Hey guys, first I'd like to introduce myself - my name is Jon K and although I am new here, I am an experienced soldered. I have just started picking up my guitar again and am glad I haven't lost any talent! Anyway, I noticed that I've got a ground buzz of sorts. If I do not make contact with any metal on the guitar with my hand, it buzzes audibly thru the amplifier (solid state Fender amp, but does it on every amp i've tried). If I touch the metal on the guitar, the buzz goes away. This is really frustrating and I'd like some help.
The guitar is a Gibson Smartwood Exotic I purchased used years back and it looks like someone tried shielding the cavity with paint and I have no idea what other work they attempted.
Problems:
1) Buzz noise when not touching metal - goes away (mostly?) when I touch strings/bridge/etc.
2) Neck pickup tone knob goes to "no tone" (dull, not bright) when turned fully clockwise, if I turn tone knob 3/4, that is the "brightest" tone, then even a slight turn from there it drops to lowest brightness right away, no gradual fade. So, it does seem to go "full bright" but it happens at 3/4 position, at anything about 3/4, it is full tone off.
Thanks in advance guys.
I build engine control modules for cars, so soldering is not my fear - it's that I do not know much about inductance and such.