Old 06-14-2019, 04:59 AM   #1
Stroudy
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Default Guitar buzz/hum 🎧

I need help identifying the problem with my guitar recordings.

I'm plugged into my soundcard (if I go via my pre-amp same thing) and this noise is there. It kinda sounds like interference.

I tried switching off the monitors and visual monitor. I've switched off as much as I can. I still get this sound. The only thing that seems to have an affect on the sound is the position of the guitar in the room - there seems to be some quiet spots.

Will a DI box with a ground lift help? I don't wanna buy one if it's not going to work.

Any thoughts welcome, but no post-production techniques - I've noise reduction tools coming outta my ears.

Cheers
Stroudy
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Old 06-14-2019, 08:03 AM   #2
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I haven’t listened to it. Does it change when you touch the strings? Does it go away if you turn the guitar’s volume knob all the way down? Single coil or humbucker? Is this a new thing or is it just the first time you’ve tried it?

A DI probably won’t help. In fact, a passive DI will likely make things worse.
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Old 06-14-2019, 10:57 AM   #3
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what ashcat_lt said.

An earth lift is only any use in the case of noise due to an earth loop - for which you need at least two paths to earth. Say if your guitar connected to your guitar amp *and* your interface/computer. DI boxes have earth lifts *because* they enable you to do this, and you may then need it.

You got any dimmer switches on your lights?
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Old 06-14-2019, 11:03 AM   #4
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… or flashy neon tubes? …

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Old 06-17-2019, 01:09 AM   #5
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I haven’t listened to it. Does it change when you touch the strings? Does it go away if you turn the guitar’s volume knob all the way down? Single coil or humbucker? Is this a new thing or is it just the first time you’ve tried it?

A DI probably won’t help. In fact, a passive DI will likely make things worse.
I've got what sounds like the same problem (haven't checked the audio).
The noise changes when moving the guitar around.

Single coil pickups (Danelectro). Plugging direct into my sound card.

When I touch my finger to the pickup the noise disappears (but it's obviously hard to play that way), so it definitely seems like a ground issue.

If there's a simple solution I'd appreciate to know it as well.
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Old 06-17-2019, 03:00 AM   #6
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When I touch my finger to the pickup the noise disappears (but it's obviously hard to play that way), so it definitely seems like a ground issue.

If there's a simple solution I'd appreciate to know it as well.
Solder a cable from inside anywhere where ground(will have the same effect as when touching pickup) - over to bridge of guitar.

Then you are grounded while playing and moise is likely going away.

There are other way, a wristband(that is electricly leading) that ground you to the cable shield etc. Sometimes even touching some metal panel on any equipment may do the job.

But I would fix it in guitar if possible.
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Old 06-18-2019, 02:34 AM   #7
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I haven’t listened to it. Does it change when you touch the strings? Does it go away if you turn the guitar’s volume knob all the way down? Single coil or humbucker? Is this a new thing or is it just the first time you’ve tried it?

A DI probably won’t help. In fact, a passive DI will likely make things worse.
Noise volume goes with the guitar volume knob down. Single coil and humbucker - both have problems.

It's certainly not new - I've just got around it in post, but that not ideal.

I think it's safe to say it's electromagnetic interference, I'm just not sure how to eradicate it. I turned everything except the soundcard off. Even the computer (the soundcard can route audio without the computer connected). There's a small server room next to the studio, but it's not any bigger than the studio hard drive array and that made ZERO difference when powered down.

Short of a faraday cage... I don't know..
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Old 06-18-2019, 07:59 AM   #8
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Well a sort of faraday cage - in the form of proper shielding in the pickup and control cavities - is about all you can do. You didn’t answer the question about whether it changes when you touch the strings, but otherwise I think it’s just a guitar being a guitar. Shield the thing, make sure the bridge ground is actually connected to the circuit, then learn to live with it like the rest of us.
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Old 06-18-2019, 12:44 PM   #9
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Yeah, I'll look into the shielding.

It doesn't change if I'm touching the strings or any other part of the guitar, unfortunately.

cheers
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Old 06-18-2019, 04:56 PM   #10
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It should get somewhat quieter when you touch the strings, bridge, metal parts of pots and switches, and especially the jack plate. If those things aren’t grounded, it might explain part of it, but I’d be kind of surprised. Do you have a multimeter?
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Old 06-19-2019, 12:03 AM   #11
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There is a strong 50 hz hum in that audio file, along with a buzz. And since you said that you unplugged pretty much everything, and it only changes when you move in the room, I would agree that it is electrical interference from wiring or something else in the room. One thing that you could try is taking your interface and guitar into another room to see if the noise persists. Try it in multiple places in the house. Also, you can place your guitar closer to an electrical outlet (or wherever you think the noise is coming from) to see if the noise gets louder. That will at least give you something a better idea of where it is coming from. And if it is coming from the electrical wiring in the room, you could check that the connections are good and snug at the breaker box and at the outlets on the circuit if you feel safe to do that yourself, or have someone do it for you. If the connections are good, it may be an appliance in the house creating noise on the line. It took me forever to figure out and verify that a refrigerator compressor kicking on creates an intermittent buzz in my audio chain, but I did figure it out and probably would have figured it out sooner had it happened more often.
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Old 06-19-2019, 04:37 PM   #12
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About 10 years ago I had a noise something like that caused by a lightswitch dimmer in the room. I replaced the dimmer with an ordinary on/off switch...no noise.
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Old 06-20-2019, 07:40 AM   #13
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you need to start eliminating things.
Tried a different cable?
tried a different guitar?
tried a different power point?
tried a different room?
tried a different HOUSE?
then get back to us
seriously, basic troubleshooting.
could be one of those things, or not. But how would we know?
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Old 06-21-2019, 02:53 AM   #14
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you need to start eliminating things.
Tried a different cable?
tried a different guitar?
tried a different power point?
tried a different room?
tried a different HOUSE?
then get back to us
seriously, basic troubleshooting.
could be one of those things, or not. But how would we know?
Points well taken. Unfortunately, a different house isn't easy. I work from a studio, it has fire alarms, detectors, motion sensors, emergency lighting, servers, Wifi and commercial properties next to me and underneath me.

What IS interesting is there's one setting on my Jazzmaster that is perfectly noise free. The three way switch under the neck pickup in the middle position like this



Not sure if that sheds any light onto the issue. I mean it's interference - just got to eliminate it or find a way to neutralize it.

Quote:
It should get somewhat quieter when you touch the strings, bridge, metal parts of pots and switches, and especially the jack plate. If those things aren’t grounded, it might explain part of it, but I’d be kind of surprised. Do you have a multimeter?
I could probably get a multimeter - how would I use it to troubleshoot?

Thanks to all on this issue.
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Old 06-21-2019, 04:24 AM   #15
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if you are not even going to try eliminating anything, but expect us to solve your problem, you will not get anywhere.
tried a different power point in another room off a different circuit at least?
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Old 06-21-2019, 09:04 AM   #16
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What IS interesting is there's one setting on my Jazzmaster that is perfectly noise free. The three way switch under the neck pickup in the middle position like this
Well that tells us that the middle position is humcancelling because one pickup is RWRP from the other. That’s not really news, but it does indicate that the wiring is probably ok overall.
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I could probably get a multimeter - how would I use it to troubleshoot?
You’d check continuity between the bridge and the jack sleeve to make sure that wire is properly connected. I still haven’t actually heard your noise, but it’s sounding more and more like your guitar is just fine on it’s own. Might could use some shielding, but Jaguars usually are pretty well shielded from the factory. A multimeter would help in that process too, checking continuity between various parts of the shield to make sure it all connects properly.

But yeah, guitars always have some noise, and the best we can ever really hope for is that the noise will be enough quieter than the signal that we don’t notice it while playing and hopefully it won’t be super annoying when we’re not.
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Old 06-28-2019, 06:10 AM   #17
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I've had noise problems before ... and if it's not due to a run of the mill easily traceable cause it can be maddening to trace down.

I washed your file through a Blue Cat analyzer and you have peaks at 50, 150-ish and 450-ish ... all multiples of 50. Audibly it sounds to me like plain old hum or an open circuit.

Hum, buzz, noise, hash, graphs on analyzers ... all this stuff will drive you nuts. I suggest you ignore it by and large.

The best thing you can do is conduct a methodical process of elimination ... one thing at a time ... keep records and see where it leads.

Eliminate your guitar as the cause first.

These kind of problems also exist in systems that use USB. It drives the audiophile crowd crazy.

Once you get down to ideas such as a faraday cages for your computer, replacing hard drives thinking they're noisy, replacing mother boards thinking the on board power supply section is noisy etc. ... now you're into esoteric's and shooting in the dark and nobody can tell you what the problem is or what to do about it.

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Old 06-28-2019, 10:55 AM   #18
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Don't show us a picture of your guitar. We all know what guitars look like. Show us pictures of your lightswitches in case you don't know what a dimmer switch looks like.
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Old 08-07-2019, 04:10 PM   #19
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Hi all. I've been having a similar problem for a long time now it's driven me to the point of insanity and back ...and then to insanity again.

The buzz is intermittent, and happens about 80% of the time with no particular pattern as to when. It dies down if I touch metal parts of the guitar, particularly the metal part of the jack lead going into the input socket. The volume and tone controls make a crackling sound when I adjust them, which can be heard towards the end of the (hopefully) attached audio clip.

I've tried eliminating every link in the chain, including trying different power points and rooms. There are no dimmer switches anywhere in my flat. I have not managed to try a different house, but that's tricky. Ive tried going through an interface with a ground lift, but that made no difference. I've tried putting batteries in a portable amp and turned the electricity off, but it still persists.

The problem still occurs with several different instruments, and some of my guitar students have the same issue when they come round. My main guitar is a Yamaha Pacifica 611, it is not shielded but the wiring looks well connected.

I tried to find a local electrician to come round and have a look, but no one really seemed interested. Any insights that anyone could give would be most welcome.

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Old 08-08-2019, 11:05 AM   #20
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GB99, sounds like you got some 50 hz hum/buzz being picked up by your pickups from the mains power with a high level of buzz (sounds typical to me). You can actually measure this is Reaper: frequency = 1/time_in_seconds. If you want further details, just ask.

The level of the noise should change as you move the guitar around your room and rotate the angle of the guitar in the room. And as you noticed, the level of the noise drops alot when you touch a grounded point of the guitar. Probably the only info worth reading that I have seen on this topic is an article at Prosoundweb that talks about various types of guitar noise: https://www.prosoundweb.com/topics/s...ctric_guitars/

Easiest solution to buzz being picked up from the mains: Make or buy some ground straps that contact the player's skin and a grounded point on the guitar (all the major metal parts should be grounded on a guitar). You can do a quick test by just using a piece of wire. Figure out some way to wrap one end of the wire around something at a ground point on the guitar (such as a screw of the input jack), and wrap the other end around a body part that isn't going to move much while playing (such as your foot).

Head the warning in that article about using the above solution though. If there is a big enough electrical ground potential difference between your guitar rig and say a p.a. rig (or any separately powered systems), you could get shocked. And I bet alot of people on this forum have ran into that one before, getting buzzed by a microphone while playing a guitar or bass.

Alternatively, you could likely get alot less buzz by using humbuckers or noise cancelling pickups, if that is your thing.
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Old 08-08-2019, 11:22 AM   #21
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And I bet alot of people on this forum have ran into that one before, getting buzzed by a microphone while playing a guitar or bass.
Had to perform Do You Feel Like We Do, the full-length live version with the talkbox, an SM58, with a bad ground sending 30 volts or so through my lip every time it touched the mic, which it touched a farking lot because I had to work the talkbox. It was hot enough I could see it in my eyes for those who knows what that is like.
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Old 08-08-2019, 11:39 AM   #22
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It was hot enough I could see it in my eyes for those who knows what that is like.
Never experienced it to that level myself. I do remember the bass player in a band I was playing with long ago getting a good shock. We rehearsed at his house, which we later found out to have a wiring issue. He kept complaining of getting shocked by his mic, and we thought that it must just be a little buzz, no big deal. "Quit trying to deepthroat the mic", we told him. Ha ha. One day he leans against a metal framed window, and he jumped up in the air, throwing his bass across the room. *Laughs all around*. It turned out that window frame was fully hot because of a previous owner's shoddy work/wiring, which also ended up being the cause of the shocks he was getting from the mic.
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Old 08-08-2019, 12:25 PM   #23
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The volume and tone controls make a crackling sound when I adjust them

that's easy to fix. working pots should not be allowed to be crackling or scratchy etc.
look up how to clean pots to fix the guitar.

while doing that fix, also upgrade your guitar circuit with shielding and ground, look that up too, its straightforward to fix.

show that noise who is the real boss.
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Old 08-08-2019, 12:41 PM   #24
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different power points and rooms. There are no dimmer switches anywhere in my flat.

Large amounts of EMF are given off by switching power supplies which are everywhere now. even small ones like USB chargers. altho your buzz sounds like typical AC hum. some wall warts are worse than others, because adding EMF-blocking to these wall warts adds to cost and size. they also have varying frequency spectrums, depending on design. so, when troubleshooting sources, try everything, even innocuous items like little cell phone chargers, or guitar pedal wall warts, or computer electronics wall warts too. A/C cables also cause EMF. try switching AC cables used in nearby equipment, to a thicker, heavier duty one, if it's a flimsy one, if it is not physically attached to the gear (i.e. if it uses IEC cable that is easy to swap).

"I've tried putting batteries in a portable amp and turned the electricity off, but it still persists."

that is the part that seems most relevant. i'm guessing you didn't mean, turned off electricity to the entire building or house, but only turned off the amp etc.

you could try swapping to a long guitar cable to move all around the room or building to try to sniff out the source of the noise. it might be coming from a power outlet itself. you didnt mention where you live. but old houses, well, who knows what is really going on, in the walls, ancient installations, etc.

I'm kind of chasing this myself right now. when I crank my gain to high levels. hard to isolate since i'm surrounded by electronics.
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Old 08-08-2019, 04:52 PM   #25
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Thanks everyone for such helpful comments.

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Originally Posted by brainwreck View Post
GB99, sounds like you got some 50 hz hum/buzz being picked up by your pickups from the mains power with a high level of buzz (sounds typical to me). You can actually measure this is Reaper: frequency = 1/time_in_seconds. If you want further details, just ask.

The level of the noise should change as you move the guitar around your room and rotate the angle of the guitar in the room. And as you noticed, the level of the noise drops alot when you touch a grounded point of the guitar. Probably the only info worth reading that I have seen on this topic is an article at Prosoundweb that talks about various types of guitar noise: https://www.prosoundweb.com/topics/s...ctric_guitars/
Thanks for replying. That description is exactly right.

Thanks for the link! -I've barely had time to pass wind today, but I promise you I'll read that article in it's entirety with much enthusiasm the first moment I get!

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Easiest solution to buzz being picked up from the mains: Make or buy some ground straps that contact the player's skin and a grounded point on the guitar (all the major metal parts should be grounded on a guitar). You can do a quick test by just using a piece of wire. Figure out some way to wrap one end of the wire around something at a ground point on the guitar (such as a screw of the input jack), and wrap the other end around a body part that isn't going to move much while playing (such as your foot).

Head the warning in that article about using the above solution though. If there is a big enough electrical ground potential difference between your guitar rig and say a p.a. rig (or any separately powered systems), you could get shocked. And I bet alot of people on this forum have ran into that one before, getting buzzed by a microphone while playing a guitar or bass.

Alternatively, you could likely get alot less buzz by using humbuckers or noise cancelling pickups, if that is your thing.
I'm prepared to try just about anything ... except possible electrocution! Really though, I would try this but I have absolutely zero knowledge about electrics, and not sure I would trust myself not to get electrocuted and stumble out a window in shock. That would be a pretty amusing way to go though.

I have a humbucker in the Pacifica, but it makes no difference. I don't have any money to throw at noiseless pick-ups though. Thanks for all the information, I really appreciate it.

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that's easy to fix. working pots should not be allowed to be crackling or scratchy etc.
look up how to clean pots to fix the guitar.

while doing that fix, also upgrade your guitar circuit with shielding and ground, look that up too, its straightforward to fix.

show that noise who is the real boss.
That's the spirit, I'm going to kick that noises balls right off! ...or at least I'd like to.

Yeah the pots shouldn't do that. I’ve sprayed a bunch of switch cleaner in there are a few times, but to no avail.

One of my students also had a pacifica 611 (although it was a soft tail rather than the fixed bridge that I have), and it suffered from all the same problems when I borrowed it to check. So do other instruments I've tried.

So I guess I'm not convinced that my individual instrument is the problem here, although mad coincidences do happen, so it could be. My bass is shielded, but still picks up the same buzz.

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that is the part that seems most relevant. i'm guessing you didn't mean, turned off electricity to the entire building or house, but only turned off the amp etc.
I mean I turned off all the power points in my flat, although I didn't try turning it off at the mains.

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you could try swapping to a long guitar cable to move all around the room or building to try to sniff out the source of the noise. it might be coming from a power outlet itself. you didnt mention where you live. but old houses, well, who knows what is really going on, in the walls, ancient installations, etc.
I live in a first floor flat. The electricity cupboard for our side of the building is right below the corner of my lounge. If I put my guitar right above it I can pick up a really loud hum ...however, I've set everything up in my bedroom, which is at least 30 ft away from it, and I still get the same problems.

I guess it's possible that my downstairs neighbour has dimmable lights, and it could pick up noise from that, but the problem also occurs during the day when no lights are on.

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Originally Posted by superblonde.org View Post
I'm kind of chasing this myself right now. when I crank my gain to high levels. hard to isolate since i'm surrounded by electronics.
It's a real mother! ...as I'm finding out myself. Thanks for your help.
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Old 08-08-2019, 06:56 PM   #26
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Yeah the pots shouldn't do that. I’ve sprayed a bunch of switch cleaner in there are a few times, but to no avail.
pots and 5-way switch are the cheapest part of a guitar to swap out. worst case, buy new pots, at least for your own guitar.

it could also be the instrument's jack. when you adjust pots, the cable moves around a bit and wiggles the jack. my pots are fine, but i have popping/scratching because of movement of the cable/jack. my guitar might need a new jack. also cheap to swap. takes just enough time to be annoying.
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Old 08-08-2019, 07:03 PM   #27
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I live in a first floor flat. The electricity cupboard for our side of the building is right below the corner of my lounge. If I put my guitar right above it I can pick up a really loud hum ...however, I've set everything up in my bedroom, which is at least 30 ft away from it, and I still get the same problems.
there is a possibility that ferrite beads on your cables could cancel some problems traveling within your power lines. you could also buy new power ("surge protector") strips if you are using any. most people dont know this but those power strips wear out over time since the internal ferrites, etc have a limited lifetime. when they wear out, sometimes they make noise themselves.

i had one case where i was picking up broad EMF in some gear and so I put a ferrite on a wall wart cable using 1 loop in the cable. nothing was fixed. then I made the cable into two loops with the ferrite on that. the noise was gone.
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Old 08-08-2019, 09:01 PM   #28
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I'm prepared to try just about anything ... except possible electrocution! Really though, I would try this but I have absolutely zero knowledge about electrics, and not sure I would trust myself not to get electrocuted and stumble out a window in shock. That would be a pretty amusing way to go though.
The only real risk here is if you are dealing with multiple pieces of gear powered by different power circuits. A specific example of that would be running a power extension cable from another room for an amp and then touching your guitar strings while your mouth touches a mic that is being powered from the room you are in. There is a chance that the grounds can have a voltage potential between them. And to know for sure that there isn't a voltage, you can set a multimeter to ac volts, touch one probe to the guitar and the other probe to the mic. Whic probe touches which object in question doesn't matter. A voltage is a voltage. So taking karbo's example: If the meter reads 30 volts or -30 volts, it is the same as far as shock potential. It's like getting smacked on the left side of your face or the right side. It's going to sting either way. But if there is no significant voltage shown on the meter, you are safe.

But getting back to your example, using a ground strap (or a piece of wire) to connect a body part to your guitar is no different than touching the metal parts of the guitar as you normally do. If you aren't getting shocked touching those parts, you aren't going to get shocked by using a ground strap. The warning here was to keep in mind the possibility for there being a voltage potential between the grounded parts of different pieces of gear that are being powered by separate power circuits, in case your gear and layout changes in the future.
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Old 08-08-2019, 11:27 PM   #29
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The level of the noise should change as you move the guitar around your room and rotate the angle of the guitar in the room. And as you noticed, the level of the noise drops alot when you touch a grounded point of the guitar. Probably the only info worth reading that I have seen on this topic is an article at Prosoundweb that talks about various types of guitar noise: https://www.prosoundweb.com/topics/s...ctric_guitars/

Easiest solution to buzz being picked up from the mains: Make or buy some ground straps that contact the player's skin and a grounded point on the guitar (all the major metal parts should be grounded on a guitar). You can do a quick test by just using a piece of wire. Figure out some way to wrap one end of the wire around something at a ground point on the guitar (such as a screw of the input jack), and wrap the other end around a body part that isn't going to move much while playing (such as your foot)...

Thanks. Going to try this solution myself. I know I'd certainly play/record a lot more guitar without such annoying noise.
I'm assuming the risk of shock is minimal going direct, and with everything on the same outlet.

Even though the quality isn't great, one thing I like about the transducer pickup on my uke is no noise like this.
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Old 08-09-2019, 02:26 PM   #30
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Thanks for the further responses.

I think I've managed to convince myself that it couldn't be the guitar because it's happened with so many, but that could be a big mistake. I could spend god knows how much time looking at everything else and not getting anywhere.

So I'm going to act upon the advice of brainwreck and superblonde.org and address the guitar, by taking it to someone who can check the grounding, shield it, and change the volume/tone pots. I rang someone earlier, it seems like they're quite busy, so it might be a couple of weeks before it's done, but I'll come back and update once it's clear whether it's worked or not.

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But getting back to your example, using a ground strap (or a piece of wire) to connect a body part to your guitar is no different than touching the metal parts of the guitar as you normally do. If you aren't getting shocked touching those parts, you aren't going to get shocked by using a ground strap. The warning here was to keep in mind the possibility for there being a voltage potential between the grounded parts of different pieces of gear that are being powered by separate power circuits, in case your gear and layout changes in the future.
Thanks for explaining further, that's really helped. I would be happy to take that route, even as just a temporary solution, now I know that there's no greater risk than when I touch the guitar anyway.

If addressing the guitar doesn't sort the problem, then I can at least get a ground strap and be able to actually start recording, and make music rather than spend my whole time trying to fix a problem.

So there is light at the end of the tunnel either way. Many thanks.
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Old 08-09-2019, 02:50 PM   #31
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Thanks for the further responses.

I think I've managed to convince myself that it couldn't be the guitar because it's happened with so many, but that could be a big mistake.
Electric guitars have wire-wound pickups, pickups are antennas. In fact, a guitar pickup is similar to the design of an AM antenna and related to why they can pick AM so easily in some situations. The name "pickup" was well-chosen.

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I think it's safe to say it's electromagnetic interference, I'm just not sure how to eradicate it.
Due to the antenna thing above, you can usually only eradicate the source. Shielding the inside of a guitar for example rarely makes much difference exactly because it's the "pickup" not the unshielded wires inside the guitar. One thing to note though is if it is EMI and since guitars have pickups you can often use the guitar itself as your "EMF Source Finder" by walking around the room and moving the PUs close to various possible sources - it's a least helpful to know what the source is if possible. I've done this and you'd be surprised just how much EMI is in just your walls due to AC wiring - of course here what you want to do is identify where what you are dealing with is coming from.

The only thing that really bugs me... Did you mention as brainwreck asked, does it change when you move the angle of the guitar? I may have overlooked the answer but I ask because it if the hum is the same on single coil and humbucker since a humbucker should cancel a lot of that out.
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Old 08-09-2019, 11:07 PM   #32
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Quote:
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dealing with multiple pieces of gear powered by different power circuits. A specific example of that would be running a power extension cable from another room for an amp and then touching your guitar strings while your mouth touches a mic that is being powered from the room you are in.
That is an example yes but a stranger one is- there could be awkward home construction where a single outlet is fed by two power circuits. it's been known to happen in quirky cases and older buildings... so that plugging the amp into the top of the outlet, and plugging the mixer into the bottom of the outlet, is two separate circuits, which can have ground difference. and there's even some cases where there are two outlets but the ground on one is connected and the ground on the other is snipped, thus floating. which ultimately brings up the point that it is handy to buy a common hardware store's $10 tester for AC outlets to make sure all legs are ok.


or its another reason to get one big power-strip and run everything from 1 single known-good outlet, in a home studio where wiring is not controllable.
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Old 08-10-2019, 06:48 AM   #33
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That is an example yes but a stranger one is- there could be awkward home construction where a single outlet is fed by two power circuits. it's been known to happen in quirky cases and older buildings... so that plugging the amp into the top of the outlet, and plugging the mixer into the bottom of the outlet, is two separate circuits, which can have ground difference. and there's even some cases where there are two outlets but the ground on one is connected and the ground on the other is snipped, thus floating. which ultimately brings up the point that it is handy to buy a common hardware store's $10 tester for AC outlets to make sure all legs are ok.


or its another reason to get one big power-strip and run everything from 1 single known-good outlet, in a home studio where wiring is not controllable.
Good points. We tend to just buy gear and plug it in without thought for any possible issues. And I guess we do it because generally there isn't problems with doing so. An outlet tester is a good and inexpensive tool for every household to have. Same goes for a digital multi-meter and especially for anyone involved with audio gear.
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Old 08-10-2019, 07:55 AM   #34
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I could tell stories about AC leakage current, but I kind of don’t have time RN.

What I must say now is that leakage between gear is actually the least of our worries. I mean, it CAN kill you if everything is wrong, but usually won’t. The real danger is an actual fault in the power supply of whatever the guitar is plugged into. If something goes a certain kind of wrong so that the full hot supply is connected to the chassis of that device, it will also be connected to the guitar, to YOU if you’re touching it. It’ll try to find it’s way back to ground through you any way it can. You might survive that, but probably not with some high powered tube amps. Sure there’s supposed to be a fuse or breaker somewhere along the line, but they always take time, and nanoseconds count and capacitors are batteries. One might argue that in such situations you probably wouldn’t be able to let go of the guitar anyway (muscles tend to lock up) but if you really want to make sure, tie a wire around your wrist.
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Old 08-11-2019, 08:26 PM   #35
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and one interesting point on modern technology is that a guitar-wireless unit would eliminate the possibility of bad A/C traveling up the guitar cable. because there is no cable. I'm not sure what that does for the typical hummmmm problem though.
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Old 08-11-2019, 11:25 PM   #36
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Originally Posted by ashcat_lt View Post
I could tell stories about AC leakage current, but I kind of don’t have time RN.

What I must say now is that leakage between gear is actually the least of our worries. I mean, it CAN kill you if everything is wrong, but usually won’t. The real danger is an actual fault in the power supply of whatever the guitar is plugged into. If something goes a certain kind of wrong so that the full hot supply is connected to the chassis of that device, it will also be connected to the guitar, to YOU if you’re touching it. It’ll try to find it’s way back to ground through you any way it can. You might survive that, but probably not with some high powered tube amps. Sure there’s supposed to be a fuse or breaker somewhere along the line, but they always take time, and nanoseconds count and capacitors are batteries. One might argue that in such situations you probably wouldn’t be able to let go of the guitar anyway (muscles tend to lock up) but if you really want to make sure, tie a wire around your wrist.
How a about a foot pad? A piece of perf board (or whatever) with a piece of wire soldered to it and an alligator clip at the other end that clips to anything grounded on the guitar.
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Old 08-12-2019, 09:03 AM   #37
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The thing is that it shouldn’t really be necessary if the bridge ground is properly connected. Touching the strings - which we generally have to do anyway if we’re actually playing - should be all it takes. If that doesn’t help then either bridge ground isn’t connected or that’s just not the actual problem.
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Old 08-12-2019, 09:38 AM   #38
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Got as far as the post with the Jazzmaster...
It's RF interference.
JMs are wired with RWRP pickups, so that when they're both selected they 'humcancel'. This method of humcalling only works with RF interference, henceif it goes away, it's RF interference.

Normally, shielding the cavity would help, but since you mention in the OP that it's a Dano, and I'm assuming they're lipstick pickups, and touching the pickup kills the hum, my guess is that the cases aren't grounded.
You can 'fix' it by ruuning a wire into each pickup cavity from a grounding point in the control cavity - pot casing or ground on the jack - and fixing it to each pickup case, either by soldering to the leg off the underside of the pickup or by attaching a ring connector to the wires and placing it over an adjustment screwsuch that the ring is pressed up to the pickup leg.

On a Tele neck pickup, Fender grounds the cover via the cold pickup wire, but since Dano pickups are usually wire in series, that method would prevent the piukups working when both selected, so Dano just don't bother. On Fenders where they have the option for series/parallel switching, such as the Baja Tele and the Johnny Marr Jag, they ground the cover/claws directtly to a grounding point, indepenent of the pickup wires.
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Old 08-12-2019, 11:19 AM   #39
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There was a lot of different infor from reading the above but you stated

"It doesn't change if I'm touching the strings or any other part of the guitar, unfortunately."

If it was a guitar issue, the noise would be silenced if you touched the strings (assuming your electronics are properly grounded). 50HZ buzz can often interject itself into the electronics via noisy connections. I would recommend starting with a power conditioner in between your electronics and the wall.

The other thing I did not see above is what kind of a sound card you are using. If this is a sound card build into the computer, the computer itself is going to inject some noise. Moving to asn external sound card will help clean that up a bit.

Finally, you want to avoid ground loops. If you are just going from your guitar into the sound card, the sound card is sharing its ground with a whole bunch of high speed electronics (that are noisy) and then this ground is shared with your guitar. Putting an isolation transformer between your guitar and the input to the sound card will help eliminate this.

Noise problems are not fun. Good luck!
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Old 08-12-2019, 02:00 PM   #40
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Quote:
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"It doesn't change if I'm touching the strings or any other part of the guitar, unfortunately."

If it was a guitar issue, the noise would be silenced if you touched the strings (assuming your electronics are properly grounded).
The fact that the noise doesn’t change when touching things that should be grounded tends to indicate that they are not actually properly grounded.
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