Strat ground hum... argh!

[spaceboy]

hey there chaps, got an annoying ground hum on my strat that won't go away! at some point i'll hopefully get around to doing the old star grounding or whatever it's called, but til then, any ideas about what to look for to help this? it's really damned loud, and of course goes away when i touch the metal. i'v redone the ground wire to the claw a few times and i'm sure that's got a good strong contact now... so what else could cause such a cacophony?

cheers for any input!

 

[CharlieNC]

are you going straight into the amp or do you have a pedal board and power supply?

if you play with a board you will drive yourself crazy trying to figure out where the ground hum is coming from, especially with a mix of different pedals and one universal wallwart type power supply.

strats are inherently noisey instruments, it just sort of comes with the turf. unless you're one of those noiseless single coil guys. either way, once you're in a bar no ones really going to notice anyway. Dr. Z posted a comment one time on his board that i like:

playing a guitar or amp in your room is like having it under a microscope.

you know, you hear every little weird thing in it. playing with a group makes a difference because after all, it's all about how well your guitar sits in the mix and not it's individual sound.

lots of opinion in there, hopefully some of it's useful!

charlie

 

[spaceboy]

nice quote. yeh, i hate the fact that no matter how much you hone your bedroom tone, even if you can do that at gig volume, which i can't anymore, nothing close, then you still have little to no real idea of how it will sit in the mix. soooo many delicately perfected settings have to be completely torn apart at sound check :¬)

so yeh, i'll give a bit more detail. no pedals whatsoever, straight into my rack (jmp-1 - Replifex - Mesa 20/20), which of course opens up all sorts of ground loop possibilities, but the guitars ground hum is still there with any amp in any room. it's not lights or elctrical interferance, or my PC monitor, it's definately a ground hum, isolated in the guitar.

definately.

no doubt i'm wrong, seeing how sure i am, but i am damned sure

 

[CharlieNC]

cool. this is going to sound kind of weird but i tried the noiseless single coils for a while and i always felt i was missing some balls in my tone. i switched back to traditional single coils and have never been happier. it turns out that what i was missing was actually the "buzz" in my sound. go figure. since then, it has never bothered me. i'm sure that doesn't help you much, but hey, it might give you another point of view.

be cool,
charlie

 

[spaceboy]

yeh, i dont mind that little 60cycle hum in the background, it is quite nice really, just that bloody ground hum, it's so loud! (comparatively) and just so annoying to have to be touching the strings all the time. I'm using two Lace Sensors, which are much much quieter than the Rio Grande single coil, but still, tat ground hum is always there soon as my hand leaves the metal....

 

[Bobby]

Is it possible that one of the pickups is not in the right north south position? Was the Rio Grand installed last? Can you match up a RioGrande and 2 lace sensors? Will there be impeadence problems? When was the first time you noticed the hum and was it there since you bought the guitar? Have you had the pickguard off to see if there's a hair of wire where it shouldn't be?

 

[unclej54]

have you checked to make sure that the bridge is grounded?

 

[spaceboy]

right, well it seems the best thing for it is to just pull my thumb out and get it properly grounded, copper tape, shielding paint n all that jazz... the Rio Grande has actually gone microphonic, i remembered once i'd put it back in. so that'l have to come out n get replaced or fixed or something. cheers for the input, my way seems clear!