I am totally befuddled now

[lafromla1]

For the last Warmoth Regal (LP) I built, I purchased the SD Whole Lotta Humbucker set with the the Jimmy Page Wiring system pre-assembled.  I put it all together, but it buzzed like a bitch.  I went through all the wiring and realized that the pre-wired harness was done incorrectly (which I found out was a problem with a batch of them).  I sent it back and they sent me a new one, but this time I upgraded to the one with the preassembled jack and switch. 

Here are my issues now:
1) I get the most horrific buzzing until I touch the guitar.  I traced all the ground wires and all the connections appear to be solid. This was a problem with the previous harness that I had as well.  When I change the switch selector, it buzzes even louder till I get to the selection, then it goes back to the previous bad buzzing.

2) I can get sound out of the neck and bridge individually, but when I put the switch in the middle, nothing happens.  I tried to jump the two together at the switch and still nothing.

I am at a crossroads now.  I am totally confused as to what the issues are and frankly, running out of patience with this build and may just farm it out, but I want to know if it is an issue with harness package that I bought so I can get my money back, or at least get it replaced (again).

I used the SD Jimmy Page Style Wiring for push/pull controls that split the two pickups, can out the pickups out of phase (from the bridge tone pot) and put the pickups in series (from the neck tone pot).

I may try and unsolder the switch and use a different to see if the switch is just bad.


Any other suggestions??? 

 

[lafromla1]

well one item down......they switch was wired incorrectly from the company that sold it to me and when I traced it back, it didnt match with the diagram.  A quick resolder on that got the middle working.

Now to figure out what is causing the buzzing.  How does a multimeter work when tracing ground wires?  I've used one to trace positive feeds like on boat engines and motorcycles.  I know that the harness had all the grounds going around the 4 pots, pre-soldered, so I am thinking that maybe one one of those might be a cold join.  Otherwise, my grounds are solid.  I tried putting a wire from the bridge to the main ground to see if maybe the bridge wasnt grounded right, but no change in the buzzing.  The bridge was put in by Warmoth and Ive never had an issue with that before from them.  There is just no reason for this amount of buzzing, and then to go away when I touch anything.  None of my other guitars do this.

 

[AirCap]

Take it to a tech who knows WTH they are doing, and save yourself a lot of grief.

 

[stratamania]

What Aircap suggests is not a bad idea.

There are probably several "Jimmy Page wiring harnesses" out there. So for anyone on here to take a guess would be a leap in the dark.

For multimeter testing, several Q and As here.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+check+ground+continuity+with+a+multimeter&oq=how+to+check+ground+cont&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l2.8057j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[TBurst Std]

Are you using shielded cable to your jack?

 

[mayfly]

Another excellent reason to just wire your own guitar.

 

[Cagey]

Are you using shielded cable to your [output] jack?

This is an excellent question. It's really quite surprising how much noise that 4 to 6 inches of wire can pick up, even when running humbuckers.

 

[TBurst Std]

Are you using shielded cable to your [output] jack?

This is an excellent question. It's really quite surprising how much noise that 4 to 6 inches of wire can pick up, even when running humbuckers.

Yes, quieting down when touching strings/bridge is normal. If the noise is too much without doing so implies not a ground issue, but noise being introduced.  Long runs should be shielded.  Facing this issue right now with my Ric.  Will wait to fix until certain I can keep it (I may have to sell a Guitar or 2).

 

[lafromla1]

Are you using shielded cable to your jack?

I believe its just a push back cloth cable.

 

[TBurst Std]

Are you using shielded cable to your jack?

I believe its just a push back cloth cable.

Replace it with shielded cable and I bet your issue is minimized. 

 

[lafromla1]

I tried an experiment and took some wire and wrapped it around the hot lead then connected one end to a ground and the noise diminished somewhat.  Since I only had the part of the HOT lead wrapped in the control cavity, and none in the routing, there was still some interference coming in, but you can tell that there was a difference.  Still way too much buzzing as compared to my W Strat that I built (S-S-H).  Having never put together an LP style, this is a learning experience.

I purchased some single strand shielded wire and some 4-strand shielded wire. I'll first try and rerun the HOT by itself and see if that does the trick. If not, I may rerun all 4 wires from the switch.  Good thing solder and wire are relatively cheap.

 

[Cagey]

Run all the wires (except the ground) from the switch in a shielded cable, and ground the shield. You'll find the noise will probably disappear entirely. For toggles, it's fairly easy. Either use a multi-conductor shielded cable like you've got coming, or use the several of the single conductor w/ braided shield, like this...

Wire like that, using noiseless pickups (humbuckers) and you'll have an essentially silent guitar.

 

[lafromla1]

Run all the wires (except the ground) from the switch in a shielded cable, and ground the shield. You'll find the noise will probably disappear entirely. For toggles, it's fairly easy. Either use a multi-conductor shielded cable like you've got coming, or use the several of the single conductor w/ braided shield, like this...

Wire like that, using noiseless pickups (humbuckers) and you'll have an essentially silent guitar.

Thank you so much.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Ironically, I'm doing a Jimmy Page install on a Epi LP for a customer this weekend.  The customer just dropped it off last nite.
They're yanking the stock import pickups & having me install a 500T/496R set.

 

[lafromla1]

First of all, let me say that Cagey is a freaking beast when it comes to the amount of knowledge he has...thank you so much for all your help over the years.

Rewired everything according to the suggestions here and now the guitar is nearly silent.  At first it was completely silent, but for some reason when I put the rear covers on there is a slight hint of buzz, but well within acceptable tolerances.  I'll pull the cover off just to make sure that a wire isn't pushing on something it shouldn't.

Now to dial in the settings with these pups.  I really think they need to be used in conjunction with a volume pedal as to get the clearest tones (as I like them to be), you have to dial them up to 8-10, but then that is really loud, so a volume pedal will then bring it to where I want them to be.

 

[Cagey]

You're more than welcome, and thank you for the kind words.

 

[lafromla1]

Just an update -

Found a thread on the Seymour Duncan forum about where the pickup heights should be for the WLH set, and the concensus was that the bridge about should be even with the pickup ring and the neck ever so slightly lower than that.  I had them higher and the sound was terrible so I lowered them to what others found to be good, and WOW, now the pickups sing.

Took the guitar to church on Sunday and ran it through an Pod XT Live, into an XR18 board.  Absolutely no hiss, buzz or any noise other than the pure, unadulterated symphony of pleasure.  The buzzing at home must be coming from the outlet that I have my stuff hooked into.

 

[Cagey]

I'm glad that worked out for you!

Pickup heights are funny things. With some, there's a "sweet spot" where they work best, which sometimes can be a bit narrow. More or less, and you're less than thrilled. Others don't seem to care as much. Never saw enough rhyme or reason to it to develop a ruleset.