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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink please stop the buzzing.

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Okay, just so you know I can read a wiring diagram. That said, I finally finished my homebuild jag. I've got it wired to fender specs. and she looks glorius. But when I plugged her into the deluxe reverb. hummmmmmmmmm. It will play in the neck pickup switch position. But not in the other. It hums either way. My question is, could my potentiometers be the wrong ones? I am using the correct resistance pots,but maybe they arent the right make. When I went to solder the capacitors to them it was not a pretty sight. I also used the vintage fender cloth covered wax filled wire. Has anyone had trouble with this stuff? should I use shielded wire in stead?I am really frustrated with this because I have been building this for a month and a half and I REALLLY want to play it. PLeASE gimmie some suggestions!!
thanks,
matt

ps. I am POSITIVE it is not the wiring, I have checked it 3 times.

Kraka..
Without a picture of your work, it's kind of hard to say.. but your statement.. "When I went to solder the capacitors to them it was not a pretty sight." - Maybe you fried the caps with the soldering iron and they are shorting out on you. See if you have electrical continuity across the cap leads.. if you do, the caps are shorted.. BTW you DID NOT USE electrolytics, did you?.. regular non-electrolytic caps should to be used.. unless you have a handle on the polarity.
Just my out loud thinking.
Also - check the output jack - with a phone plug in it. Make sure the plug tip isn't hiiting any grounded contacts. It's happened to me.. good luck
JM

I would completely undo the wiring and redo it if the above suggestion does not work.

i used the old ceramic fender issue caps straight from guitarpartsresource.com. They do have capacitance across them.They were just ugly because the solder wasn't pretty. I guess I'll try the rewire job. ugh. Just so you guys don't think I'm some kind of idiot, I'm an aircraft mechanic and I've been through all the electonics training. This is just my first guitar mechanic job, hee hee. Thanks for the input and keep it coming anyone else out there with some knowledge and knowhow.

krak.

just some suggestions, the one pup not working has to be in the circuit for that pup aslone so it can 't be the pots. sure the pup is working?, I found tty easy to break the wires from the coil to the groundplate while installing a pup... Crying
as for the hum, sure it's not a cold joint somwhere? I've never been able to make a good connection to the back of a pot with the 25w iron I do the normal sodlering with - so i use a 40w iron for that. the hum could come form the pot itself too, not because of te make but simply because t might be a faulty one.

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

Well I've never wired a jag before, but... Is there any sound coming from the bridge pickup besides the hum? and, Does it hum in the neck position also?

<img src="klzzwxh:0000"></img>

the bridge just humms, the neck gets some sound but has a bad hum also. I am going to do some troubleshooting tonight at work( not too busy tonight) I'll start looking at what you have all been telling me. Thanks again for all of the info, I'll let you know what I find.(please keep the help coming though!!)thanks,
krakatoa

perhaps a ground (usually black) wire is missing or not conected properly?

I conect my ground wire to the back of the volume pot, to any cavity shielding (or copper guard sheilding), to a bridgepost or tremolo plate...how is your grounding setup?

good luck!
-dp

well, I have all of the brass cavity plates grounded to one another. then I grounded the jack, 2 pups,neck pup switch and the bridge pup switch to the brass plates. i have double checked my caps and they have no continuity so (thankfully) they are still good. One thing that I noticed I may have oopsied is I put some copper shielding tape around the switch cavities. i noticed that one of my wires was rubbing it. So needless to say I removed the darn tape. This may have been my hum in the neck position. as for the bridge, that is tough to say. I didn't want to cut my strings here at work. But I will in the morning if removing the tape didn't fix it(if it does fix it I will hit my head off of the wall numerous times Embarassed ) Once I can get in and scope out the pups I can be 100% that it needs rewired. thanks for the info.

one thing i forgot dp, when you said you ground your pots, do you mean you don't solder the cap to the pot, you put it on another ground in stead?

krakatoa
one thing i forgot dp, when you said you ground your pots, do you mean you don't solder the cap to the pot, you put it on another ground in stead?

the backs of the pots should be connected to eachother and then with a wire to ground - I think the common scheme is to have all grounds go to the back of one pot and connect to the guitars input ground from there - be sure that the other pot(s) are also grounded to the 'central ' pot. I presume that's what dave meant?

WR

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

WR

krakatoa
one thing i forgot dp, when you said you ground your pots, do you mean you don't solder the cap to the pot, you put it on another ground in stead?

the backs of the pots should be connected to eachother and then with a wire to ground - I think the common scheme is to have all grounds go to the back of one pot and connect to the guitars input ground from there - be sure that the other pot(s) are also grounded to the 'central ' pot. I presume that's what dave meant?

WR

yep...that's exactly what I was trying to describe...running the "common ground circuit" (usually the black wires) to all the components that need grounding: pots, plates, sheilding etc.

Wink -dp

krakatoa
one thing i forgot dp, when you said you ground your pots, do you mean you don't solder the cap to the pot, you put it on another ground in stead?

no...capacitors that are soldered to pots are cool...I just meant that the "common ground" wire should be soldered to the back of the volume pot...if the ground is broken, that can cause humming like you describe.

okay, here's what I did. (i'm at work right now so I can't test it.) But I took your advice and at the neck pickup volume pot I took it to ground on the brass plate and at the master volume pot I took it to ground at the jack.(tone/vol. pots are connected to one another as per fender wiring diagram)It all makes a little bit more sense now. There's an easier path for those electrons to get to ground now.Fenders wiring diagram doesn't show a ground coming from the pots to the brass/jack. but we'll see if this fixes it. If not. NEW WIRING!!! argh. thanks for the help.

Did you get a ground wire back to the trem plate?

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

thrugh the routed hole? What do I ground the trem to, the brass, the jack?
I'll try it.

On my AV RI Jag, a little wire comes through a hole into the trem cavity. It then curves up and actually sits between the trem plate and body. When you screw the trem plate down it contacts the wire and presses it against the body under the plate. There is a tiny little groove that it sits in.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

so I solder that to the brass. I would actually like to rewire this thing from scratch because i wonder if i have a few cold solders.I'm pretty disapointed in myself actually. But to be fair the warmoth bodies look great but the routing is kinda crappy. The Pup holes are huge and there's nowhere to screw the pickup into the wood. I had to fashion a piece of brass for the cavity and make mounts for the pickups on it. I'm also going to inspect this a little closer to see if I didn't screw that up too Mad I'm going to be off of work for the next 3 days so(as long as the wife doesn't have a huge honeydo list for me)I'll be able to get a re-do in. I'll be on to give updates. Thanks again for the help. I love this group. You guys are really helpful and patient with us newbies. Keep rockin.

matt

cross your filanges, I just finished checking out my wiring. I do believe in my hasteful attempt to bring this creation to life I think I put the wrong terminals of the pots to ground.After some quick solder removal and wire readjustment, I used a multimeter to check my grounds.Everything was A-OK! I used it to check my circuits for opens or shorts, factory. I even took Brians knowledgeable advice and grounded to the trem plate. When I get home in the morning I don't think I'll be going to bed very early. Phew. I have a good feeling about this. If it does work, I'm thinking about drawing up another schematic that is easier to read. Fender even leaves a few details out. With the planes I work on , the wiring manuals don't leave out a single thing. I think that maybe a few people could benifit from a new schematic. I know when I was trying to find one I could only find 3 on the internet(after HOURS of searching) When I draw it up I'd be happy to post it on this website if that is possible. Once again, you guys are godsends. Thanks again!
krak

WR
just some suggestions, the one pup not working has to be in the circuit for that pup aslone so it can 't be the pots. sure the pup is working?, I found tty easy to break the wires from the coil to the groundplate while installing a pup... Crying
WR

guess what, BOTH pups have this wire broken.. Mad !!! I hope to GOD I don't have to replace them. Duh THEYRE BRAND NEW!!! what a dope. Please tell me I can just solder a new wire in here and call it a day. What a nightmare this has turned out to be. Oh well, I know it will pay off in the end.

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