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View Full Version : Help Please.....Buzzing Gremlins in J Bass Wiring



wazkelly
21-05-2016, 03:45 PM
Thought I had this one done OK but as I was holding some part of the guitar with metallic bits, strings on the neck, it seemed all good. It was only after noticing a lot of noise on the Tele that I went back and had a further look at this build, and yep, there is a slight buzzing with this baby too.

These are the wiring diagrams that I used...
1139911400

wazkelly
21-05-2016, 03:47 PM
Here are the shots of underside of control plate...
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WeirdBits
21-05-2016, 05:01 PM
Does the buzzing get worse when you roll back one volume to zero with the other on full, or is it bad all the time?

wazkelly
22-05-2016, 08:16 AM
Does the buzzing get worse when you roll back one volume to zero with the other on full, or is it bad all the time?
Hi Scott, lightly buzzing with all knobs on 10, almost none when tone on 0, back off one of the volumes to about 7 or 8 and buzzing increased a bit but even more so when second volume was also backed off to around same position. Noisiest when both PUPs had been backed off together.

Thanks, Waz.

WeirdBits
22-05-2016, 03:03 PM
The independent volumes of the Jazz layout can make it a little noisier than LP style linked volumes, as the pickups are being sent to ground as you turn them down and the 'out' is left hanging, so to speak. At full volume on both the pickups dominate and tend to hum cancel, turn down one and the hum cancelling is reduced, turn down both and the any noise on the 'out' can become more apparent. It seems like this is what's happening in your case.

With metal control plates you don't really need to link the backs of the pots together, as long as the jack ground links to a pot then the plate does the rest. As such, your red link with isn't really needed but it's unlikely to be producing the noise issue.

If all your parts and solder points are ok (solid connections, no cooked pots etc) then it may be either shielding, something in the environment (mobile phone in your pocket) or something that isn't evident in the images. Out of interest, have you plugged in any other guitars, other than the 4-way Tele, to test with the same setup? If so, any more noise than usual?

In cases where I can't work out the hell what is going wrong, particularly with unexplained noise, I go back to basics. One pickup connected direct to the jack, then two pickups direct, then add the volumes one at a time, then the tone. Sometimes it's the only way to find the source of the noise.

wazkelly
22-05-2016, 03:26 PM
Thanks Scott, makes sense to strip it down and then add one bit at a time to isolate the problem. Just tried the EX-5 through same amp setup and it worked fine so that rules that out as being part of the problem.

WeirdBits
22-05-2016, 03:37 PM
That's a good start, now you know it's definitely not an external issue.

wazkelly
22-05-2016, 03:45 PM
Handy having several axes and a couple of amps to try things out with.