HSS strat pickup headache (1-2-3-5 buzz but 4 perfect)

[bakerlite]

Been messing with the wiring on my strat - it has always since i got it buzzed like hell in any but the neck and middle together position (4 i think they it)


So i gutted it - copper taped the cavity like i have done on other guitars and basses - wired it real nice and neat removed brocken coil tap switch for humbucker and just running vol tone tone.


job done finished you would think?


nope still buzzes the same - its annoying as position 4 is perfectly clean but anything else is very bad buzz (like a head shaver buzz!) position 5 and 3 are the worst which are the singles on there own.


any ideas?


i have definately wired it correctly - is it possible i have bad pickups?

[Platefire]

I have been driven nearly mad with such but sometimes it comes from a different source than expected--just a thought!
Try a different guitar cord, hook you amp up at a different electrical outlet and I've had certain types of household lighting give my guitar a fit. If you have a multi-meter, do continuity checks make sure you tremolo is grounded to the rest of all other grounding in the guitar. Even though a wire looks connected/soldered, a multi-meter can let you know for sure. Also make sure your switch or a wire is not grounded out on the shielding---if you've done as many shielding jobs as you just mentioned, you probably got it right already. It just takes one bad connection to drive the whole works crazy. Platefire

[jeff]

Ok sorry I read that wrong.
single coils are noisy unless in pairs so neck and mid alone are giong to be noisy.
a single coil and a humbucker together will be noisy too.
so with a SSH guitar neck, mid, and mid/bridge positions should have some hum and neck/mid and bridge positions should be quiet.
Sounds like your humbucker is not bucking hum.
If its a 4 lead humbucker you may need to reverse two of the leads.
They should be color coded but here's the thing: different PU manufacturers use different color codes. If you know who made the pickup go to their website and see if your humbucker is wired correctly according to their color code.

If it is we can try something else, but check that first.

[alerich]

It's a little bit of a pain to replace but I would try a new 5 way switch. The problems I have had in the past from defective switches were not buzz but rather intermittent signal but it would remove it from suspicion. If the pickups sound ok other than the buzz they would not be on my short list of suspects. The switch is a central item, however.

[bakerlite]

thanks folks
I do have a switch ordered and I tested the humbucker with a multimeter for both identifying coils and polarity.
will update!

[jeff]

How do you test coils for polarity with a mulitmeter?
That sounds very useful, after identifing coils I usually have to wire it one way then the other and hear which sounds right. 

UPDATE: found this video in case anyone else didn't know either
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfxQBhqen8