Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

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Kirk Dickinson
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Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:04 am

Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Kirk Dickinson »

I have an Eastwood Sidejack Baritone. I have owned this guitar about 10 years - bought it used. Not sure what the year of manufacture is.

I have not played this guitar for a long time, it has been in storage, but worked last I remember.

Recently I got the sidejack out of storage and it had a tremendous buzz. Took it to a friend who re-soldered the input jack checked the ground wire and gave it a looking over.

The weird thing about this buzz is that it gets worse when you touch the strings or the bridge and less when you take your hands off. The opposite of a normal grounding issue.

My friend gave up and could not figure out what was wrong but said the pots look corroded. We also noticed that the selector switch looks like it was soldered very badly. Neither of us could believe that was a factory job. Wondering if somebody re-wired this at some point and did a hack job of it.

We were thinking about ordering all new electrical parts... new pots, capacitor, switch, and jack from stewmac and starting with known components and a complete rewire. This baritone has P90 pickups, two of them.

Trying to figure what parts I need? There are no numbers on these pots that we could see.

I have some copper tape, I could also shield the internals. Not thinking that will help the current issue though because it makes noise no matter where it is plugged in and even with all the lights turned off.

Thanks,
Kirk
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Peter Wilcox
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Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Peter Wilcox »

Have you tried a different cable and amp?

Google "guitar buzzes when touching metal" - millions of suggestions.
Last edited by Peter Wilcox on Tue Aug 27, 2019 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Maybe I can't fix it, but I can fix it so no one can fix it
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Bob Gramann
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Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Bob Gramann »

Why not start by resoldering all of the bad joints? A cold joint could cause your problems. Also, squirt some cleaner in the pots and the switch and work them. After that, you can look at replacing parts. You can get the values of the pots by removing the wires and checking the resistance across the two outer terminals with a VOM. And, is the bridge actually grounded? Even if the grounding wire touches it, the connection could be oxidized.
Kirk Dickinson
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Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:04 am

Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Kirk Dickinson »

Peter Wilcox wrote:Have you tried a different cable and amp?

Google "guitar buzzes when touching metal" - millions of suggestions.
Yes, different cables and amps. Cables and amps work with other guitars without buzz. Most of the google searches that I did suggested grounding issues which I think we have ruled out. I hadn't searched specifically like you recommended though. I will. Thanks.
Kirk Dickinson
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Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:04 am

Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Kirk Dickinson »

Bob Gramann wrote:Why not start by resoldering all of the bad joints? A cold joint could cause your problems. Also, squirt some cleaner in the pots and the switch and work them. After that, you can look at replacing parts. You can get the values of the pots by removing the wires and checking the resistance across the two outer terminals with a VOM. And, is the bridge actually grounded? Even if the grounding wire touches it, the connection could be oxidized.
We resoldered several of the joints, but not all of them. Did not use cleaner on the pots or switches, but there is some corrosion on them. I was able to contact Eastwood and just got the wiring diagram and the pots are 500K.

The bridge tests positive for continuity to the pots after resoldering the wire to the pot. My tester is pretty simple, only beep if there is continuity. My friends tester has a gauge and it buried the gauge. He said it had a good connection.

Thanks,
Kirk
David King
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Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by David King »

When a buzz gets louder when touching the strings or other supposedly grounded parts that's a very clear indication that the hot and ground connections have been switched. This could have happened in an home concocted cable but is much more likely to be at the jack in the guitar.

To test for this fault in a cable, plug the cable into the amp and touch the tip at the guitar end: the buzz should get louder. If it gets louder when you touch the plug's barrel sleeve then the wires are crossed at one end or the other of that cable.

Once you have a correctly wired cable in hand plug it into the guitar and check for continuity between the strings and the far end of the cable. The strings should only connect to the sleeve, never the tip.
Kirk Dickinson
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Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:04 am

Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Kirk Dickinson »

OK, thanks. That is a check that I can easily do. Will report back. Probably the guitar because we tried with 3 different working cables and two different amps with similar results. Maybe the wires from the 3-way are reversed there because I the wire at the jack is soldered correctly. The 3-way looks a mess with big globs of solder.
Kirk Dickinson
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Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:04 am

Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Kirk Dickinson »

David King wrote:Once you have a correctly wired cable in hand plug it into the guitar and check for continuity between the strings and the far end of the cable. The strings should only connect to the sleeve, never the tip.
Yep. Bridge tests continuity to tip not sleeve.

Wire is probably connected wrong at the 3-way. I have a diagram now. I will double check it.

Thanks
Kirk Dickinson
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Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:04 am

Re: Buzz sounds like Ground Buzz, but doesn't act like it.

Post by Kirk Dickinson »

I gave up on it and took it to a guy. He said that the 3-way wasn't properly grounded to the tone pot. The tone pot was connected to the output jack and the ground wire from the bridge was bleeding through the cap and the tone pot. The guitar buzz went away when the tone was rolled all the way off which should have been a clue.

He said that the pots were cheap crap and looked like heck with a bunch of bad solders. Replaced both pots and the output jack for good measure. Fixed.
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