Is my Jazzmaster abnormally noisy?

[chip3341]

Hey everyone!

I just finished my first build and am loving it so far (JM with TOM stop bridge and P90 in bridge). It plays wonderfully and, aside from the noise, sounds great plugged in.

I've gone through the wiring a bunch of times and even had the tech at the music store go through it. Neither of us could any issue with it. However, it seems way noiser than it should be. It's like the typical strat buzz, but worse. I compared it to my strat, and the output is hotter in the jazzmaster, but still seems problematic.

ALSO, when I touch the pickguard screw, the noise changes character. It doesn't necessarily get quieter, but it changes in tone (makes me think I have a grounding problem).

ALSO, I don't have the insides shielded. Could this be the issue????


Here is the video. On clean the noise is relatively tame, but overdriven is where it comes out. (Through Fender HRD).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_25jRqUmiQ&list=UUoF1bBU1Aj1LEtfYMEzpolA


0-20: Clean Treble, Middle, Bass; Rhythm Circuit

40-1:15: High Gain Treble, Middle, Bass; Rhythm Circuit (with touching screws in between)

1:20: Playing with the Circuit and Toggle Switches



Any thoughts?

 

[Cagey]

I don't hear anything unusual. Single coil pickups are noisy - some more than others, and especially in higher gain situations. It's the nature of the beast. You can shield it to the Nth degree and it won't change anything. The pickup is still essentially a mile-long antenna sticking out of the face of the guitar.

There are two ways you can go if it bothers you too much. First, get some of the more modern noiseless single-coil style pickups. Many of them sound really good. I particularly like GFS' "True Coil" parts. Very authentic single coil sound. Bill Lawrence has some interesting designs, too. Second, an effective noise gate can be a wonderful thing. I used to have good luck with the Rocktron Hush unit years ago and people still give it high marks, but there are others.

 

[Great Ape]

Sounds normal to me...P90's can be painfully noisy if the venue's wiring is old or cruddy, but I don't hear anything wrong in your rig.

 

[Day-mun]

My JM came from W with no "tunnel" or hole drilled to the bridge and/or tailpiece route for a ground wire. My noisiness stopped (or greatly diminished, rather) when I tapped into the nearest (to the control cavity) bridge-mounting holes/routes, and grounded one of the thimbles/bushings.

Still, there is the typical 60-cycle hum from the simple fact that they are single-coil pickups, but having a ground to the bridge/string-path is, in my opinion, essential. -Dunno why it would be standard practice to NOT ground a JM string-path... -maybe mine was the abnormal one(?)  :dontknow: 

 

[dmraco]

Sounds normal.  Touching the screws will ground the system.  I have to ask, when you touch the screws is you other hand on the strings?  If it is and you hear something you may not have a good bridge ground.

Just a thought but you clean sounds real clean.  If you an issue you would hear it then.

You may be using hotter pickups than you are used to.  These may cause more noise in higher gain situations.

Like grape said...p90s are notorious for sound.  If I even get close to the power amp or mixing board it gets nasty fast...on all my p90 guitars.

I typically do not shield.  I built a p90 guitar and shielded everything.  I even made copper control covers.  It is no better than any other guitar I have made.

 

[chip3341]

Thanks for all of the replies guys! As you've all pointed out, the buzz, if any, is pretty subtle. I'm going to try the bridge ground suggestion.

If that does nothing I'll just chock it out to the higher output and enjoy my rocking axe!  arty07:

 

[Great Ape]

...grape?!? GRAPE!?! I beg your pardon!! (Back to the thread)

 

[Day-mun]

Thanks for all of the replies guys! As you've all pointed out, the buzz, if any, is pretty subtle. I'm going to try the bridge ground suggestion.

If that does nothing I'll just chock it out to the higher output and enjoy my rocking axe!  arty07:

You are going to be a ton more satisfied with it when you do! -Forgive me if what is to follow is far too elementary...

A trick I used:

1) From the inside wall of the control cavity, drill a small pilot hole towards the bridge-mount bushing on the treble side; do not make contact. damage to the bushing could interfere with the moveablity of the height-adjustment screw.

2) Start a small diameter wood screw into the pilot. It must be long enough to reach the bushing with some length to spare.

3) With a meter handy run the screw in towards the bushing, and as you get close, test for continuity between the head of the screw and the rim of the bushing every 1/4 turn or so. As soon as there is a positive signal, STOP.

4) Ground wire soldered to head of screw from chassis of one of the control pots, and you are in business.

 

[chip3341]

WELL WELL WELL.

I opened it up again for what seems like the millionth time and got ready to look for a spot to drill a pilot hole. That was when I noticed a hole in the cavity running straight to the right TOM post. So I feel stupid. I gues it's just one of those things that new assemblers go through.

Ideally, I guess I would have run a wire under the post, but because I already pressed it in, I added a screw to the hole, grounded a wire from the screw to a pot, and covered the screw with electrical tape (otherwise it was totally closing the circuit when I replaced the pickguard).

Lo and behold a big chunk of the extra noise disappeared. Still noisy, but seems to be the good kind of noisy. Also, no ground sound when touching the screws anymore.



Thank you for all the replies. Next time I'll pay a little better attention to detail.  :glasses10:

 

[Day-mun]

Oh, ...the tape is to keep the screw insulated from one of the "hot" lugs on your Volume or tone pots? -Gotcha.

Yeah, if the instrument is noticeably quieter while plugged in/volume up/amp on and you place your hands on the strings, you got it handled.

Soap-bar/pancake-style SC's are a bit more hummy, but I was pretty sure from your description of what was goin' on that the bridge ground was missing from the equation. -Nobody should hafta live with that sort of racket! Glad ya got it licked! :icon_thumright:

 

[chip3341]

Sorry one more thing: I've noticed that the middle position both (a) sounds wimpy/hollow/tinny and (b) is just as noisy, if not noisier than the treble and bass positions.


Standard JM should be silent in the middle, right? Was I supposed to switch the ground/lead for one of the pickups? My diagrams didn't really help but I keep reading about reverse polarity. Is that all I need to do? Does it matter which pickup I reverse?


Nevermind! I swapped the wires in the bass pickup and now it works like a dream. Soooo good. Peace on earth.

 

[Day-mun]

Sorry one more thing: I've noticed that the middle position both (a) sounds wimpy/hollow/tinny and (b) is just as noisy, if not noisier than the treble and bass positions.


Standard JM should be silent in the middle, right? Was I supposed to switch the ground/lead for one of the pickups? My diagrams didn't really help but I keep reading about reverse polarity. Is that all I need to do? Does it matter which pickup I reverse?

The only way (that I can think of at the moment) that it would matter is if the pickups had grounded chrome/metal covers on them; one would have to ensure that the ground connection for each cover be attached to the correct lead wire (if not a model that featured a four-conductor cable w/ a shielded ground in which case, the cover would be tied to the shielded ground) so that the cover(s) would not be part of the pickup circuit.