ginger will Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 hi guys, im new at all this but trying to build my first guitar. body making was a breeze but struggling with the electronics. Its a gibson copy and im trying to wire it much the same way. All parts have been fully connected but all i get when i plug it in is noise whenever i touch the pickup selector or any of the metal casings on pots etc. I realise this may be an earthing problem but dont know how to solve it. any ideas? willy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJE-Guitars Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 hi guys, im new at all this but trying to build my first guitar. body making was a breeze but struggling with the electronics. Its a gibson copy and im trying to wire it much the same way. All parts have been fully connected but all i get when i plug it in is noise whenever i touch the pickup selector or any of the metal casings on pots etc. I realise this may be an earthing problem but dont know how to solve it. any ideas? willy Sounds like you've not earthed all the components to the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) You may have reversed the ground and hot at the jack plug...therefore all your earth connected hardware (probably the strings too) will be "hot"...making the sound as if you touched the tip of a guitar lead plugged into an amp whenever you touch anything that should be grounded (like selectors, etc). That's the first place to look...a common error (I've done it )...and if you made it, you won't be the last. Other than that, I can't think what else it might be...some jack tags can be a little confusing...if you have a multimeter, you can check what parts are connected to ground and hot by plugging in a cable, touching the tip and parts that should be grounded, if there is a short then you will find that they are connected (beware though on digital readers you may be reading the pot value and or pickups...analog needle meters can often be easier to uncover such things)... It won't hurt to try reversing the jack leads anyway and see if that fixes it... good luck, hope that helps... pete oh...it is possible to get the ground and hot reversed on the switch, make sure the hot is on the tags between the switching leaves on a gibson style selector and that the ground is attached to a tag on the back (usually)...have a good look to see how your switch is constructed as some vary a little. Edited February 26, 2009 by psw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginger will Posted February 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 Cheers for that pete, sorted now. I wired the switch wrong. I presumed the centre position on the switch was inbetween both pickup selections on the gibson switch. This was not the case. thanks for the help. much appreciated. will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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