting with every possible cause of this issue and taking the time to share the results, I’m about to purchase this model and now I know what to do as soon as I get it 🤘🏻
Hi Rodrigo! I'm glad that I could help you :) Since the guitar is not available since 2 weeks ("available in 2-5 days", since 2 weeks 😅), I guess they are going to fix the issue before sending them out (at least I hope so).
Maybe you are the lucky one who gets a functional instrument 😎🤟🏼
Just sand off the bottom of the bridge and you should be fine. In my experience there is no need to shield everything
Maybe there is still room left for some improvement of the string-bridge-connection. You have sanded down the back of the bridge plate (where it connects to the grounding wire) and the part of the saddles the strings connect to. BUT: There is still a "paint barrier" between the saddles and the bridge plate since the saddle screws and the threads in the bridge plate are most likely coated too. Unfortunately, here it gets a bit more tricky... If that can't be fixed, you should probably buy another black aftermarket bridge. There are some cheap ones around (e.g. from musiclily, although I don't know if they are any better than the HB ones). This could finally clarify if the noise we can still hear after your last fix really comes down to the pickups or not.
EDIT: Glenn Fricker has the solution: You don't have to file down the saddles but the holes in the bridge plate where the strings go through and inevitably make contact to the bridge plate anyways: ruclips.net/video/FuQ8X_v4HwA/видео.html
Thank you for this comment! Any ideas as to how to go about sanding the holes without restringing?
@Shimmy X No, that's not possible, I assume. Or at least not without some serious PITA, and you would probably damage your strings and have to change them anyways.
@@matt4lands606 i actually managed without much issue. Just loosen the strings, unscrew the bridge and with a tiny file you can sand the paint while keeping the string out of the way
For me now i need to shield the guitar with some copper tape and make sure everything is grounded correctly
@@ShimmyX Great! And did you finally get rid of the noise?
Would I have the same issue if I just swap the pickups for a pair of EMGs?
No, EMGs work without the ground-wire to the bridge.
I found an interesting post in a forum:
www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/emg-pickups-question-connection-to-ground-earth.2150088/
@@struppmann. That's amazing, thanks man!
Hello, I got the ST 20hh from Harley Benton, same issues here as everyone, bad setup, scratches and marks on the neck and body, grounding issues.
After fixing everything is impossible for me to get a 3 semitone bend on the thinner strings, even a half step bend requires more effort than any other guitar I have played, the only way I can do that is by raising the action to 2.25mm witch is insane.
I have 10 - 52 strings (skinny top, heavy bottom from Ernie Ball) in drop D. I tried a lower tunning, but nothing changes. When I bend the string, at some point it does not make any sound at all.
Anyone knows what the problem is, or should I just return this thing?
Hi :) Just return it and get another one. My ST-20 came in flawless condition and is really fun to play. The issues on your guitar seem to be a manufacturing problem. There are better ones out there :)
Cheers!
ummm i thought that 2mm is quite a normal action tho...
@@lithiumirl2238Not, there is an technical standard norm for guitar’s action. For electric guitar, there is 1,5-2,5 mm range on 12th fret on low E, and 1-1,5 on high E! Everything out of this range is wrong! Lower action is bad, because you will struggle with fret buzz and shortened sustain. Higher action will cause bad playability, orthopedic problems with left hand, and also bad intonation, especially when you play chords with opened strings, and/or on higher frets. This range is written also on each ruler for action adjustment, so don’t underestimate it.
Asking cause I don't know. My Ibanez is around 15 years old and has two single coil and a humbucker at the bridge.
Playing through a Boss Katana 2X12.
It is very much quieter. Possibly active pickup vs non active?
Hi Charlie! Since all my active guitars have the HBZs in it, I can not really tell, sorry 😅
I'm building a guitar at the moment which is gonne be equipped with EMGs. When the guitar is finished, I can make a comparison :)
have you tried to play with out the computer on, or usb unplugged?
Yeah sure, this is as good as it gets.
That's very odd. It seems the frequency of the noise has changed too. What happens if you are on a very clean channel? Might be the amount of gain or perhaps the pickups are garbage.
I just plugged into a Fender Frontman, which is pretty clean: The noise is barely noticeable, but still there. I guess, at this point it really comes down to the pickups :/
Two quick asks- is internal shielding correctly connected to ground? And do you have conductivity on the all shielded area? Because, some copper tapes have non-conductive adhesive layer.
@@michalkysel4351 Yes, it's grounded on the volume pot 👍🏼
That copper tape is (thankfully) conductive through the adhesive.
Did you test it with multimeter, if you have continuity of shielding on whole cavity surface? Also, some other hint - check the connector. On my guitar, I had wrong soldered wires on the output jack - sleeve was connected on the negatíve battery pole, and ring to signal ground. It’s wrong, sleeve have to be connected always on the signal ground, and battery negatíve wire is connected to ring! Another thing ... my guitar suffered by this type of noise, if switch cavity was not shielded. After I properly shielded the switch, most of this high-pitched buzz has gone. So, check carefully shielding of the switch cavity area. Please let me know, if these hints helped you.
I got much more problems with noises after i put foil into it, do you know why?😂 I took the foil out again
Did you ground the foil? If not, it acts as an additional antenna ...
@@Andreas_StraubTrue! Copper foil need to be grounded, otherwise the Farraday's cage effect is not working! And additional metal will act like resonator, increasing EMI interference.
Change pickups .. pickups passive in P.A.F. style and the guitar retun ok !!! 🤟🎸🤠🎸🤟
If its powder coated it has metal in it!!!
But it still does something to the conductivity. The A/B-comparison between stock bridge and sanded down bridge is a massive difference.
YES the paint has metal in it so if you remove it you remove its conductivity....to pick up eptoptic sound waves
hey man check into GRAPHTECH they make killer saddles and nuts especially the nuts... if you want a pro guitar the graphtech nut is better than bone....
Also, dann habe ich wohl mit meiner ST 20HH Active absolut Glück gehabt, denn hier noist gar nichts und das in Stock und ohne Mod! Nichtsdestotrotz sind die Maßnahmen, die du an der Gitarre im Video durchgeführt hast, leider nicht ausreichend, um ernsthaft eine Kauf dieser Gitarre zu erwägen. Dennoch danke für das Video und so kann wenigstens CO2 für das Versenden und Retournieren eingespart werden. Danke an Thomann dafür, dass ich offenbar eine der wenigen perfekten Gitarren erhalten habe. 🤟
Yeah man that’s not quiet maybe it’s better but that’s some serious noise you’ve got there i wouldn’t be able to do it am I crazy 😂
I played it with an Orange OR15 last wednesday. Is much better with it. I probably had a too extreme gain-setting in this test 😅
This is still far from being quiet! Have you even found out, what is causing the high noise level in your room? Use the guitar as a detector to find the source (electronic dimmer, switching power supply .... or externally street cars?). It is always better to cure the source of the problem instead of reducing the effects ...
One more hint: please also cover the pick guard with the copper foil and make sure that you use a copper foil with a CONDUCTIVE sticky side. If you have used a non conductive glue type of foil for the inner shielding use some small solder joints to make sure that the whole shield is connected to ground (measure the resitance!).Then ground the pick guard foil and the inner foil layer - otherwise they are not really effective.
i think i found waldo
😂😂👍🏼
Still the same 😆 🤣 😂
Sorry .. this electronic system Is a very disastre .. change every .. two pickups Alnico 5 in P.A.F. style change this Guitar in a very Rock Guitar. Bye my Guitar Friends. 🤟🎸🤟