Tele grounding problem

[benabloom]

Hi gurus,

Im borrowing a few teles from friends because Im trying to decide if I like em or not (I mostly play Gibsons live)

Anyway, in one Fender American Tele I am borrowing, there is a grounding buzz going on that goes away ONLY when I touch the metal component strip/cover plate that the pickup selector,volume and tone pot are mounted to.

How can I cure this as I would love to give it back sans buzz :)

Ben

[Curly]

could be a number of things ...
these have a ground wire running from the back of the volume pot to a ground lug in the bridge cavity. I'd check that, but first I'd pop the control plate and look at the wiring, since that's the easier place to start.

[Bob V]

The hum doesn't go away when you touch the strings? Then the string ground is loose. There should be a wire from the back of the volume pot to the bridge plate - OR the black wire on the back of the bridge pickup should be shorted out to the metal base plate of the pickup (which connects via the screws to the bridge and hence the strings). Check it with a VOM set on continuity to see if the bridge plate is already connected to ground. Otherwise you have to take off the bridge to make a diagnosis - and to do that you need to move the saddles to get at the screws and you'll have to reset the intonation when it all goes back on.

[benabloom]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies! The hum does not go away when I touch the strings, only when I touch the control cavity top plate.

Hopefully I will have some time to open her up tonight and will report back with my findings.

Ben

[Ron Thorn]

On some Teles, there is no ground wire from the controls to the bridge. Instead, the stock pickup has a copper base plate that is connected to ground through the pickup lead. The 3 height-adjustment screws for the bridge pickup thread into this base plate and are meant to "connect" the bridge to ground.
If the screws get rusty around the copper base plate, or, if the bridge pickup has been replaced that doesn't have a metal base plate, then there is no conductivity to the bridge.
Check this.

Good luck,
Ron