Godin A6 wireless/radio interference

[Mark Meed]

I have a Godin A6 (NOT ULTRA, just the peizo pickup), factory setup, no mods, purchased in Canada 20 years ago and still my go-to performance guitar. As systems increasingly adopt wireless technologies I am experiencing humming, static, snap-crackle-pop when the instrument is in the proximity of wireless mics, WiFi routers or even my mobile phone. I have shielded the electronics cavity with copper tape to no avail.

All suggestions, feedback welcome.

Thanks,

Mark

[curtisa]

8 hours ago, Mark Meed said:

As systems increasingly adopt wireless technologies I am experiencing humming, static, snap-crackle-pop when the instrument is in the proximity of wireless mics, WiFi routers or even my mobile phone.

A 20+ year old guitar with an active preamp system was made in a time when the saturation of wireless technology was much lower than it is now. It's possible that the preamp was designed to accept and cope with interference of a much lower magnitude than what we experience today. No doubt if the guitar was re-released now the preamp would need to be designed to have a greater resilience to external noise sources.

 

8 hours ago, Mark Meed said:

I have shielded the electronics cavity with copper tape to no avail.

You've not specified whether this copper shielding is connected to ground as well, but unless it is grounded it will have no sheilding ability against external interference (and in some circumstances, can even make the noise worse).

Other easy things to try:

• Confirm you have a fresh battery installed.
• Confirm it's not whatever you're plugging in to (amp, PC audio interface, mixing desk etc) is picking up the noise.
• Confirm your lead is good.
• Prevention may be the best cure. Put some distance between yourself and wireless sources. Turn your mobile and/or wireless router off at gigs or when recording. Years ago in the bad old days when I was still gigging, we had to remember to turn our old GSM mobiles off to prevent the inevitable bursty signals from being picked up in our amps and PA as the phone searched for the nearest cell tower every hour or so. It just became a default thing we had to do back then to deal with the issue.
• Contact Godin to see if they can offer any insight into the issue. It may be a recognised problem with the older A6.