fenderbender06 Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Ok Guys, SO I bought a MM neck, MM body and then had my pickups (3 single coil lace senor pickups) wired according to SRV'S strat. When I play all I hear is a crazy humming noise, like as in too much feedback. And all i can do is play it with hardly any distortion and with the volume all the way cranked. WHen i turn the volume control down on the strat the humming feedback gets worse. The guys who wired the strat wired it with new pots and copper wiring instead of aluminum. SO, is there anything wrong with the volume control or is there too much resistence? (I hardly understand electronics, all i know how to do is play, and I know what its supposed to sound like and this isnt it!!!) Someone please help!!! All i want to do is play the freakin thing! Much appreciation for anyone who has an idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbenjy Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 have you got any diagrams of how the guys wired it? Stupid question, but how loud/close to the amp are you getting? does the hum drop with the pickup selector in the 2 and 4 positions? Bear in mind that lace sensors are different to normal single coils so using settings that were ok with SCs might prove to not be as good with Laces, although what you're describing sounds more serious than that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 have you got any diagrams of how the guys wired it? Stupid question, but how loud/close to the amp are you getting? does the hum drop with the pickup selector in the 2 and 4 positions? Bear in mind that lace sensors are different to normal single coils so using settings that were ok with SCs might prove to not be as good with Laces, although what you're describing sounds more serious than that! No the noise is consitent regardless of where I stand. Im like 10 ft away and it still has the same noise. The pickup slectors does not change the noise either. The wiring diagram is found here: http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/index.php click the adobe diagram for Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster. It will have the diagram under the second "yes" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Try reversing the wires on the output jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 does it sound like what happens if you touch your fingertip to the side and top of your cord? try it with distortion if you dont know what im talking about. or is it a jimi style feedback? I have a loose ground connector in one of my pickups at the switch, I know its there and I know how to fix it, but im lazy.. it sounds like that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 When I touch the chord when its pluggued in the jack it does change the noise. Its a constant buzz and it over rides all of my sound....If i play with he volume on the guitar jacked all the way up on Ten it sounds best and as I turn the volume down it gets bad, it like fluckuates (spell?) the hum/buzz sound gets worse. What would reverseing the output jack wires do anyways?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donbenjy Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 what happens if you forget the guitar, and just place your finger across the guitar cable when it's plugged in? so touching the tip, at the same time as the bit below that (with the same finger). Is that the same type of noise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Best advice if you know very little about electronics and don't have an ohmmeter or soldering iron is to take it to your local guitar repairman in town and let him fix it for you (and not the one who did it originally ) You can easily make things worse than they already are if you don't have much experience at it. 1. Do not take it for granted that it's wired correctly, it probably is not. (As in 'well, it's wired just like the diagram showed it') 2. Someone who knows what they're doing can probably trace it out and fix it in short order, but if -you- start soldering and unsoldering wires (with little to no experience at it), you can very well make things worse by making poor connections, adding solder blobs, burning up pots, burning wires (and they are really delicate) making the circuit even further away from what it's originally supposed to be than the way it already is, etc... ...just pay da man, say thanks, and be happy once again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prs man Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 your guitar cord might be bad or the ground wire might be loose in your wiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 your guitar cord might be bad or the ground wire might be loose in your wiring. The whole time the amp is on (or my POD xtlive is plugged in) the noise is there. A consistent hum, which is very loud and makes it so I cannot add distortion.. is it a possiblity that my input jack is jacked up or maybe that my ground wire is screwy?? I may just have to take it to a professional.... ughhhhhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 what I mean, is the sound the same as when the guitar is unplugged, and you roll your finger over the input on the cord. same sound when you have a bad ground... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 Take it to a pro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 The guys who wired the strat wired it with new pots and copper wiring instead of aluminum. OK, so who the hell are these "guys"? Didn't they check their work after doing the wiring job? Did you pay them money to have the work done? Bring it back and tell them to do the effin' job right. I can't believe anyone would wire up a guitar and then not plug it in to make sure everything works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doeringer Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 As usual, South just brings in the logic! It also sounds like there might me more to this story... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 As usual, South just brings in the logic! It also sounds like there might me more to this story... Yea- here’s the update. I plugged back in and started to experiment with the cable/input jack. So I put on the distorted channel and it was humming like crazy. So instead of messing with the volume knob I just cranked it and started to mess with the cable, I realized every time I touched the cable the freakin' noise went away. Therefore-IT MUST BE A GROUND! Duh...then I called my friend who wired it for me and they said they had hardly any room to put the ground in (where the wiring schematic said to) so they grounded it in a different spot on the body...so he must have messed up the whole ground. It definitely has a great sound when it isn’t freaking humming like 1000 bumble bees. (Hey sounds like the next name of my blues song...haha) Ok so I sent it back and they are supposedly going to fix it and I will know by tomorrow night... lets hope that’s it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Well, I got my Guitar back.... It plays, but there is still an over riding hum in the background. When the volume is on 10 shes fine, when shes turned down below that it sounds horrible. The more distortion I add the more muddled the sound is..... The input jack may have something to do with it, when I first plugged in for the very first time my chord input wouldnt go all the way in so I had to take it out and bend the inside of the jack where it touches the cable.... it eventually went in...could that do anything to it??? The only other plausible option is that it is wired too hot...could it be that lace sensor pickups cant handle a wiring schematic like SRVs strat???? too much output? is there even such a thing? someone give me hope before I throw it out the door! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 take it somewhere else.. my strat is SUPER hot, the gain is so high I can hear my voice sometimes.. and it has no HUM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 What exactly do you mean 'wiring schematic like SRVs strat'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 What exactly do you mean 'wiring schematic like SRVs strat'? I had it wired exactly like fender does SRVs guitar (the artist model) .....uhhuh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert_the_damned Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 The switching scheme wont make *that* much differance to hum, and shouldn't really affect the 'hottness' of your pickups either (well other than phasing or spliting 'buckers but that's a differant story). As far as I can tell the SRV strat is just wired up like any ol' strat. Sounds like whoever did the wiring didn't do it right. Lace sensor pickups are supposed to be near on silent. They do however have 3 leads unlike most strat pickups. If they're not wired like this then the guy who did it doesn't have a clue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 The SRV is pretty much just plain vanilla Strat wiring. The Lace sensors were standard equipment in the old American Standard Strat, but it's still pretty much straight forward 5-way Strat wiring. If you're getting loud hum all the time, try reversing the output jack wires. It couldn't hurt, and it's easily reversible if it's not the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 One last question before I rip it apart and start looking for answers.... Anyone ever heard of Blade guitars?? well i happen to have "Levinson" pickups...lace senors from the 80s...hahahahahahahahah wonder if the pickups are jacked........ yet another possiblity....any thoughts So it plays (great when I am touching the guitar cable) side from a ton of buzzzzzzzzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 I suspect the fault is that the strings are not properly grounded...or some other grounding problem (earth loop maybe)... The lace sensors are not humbucking but are an interesting single coil design with magnetic sheilding strategies. I think they have 3 leads...one will be grounding to these sheilds. Hopefully, you will find that it simly a case of the strings not being ground properly and that a suitable solution can be found. On a strat it should be straight forward, a wire to the trem spring retainer to some central point (often the back of a pot) creating a star ground... good luck... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender06 Posted October 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Would the spring tremolo claw floating have anything to do with the grounding. My old strat has the claw touching the body, my new strat has it floating above the body.... hopefully you know what i mean....it could be related....any ideas whether that could be it? Maybe just placing the claw directly on the body would do something..... Best advice yet.....thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeAArthur Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 The most likely cause as MarkSound has told you several times is that the wires to the output jack are connected to the wrong lugs - backward. This happens with newly wired strats quite often, especially when one does not use a shielded cable and/or uses the same color wire for both connections and/or doesn't realize the two jack connections are different. BTW - the spring claw for the tremolo is the piece inside the body that attaches the springs to the body with two screws. This is a normal location for a string ground connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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