Weird Guitar Grounding Issue

Bardagh

Bardagh

Well-known member
So I recently put together a Tele partscaster and everything is great except a weird ground issue I cannot figure out. Essentially, the guitar is dead quiet UNTIL you start playing, then, especially if you hit something like an open note or chord and let it ring, you will hear very prominent EMI buzz. If you touch something like the volume pot or the metal of the output jack it will go away, and it is reduced by having more of your fingers on the strings, but I don't understand how it goes away completely if you take your hands off and don't pick a string. It is as effective as a noise gate.

This is a typical 2 single coil pickup Tele with a metal control plate, one volume, one tone and 4 way switch (has an added position for series mode). I shielded all the cavities because I have a lot of EMI to deal with that can be especially aggravating with single coils. I've confirmed that all metal components, ground solder points and the shielding have continuity with the sleeve connection of the output jack, and measure a slight resistance between 0.1-0.4. If I measure from the neck pickups metal cover I get a wildly diverging resistance but I assume that's because of the finish on the metal.

I'm stumped!
 
Nevermind, I'm still stumped but after taking it apart and putting it back together yet again, it is now acting differently. Some ground connection has to be broken somewhere but for the life of me I don't know where because everything seems to check out.
 
I know why you are having trouble figuring it out. It is usually when you aren't playing or touching anything metal that a grounding issue shows it's ugly face. So this one is particularly interesting.
 
It's acting normal now, I don't know what the hell. Must have been some connection somewhere wrong or shorting out. However my shielding doesn't seem to be helping with the EMI rejection as much as I wish. Keeping good contact with the strings now keeps it as quiet as a tele ever is but damn if I let it go it is such an annoying buzz. I might have to replace the wires to the output jack with a shielded wire and see if that helps.

However here is a dumb recording "hack" for when you've got a guitar prone to picking up interference and you need to keep that buzz away - use a grounding bracelet like you would use for working on sensitive electronics and clip it onto part of the bridge (I clip it to one of the saddle retaining screws). Even when you let go of the guitar you still have a solid connection keeping things quiet.
 
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