The Clueless German got herself a GR-1SF kit

[fender3x]

I agree that it is GOTM material. Beautiful and unique.

A slight hum could be the pickups or wiring picking up RF. On a solid body you could shield. Not sure what you can do on a hollow body.

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[Simon Barden]

You may reduce it slightly if you completely re-did the wiring harness, but then again, you may not.

The noise reduces (it will still be there but a lot quieter) when you touch the strings as you are connecting your body directly to ground. This stops it acting like an aerial and channelling noise toward the pickups, and also helps your body act like a ground plane that shields the guitar from a lot of noise.

There's only so much you can do to reduce the noise on a hollow body as you can't shield the inside of the body, so you are mainly reliant on the efficiency of the humbuckers to reject noise. If the humbuckers have been built with a mismatched number of coil windings (to make them sound more 'open'), then they won't reject as much noise as humbuckers with the same number of windings on both coils.

IIRC, you've used mainly shielded cable for the long cable runs, so there's really not a lot more you can do.

And even shieled solid-bodied guitars with humbuckers can still hum a bit if there's a lot of electrical noise about. But the grounded strings are doing their job and the noise is being reduced significantly. You just need to learn to keep your hands on the strings as much as possible.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Thanks Simon and fender3x!

I can live with the little hum, I was just not sure if it is "okay" or if I have a problem with a lose cable or something. Yes, I used shielded cable and the hum is really not loud at all, but as I have never owned a hollow body guitar before, I have no comparison how they need to be :-)

[Tadhg]

I think these are Gretsch Broad'tron's. They came off a Streamliner if I remember correctly. I ebay'd them for 20 bucks or so. Full humbucker size, yes. The Broad'tron's got much flack in various reviews, but I like them. They don't sound great with much distortion, but imho, they are made to sound great clean or with medium gain. I think they sound good on my 15w tube amp but I need to "explore" the sound a bit more to find the sweet spot for me and the guitar. We're currently just getting to know each other :-)


However, on a side note, I noticed a very faint hum when plugged in that goes away when I touch anything on the guitar. My logical thinking is immediately screaming "grounding issue!", but I'm pretty sure all the ground cables are properly soldered and installed. I also didn't forget to ground the bridge :-)
Is there any way to find out WHERE the grounding issue comes from (if it is even one!) without pulling out all the electronics again?
It's also very faint, I had a ripped ground cable once in another guitar and it was VERY loud.
Also, it goes away if I touch ANYTHING metal on the guitar, like the shaft top of a pot or even the pickguard (brass). So I'm not sure if this is maybe normal for a hollow body?
It's by no means loud enough to bother me, but I really want to know if it's something I need to fix or not.

First off, great build. Definitely should be in GOTM! The personal touches are top class - well done!

You're right, BroadTrons have poor reviews. But that's primarily from people with lots of experience with Gretsch Prolines with high spec FilterTrons, who expect a BroadTron to sound like a FilterTron. Which is unrealistic. They're a totally different construction (they're a traditional PAF construction, whereas FilterTrons have smaller coils and bigger magnets), and whilst they're tuned in the same general direction, they're just not the same. And, honestly, I'm not sure that Gretsch (and particularly their partner Fender MIC) aren't trying to steal a few Epiphone buyers who aren't after that Gretsch sound.

I have a friend with a Streamliner with BroadTrons. He installed (on his tone pot) a bass roll off. He feels they get 'muddy' without rolling off some of the bass.

Meanwhile, there's also a lot of people who've removed half the screws from the pickups (usually half from each coil, and often replacing them with black plastic screws for aesthetic purposes). They find that also takes away some of the muddiness.







Your hum, the grounding issue? That's the system working perfectly. The human body is a big RF Antenna, and so that gets picked up by the guitar. When we touch the strings (or some other metal grounded part of the guitar), we ground ourselves, and that removes the hum. Exactly as you've described.

Options for living with that (natural) hum are:
- Keep hands on the strings
- Use the master volume pot when not playing
- Use a volume pedal when not playing

It's worth noting that Tim Pierce uses a volume pedal to mute between phrases in a solo. That's pretty intensive use of a volume pedal! From a guy who only uses absolutely top end gear.

[kuanjb]

Much too much praise! But thank you all :-)

Oh, not sure it's good enough for GOTM contest... next build maybe :-)

I really think it is good enough. And... you have nothing to lose right? Let other people be the judge. The extra modifications and attentions to detail really put this above your average kit build. You have at least three people here rooting for you. Go for it!



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[Bakersdozen]

You do know that the strings are supposed to go under the round bar at the front of the Bigsby? It's there to give you a decent break angle for the strings over the saddle.

Attachment 37177

There some schools of thought that praise the bigsby performs better if you keep the strings over the front bar, that being said as long as the break angle ends up lower than the bridge. Their thoughts are that reducing the break angle (at the bridge) helps tuning stability and returning to pitch easier. I'm waiting on mine to arrive and will be trying both approaches.

[PJSprog]

Definitely contest worthy. Great build, TCG.