Dont have a mobile phone in your pocket when testing your guitar wiring

[wokkaboy]

Hi all,
it might be obvious to some/most people but I wasted an hour lastnight trying to figure out why my strat had a really bad hum on the neck, middle and bridge settings but the 2 settings in between had no hum at all (neck/middle and middle/bridge).
I unscrewed the scratchplate and checked the wiring many times and still couldn't work out the problem.
I thought I may have to live with this hum for the moment as it was getting late.

I plugged it in this morning and there was no or little hum on all the pickup settings. Straight away a light bulb appeared and I realised I had my mobile phone in my pocket the whole time the night before.

Just a note in case anyone else does the same thing, may save you some time trying to solve the problem !

[Gavin1393]

Good point! Thanks Wokka!

[wokkaboy]

Quote from Gavin1393 on May 29, 2013, 15:45
Good point! Thanks Wokka!

no worries Gav always happy to help others that may experience the same problem and not now the cause. It was wierd when I moved back from the amp the hum differed and got louder at times. It almost did my head in but decided to rest on it and try it in the morning - without a phone in my pocket !

[Gavin1393]

Sometimes you have to just step away from your wiring problems. Regrettably I have to confess I have on two occasions (IB and 335) only stepped away after having frustratedly ripped the wires off the pots!!

[keloooe]

Also something to say is, when you have your Ipod in your player like I do when I play guitar, make sure you aren't touching the strings as you touch the top!!! It seriously hurts, and you can tell it's a lot of power because your ,muscles contract when you have lots of power flowing through you!!!

[Fretworn]

Quote from keloooe on May 30, 2013, 06:05
Also something to say is, when you have your Ipod in your player like I do when I play guitar, make sure you aren't touching the strings as you touch the top!!! It seriously hurts, and you can tell it's a lot of power because your ,muscles contract when you have lots of power flowing through you!!!

This should not be able to happen. You have some a bad ground somewhere, or some other dodgy wiring. This is very dangerous.

[keloooe]

no, because Apple ground their Ipods to the strip of metal on the sides, and the ground to the strings + that ground make the curcuit live in a way, it hurts a little, about 3 volts :P

[wokkaboy]

yer 3 volts is nothing, I've been unlucky enough to feel the brunt of 240Volts twice and its not fun. I will never be an electrician ! haha

[keloooe]

Yea, same here Wok, it's one of the worst things that can happen to you without dying, but 3-5 volts is still really damn painful!!!!

BTW, it's not volts that kill you, it's the amps that kill you, i think it's 6 milliamps (don't know the shorter way to write it!) that will kill you if it passes through your heart, if it misses your heart, then you will live!

[wokkaboy]

yer I did learn that its the amps that kill you not the voltage.
If you have ever used an old lawnmower or edger some of the drum roller mowers used to have a piece of metal you pushed onto the spark plug to kill the engine, got a few zaps from them too !
hope you are ready for the run on Sunday Pest !
We got Melbourne weather today midday and its been 10/11 degrees all day