DIEFOX1 GR-1SF first time build

[DIEFOX1]

Here goes nothing...

[Trevor Davies]

Hi and welcome Diefox1.

It should be a great kit. Have you got the kit yet? How do you intend to finish your kit?

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome.

Have you looked at other GR-1SF builds for ideas and possible issues with the kit?

[JohnH]

Welcome! Look forward to watching your build

[DIEFOX1]

Ok. First stumbling block. Finish coming along pretty nice. Basic water based dye black and then back sanded to pop
Grain. Followed with red dye and the first few (of many) Tru Oil coats. I’ll have pics later.

But wired up the pickups today (replaced the kit pickups with Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. They are working but pretty loud buzz. Seems to be loudest on bridge pickup but still there on the neck as well. Gets better when I touch the switch and the pots from behind if that helps someone think of a suggestion. Here is a pic of the harness. Excuse the soldering, first time doing it.

(Well. I will try to put up a picture. Forum keeps saying fail to upload my png file?

Any good threads to read on buzzing?

FYI. The Pearly Gates have five wires in their braid. The red and white are taped off and do not go anywhere in my kit
Setup (per the instructions). The Green and bare wires are put together and soldered to the back of their respective pots with the black (hot) wire to one of the respective pot leads.

[McCreed]

Likely a ground problem. If you're still in the finishing process, I'm guessing your harness isn't grounded to anything like the bridge post.

Even humbuckers will buzz if you connect them outside of the guitar without a proper ground.

As for pics, the image size can't be greater than 1500 x 1500 pixels (1500 on any side) and less than 1mb. Try converting to jpeg and see if it makes a difference. I know png is listed as a file type, but I think they can be touchy for some reason.

[Simon Barden]

Double check that the output jack connections are correct. It’s easy to get the ground and hot connections swapped over and if you do that, the pickups still work but any shielding is now carrying the hot signal and acts like an aerial and picks up hum.

Also that for the volume pots that the tab the other end to the input connection is connected to ground. Some of the kit diagrams show it bent back to touch the casing but not actually soldered (which it should be).

Have you got a multimeter? If you have, then check the continuity of the ground connections for low resistance. The ground resistance path should be as close to zero as possible, and only just over the ohms value you get when holding the two probe ends together. If you haven’t, then you really need one. Even cheap ones work well.

[DIEFOX1]

Thanks! Yes wire loom still on cardboard but I did hold the end of the bridge wire ground (that should be a ground right? And also touched it to a mike stand). Still humming. Love any other suggestions, I followed Simon’s advice below as well to try that. Please look at how I answered that if it gives you any ideas. Aargh. I really appreciate you following.

[DIEFOX1]

Simon. Tabs are not long enough to Bend back to pot but I jumped them
With small wire run and grounded them to back of pot. Still got the hum. Aargh. My multimeter (set at 200ohm reading) reads about 1.0 or 2.0 when I touch the probes. Ground solder point to ground solder point across the wiring reads from 1.0 to 4.0. Seems within reasonable range?? The hum shuts off when the master tone is pushed to either end of its range? Is that a hint to where to go next?? Thanks for any suggestion!!

[Simon Barden]

The highest resistance readings could ideally be slightly lower, but thats’s unlikely to be the cause of the hum.

Can you take some close-up photos of the various pots so we can see the wiring on them?

Tone pot operation with the hum seems to indicate something not quite right.

With long wiring runs as you have in that guitar, the single wires can pick up noise if its around, so it could pay to rewire in screened cable. As for noise, have you got dimmer switches or fluorescent lights in the vicinity?

And what are you plugging into? The ground for the system comes via the guitar lead from the amp, so it’s important the amp is properly grounded. The bridge ground lead grounds the bridge. The bridge isn’t a ground without the ground connection.