Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum

Other Stuff => Guitars => Topic started by: firemedic on November 06, 2011, 05:29:12 pm

Title: Pickup noise?
Post by: firemedic on November 06, 2011, 05:29:12 pm

I've posted here before about this & wound up blaming my amp build. But the problem persists:

High static-y noise that sounds terrible on hard pick attack in an Alvarez 3-pickup Tele copy. On all amps & volumes, homebrew Vibroverb, TOS, '65 Reverberocket, even my drummer's TRRI.
The worst offender is the FOV lipstick neck pickup.
Next worst is the Texas Special lipstick middle pickup.
The FOV bridge pickup seems immune.

I have shorted the volume terminals w/ a 10k/.01uf for brightness. There is also a pullswitch tone pot which parallels the bridge pickup for that crucial bridge/neck combo we love so much.

Any thoughts on this infuriating noise issue, could it be the pickups??

PS there is a little fret buzz but this noise is all out of proportion to it.


 

Title: Re: Pickup noise?
Post by: Ritchie200 on November 07, 2011, 09:11:20 am

Have you tried radar paint in the cavity and on the back of the pick guard?  Works great for the typical Strat buzz...  Stewmac:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding/Conductive_Shielding_Paint.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=10308 (http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding/Conductive_Shielding_Paint.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=10308)

I would comment on the guitar being a Tele, but since you are a nice guy and not at all like Tubenit, I will let it go... :icon_biggrin:

Jim

Title: Re: Pickup noise?
Post by: firemedic on November 07, 2011, 12:07:50 pm

That's pretty expensive paint. I lined the cavity and the back of the pickguard with aluminum foil so it's fairly quiet.
I'm going to check my solder points on the pickup switch, I've been known to be a little sloppy at times.
 

Title: Re: Pickup noise?
Post by: jjasilli on November 07, 2011, 01:09:47 pm

Could be:

a)  Bad ground -- e.g., does the noise change when you touch, or don't touch, the strings?

b)  Ground loop -- see: www.guitarnuts.com (http://www.guitarnuts.com)

c)  Ambient noise:  paint or foil is good, but needs to be part of the grounding scheme.

Suggestions: post a sound clip; post a LAYOUT diagram -- ground loops may be hiding in the actual physical Layout, even if a Schematic looks good.  Get into a tedious but necessary process of elimination: bypass the selector SW and temporarily connect one PU at a time through to the amp, etc. etc.