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I don’t understand how the plug will go further into the jack once it seats in the detent. Do you mean that you push it harder against the jack when fully inserted, or does the plug seat while still partially out and penetrate further with pressure? If it seats in the jack before being fully inserted, has it always done that or did it originally go all the way in before seating in the detent? If the plug now feels or inserts differently than it used to, did the buzz start when insertion of the plug changed?
Originally Posted by Woodstove
Does the noise stay away if you let go of the plug after pushing it, or does it return as soon as you let go? Is the jacket on the plug metal or is it nonconductive (eg plastic)?
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02-22-2026 01:13 PM
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The plug seats normally all the time. I have not noticed any difference in the way the plug fits in the guitar since I got it.When I apply pressure to it, the noise goes away. As soon as I release the pressure the noise returns. The jack is metal. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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And everytime I see it I wonder how a guitar could ever make enough noise ... Originally Posted by Woodstove
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The question is whether the jacket that screws onto the plug over the connectors is metal. Assuming it is, does the buzz go away when you simply touch the plug (not the jack) or only if you put inward pressure on it while it’s inserted? Originally Posted by Woodstove
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Just checked and...yes! Just touching the plate of the insert jack decreases the noise the same as pushing the cord which I now realize was a red herring and touching the pickup. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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You probably have a loose ground wire or connection inside. The most common places for that are wires soldered to the backs of pots, because it's harder to get the metal pot back hot enough to melt the solder properly for it to flow and bond. Just melting the solder with the tip of the iron and rubbing or dropping it on the wire and pot will not make a firm, secure, conductive joint. Assuming everything was fine with the original pickup, you probably have one or more marginal joints created when the pickup swap was done. A weak joint finally loosened enough to become discontinuous. Originally Posted by Woodstove
If it's not obvious when inspecting the harness and pots, and there's no other broken or loose ground connection inside, I'd heat, clean, and reflow all the solder joints. If there's one poor joint in there and the entire harness was redone by the same person at the same time, there's probably at least one more that's not right. Use an Ohm meter to check all points that should be grounded for continuity with the ground on the jack. Unless you find one or more clearly broken connections and the rest look great and show zero resistance between the other end of the wire connected to them and ground, reflow them all while the pots and wires are out. There aren't that many, and it'll save you the time, cost, and trouble of taking everything out and puting it back muiltiple times doing one joint at a time..
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Very sensible. Thank you very much! Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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My 2p worth of advice:
First, with any ground noise problems, I test the cable. Or, I use a known good tested cable.
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yup, did that many times. I think "never" has nailed it. Originally Posted by GuyBoden
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Probably the string ground wire is broken or disconnected. Originally Posted by Woodstove
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Do you say this because touching the strings does not reduce the noise? Originally Posted by Cunamara
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I have hum in my guitars at home. Touching the strings kills the hum. The humbuckers are noisier than single-coils, but both go quiet when I touch the strings. This is only when using a cable, and it happens with all cables. It does not happen everywhere, just in specific locations. There is a complete connection from the pickup cover to the output jack, and to the strings, the ground is good. I use George L cable and Neutrik plugs, with silent plugs on one end. When the cable is removed from the guitar, the center conductor and the shield are connected, and there is zero noise. When using a wireless system, either Relay G10 or Xvive, there is no hum. There is a very slight hiss, but no hum. All this leads me to the conclusion that the hum comes from the cable acting as an antenna. I don't know of a way to prevent that other than eliminating the cable, or keeping a hand on the strings or any other metal part of the chain. Mostly, I just use wireless, not a cable.
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Problem solved, here's the story. When I first got my Trenier I had difficulty fitting wrapped TI strings in the tailpiece. At some time I noticed there was tape sitting under the balls of the strings I thought was adding to the squeeze. I thought the tape was simply to protect the wood, and I removed it....... So when I got the guitar to my luthier we found a ground wire hanging beneath the tailpiece and a tiny hole it seemed it was supposed to poke through. Then it hit me...that tape must have been metal to provide the ground. So my ingenious luthier fashioned a strip of aluminum foil and attached it to the wire, fitted the holes for the strings....and it essentially eliminated the noise and if it occurs touching the strings now makes it stop!! So it was not a function of soldering of the pots when the pickup was changed. That also excellent luthier was not likely to have done that. But alas, I am very likely to make the mistake I made! PS since I switched to Dogal flats with their much thinner wrap there's no trouble getting strings in and out.
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My feeling is that you need to ask yourself why the strings are grounded via a wire to the tailpiece. It is because you need to be connected to the ground wiring in the guitar to help eliminate noise pickup.
Some guitars may be quiet without anyone touching the strings, but I think if you measure it, there will still be a reduction in noise when you are holding the guitar, particularly in an electrically noise environment, like near home appliances, or on stage, with lighting etc all around you.
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Another solution is to run an amp off a battery, and avoid tapping into the electric grid altogether. Technology has improved for this sort of thing. NYC guitarist Greg Ruggero uses this Cab Screamer, which is usb-c and can run off a 100 watt laptop charger brick for ten hours powering a 6-10" cab (he uses a TOOB 6.5 for an ultra lightweight portable rig).
TOPPING HYNOTONE CabScreamer60 60W Power Amp Pedal
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Strings have to be grounded on electric guitars. If the tail piece is metal, a ground wire can be attached to it and the strings touch it and the strings are grounded. Trenier uses a wooden tail piece as an acoustic/aesthetic choice.The story unfolded when Mark Campellone worked on the guitar. I am blessed to live close enough to him and to have developed a friendship with him. And the fact that Mark was working on a Trenier for the first time was quite a hoot! When he took the tailpiece off, we saw this little ground wire, not attached to anything. I then deduced what had happened. That wire must have been touching the black tape that I had removed that sat under the ball end of the strings.And that tape must’ve been metal. I’ve emailed Bryant Trenier about this, but he hasn’t gotten back to confirm, but it has to be the case. I didn’t see the wire when I removed the tape because it was still underneath the tailpiece. I had no idea that I disconnected a ground wire. Long story about why I removed it, not worth going over again, but I didn’t think it had any electrical implications. Mark agreed this was likely the case and came up with a great idea of using some aluminum tape that he had and cutting a teeny piece and making it all fit and connected the wire to it. The balls of the strings have to touch the aluminum and they’re now grounded. It’s worked better than I could’ve asked for, it’s very quiet now.
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That will help if the source of the buzzing is a ground loop or something in the actual wiring, but that often is not the source. Rather, it's often the guitar's wiring and/or pickup and/or the player's body is acting as an antenna picking up electro-magnetic noise emitted by something nearby (e.g., light dimmers, transformers, computers, etc.). Grounding the strings shunts the noise picked by the player's body to ground. Shielding and humbuckers help with what the guitar's electronics pick up. But playing through a battery powered amp makes no difference with those sources of noise. Originally Posted by Johnpiazza
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Hey, we're mobile bags of water with electrolytes and some proteins and fats.
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