Humbucker pickup buzz

Ed Brooks · From: Seattle Washington, USA

Hey Guys,

My Fessenden Sd10 has developed a buzz (not the fun kind). Not a hum, sounds like that 180hz buzz. It does it with either a Lawrence 705 or a 710. No volume pedal straight into amp, have swapped amps, cords and even installed a new output jack. Pickups are installed with the 4 screws with springs.

Seems like a shielding, ground plain type issue but I am at a loss. Any ideas I would really appreciate.

Thanks,

Ed
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Steve Collins · From: Alaska, USA

Is there something else in going on electrically in your house? I only ask because i just spent four maddening days trying to track down a buzz in my gear, tried everything, then discovered it was some new LED track light bulbs the wife installed in the kitchen was causing hum in my gear in the studio.

Stephen Cowell · From: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Dimmers are not your friend... proper stage lighting is done with dimmer packs, not Home Depot wall-switch dimmers... which are extremely noisy. If you are stuck with this kind of dimmer you can minimize the effect by turning them all the way up... or all the way down.

The HD dimmer works by chopping the AC waveform into pieces... amazing amount of harmonic noise generated by doing this.

Also, make sure you haven't swapped hot and ground on your guitar.
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Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

You could experiment by taking a wire and putting it on any exposed metal , like a pole piece, and touching the wire to the bridge of the steel. If that stops the buzz you might have some sort of grounding issue. Strum the guitar to make sure you just didn't short the whole thing out.
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Bob

Ed Brooks · From: Seattle Washington, USA

Thanks for the tips. I don't believe it is electrical in the house. I did try reversing my pickup wires and tried grounding a slug on the pickup to the bridge, all with no change.

At my home practice volume it doesn't bug me, but at rehearsal with my new band it is bugs me. I am wondering if I am noticing now because my new band in general is quieter than the band I used to play in.

Are you steels with hmbuckers quiet with volume pedal wide open at gig level?

Thanks,

Ed
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Shawn Brown · From: Ontario, Canada

Ed, I also have a Fessenden SD10 with BL710 pickup that I play through a Fender Vibrosonic tube amp and its dead quiet; no hum at all. Possibly a ground issue?

Andy Sandoval · From: Bakersfield, California, USA

Have you tried a ground lift adapter?

Eric Dahlhoff · From: Point Arena, California

Have you tried plugging something else into the amp, in order to be sure it's the steel pickup & not the amp (or cable)?

Billy Carr · From: Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)

Guitar wiring problem. Ran into it a few times. Be sure to cut off power before switching or checking wires. It'll short out a pu quick. I just usually use red or white wire and then the black with the ground twisted around or connected to it then soldered to the jack. I also use humbuckers.

Ed Brooks · From: Seattle Washington, USA

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the suggestions. It happens with any amp including a battery powered one, with any wire. My gibson 339 is quiet when plugged directly into my amp.

The wiring of the 710 is very straight foward, I have the white attached to the hot pin and the black attached to the grd pin on the jack. The 705 is an original issue and has a coaxial cable so center wire to the hot and shield to the grd.

I was thinking today I would go through the guitar and tighten screws and clean under the jack in case there is any oxidation.

Thanks,

Ed
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Dan Burnham · From: Greenfield, Tennessee

Ed,
I'm having the same problem with a single coil. I have tried all of the suggestions, it looks like I'm going to have to do a replacement. When I check my readings on the pickup everything reads according to the specs. I have found something that helps with the problem,or should I say reduces a lot of the hum:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTDTI

This unit has helped tremendously until I get my new pickup. This is a passive unit, that I put between the guitar and the volume pedal.

Dan
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www.danburnham.com

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