Testing grounding without strings

[TheDangerMan]

Hey guys,

So im doing my Tele build at the moment and I cant seem to get any love in the grounding department. I have followed the diagram to the t (this isnt a PBG kit, but im using toneriders so the diagram is accurate) however when I plug the loaded body in (both pickups installed and connected with wiring to the selector and pots) I get the whole 'grounding buzz' when I touch the bridge and control plate.
Now, my question is, do I have to have strings on to truly know if I have grounded the body properly? Or should the guitar be properly grounded without strings?

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[dingobass]

1. check that you have the output jack wired the right way round...
2. check that you have the hot wires from the pups connected to the same lugs on both pots..
3. make sure the pots are all grounded
4. check the earth wire to bridge is actually making proper contact
5. swear at it really loudly, have a few soothing ales, rip out all the wiring and start again :P

[lawry]

Yep. What DB says pretty well sums up all the possibilities. And no, you don't have to have the strings on. They pick up their grounding from the bridge.

[Gavin1393]

Reckon it's the dreaded hot-wire to ground problem......have I mentioned before my gizmo to immediately check this fault....

[TheDangerMan]

Arghh!
Well... This is what im working with.
Yeah, im a solder rookie and yeah it looks horrible, but aside from this... Am I doing something wrong here?
Wrong type of wiring perhaps?

Im about half an hour away from doing a full re-wiring!

[WeirdBits]

Need a better view of the switch wiring, and the reflections on the control plate make it a bit confusing. You can remove the ground wire linking the backs of the two pots as the control plate itself will act as the link (having multiple paths to ground can cause problems), and run the ground wire from the jack to the back of the volume pot (rather than the tone) so everything connects to a single ground point.

Is this the diagram you're using?

[TheDangerMan]

Hey Scott,

Here is my control plate.
I understand the solders are a bit messy so its likely ill take them all out, get some new wire and start it all again.. However, id be interested to know if there is an obvious error im missing here!

Cheers,
Cam

[WeirdBits]

From what I can see the layout looks ok. Just check that you don't have any stray single strands of wire or solder dags shorting between pot lugs or between a lug and the control plate. That sort of thing can cause noise issues. You could even take the components off the control plate and see if you still get the buzzing.

[dingobass]

Weirdy has probably nailed it with the earth wires between the pots.
You dont need them! and these could very well be the source of the annoying buzz as they can set up an electrical feed back type thingymabobdoovalaccky (highly technical term for buzz and hum).

[TheDangerMan]

Hmmm
Ive de-soldered (if thats a word) the tone to volume pot but still the buzzing persists!

Tricky little devil!
If all else fails, I may just go down to Altronics and grab me some more insulated wiring and start again!
It only took me about 2 hours to do last time so I guess itll be nice and quick this time round :P