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I was hearing some vibration/ low frequency buzzing coming through my 175 VOS last night, and started investigating: neck relief, slight tweak, no change. Raise the bridge slightly on treble side, no change. Tightened PU rings, no change. Pressure over tail piece, still there. Scratching my head.
Then I remembered a thread a couple of months back about pickups vibrating in the ring. Saw that I had tried a piece of guitar pick between the PU cover and the ring, and that must have given me some relief at the time, but not enough. So, clipped off two 3/8" slivers of a 1.14 dunlop ultex, wedged them on the treble side of BOTH pickups and rings so that they couldn't be seen and VOILA! Clear as a bell. Big change from the underlying grumble and rumble that was coming through, particularly on the wound strings.
Definitely not a subtle change. Try it, hit the wound strings a bit hard with your volume off and see if there is a low rumble that muddies your tone, and then think about this easy solution. Probably, packing some foam around the pickup as others have done, is a more long term solution, but this worked fine and if tight enough, the sliver of pick used as a shim won't go anywhere. .73 and 1.0 weren't thick enough, needed to get to 1.14 to wedge tightly enough to stop the buzz.
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01-06-2018 10:05 AM
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Yebdox,
I sometimes think they designed that into the guitar as sort of a built in fuzz box.
Its amazing how Gibson’s tend to resemble old Cadillacs.
Joe D
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I replace the springs in Gibson humbuckers, they are too weak. Stronger springs stop the rattle as well.
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Good to know, thanks. I was struck by the difference in clarity acoustically. Now I have to look at all my other guitars to see what I've been missing! Such a simple, stupid thing.
Originally Posted by Little Jay
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Hey Yebdox, thanks for this. I think I'll give it a go this afternoon.
Can you tell me, does the sliver of pick show at all when done, or does it slip down below the top of the pick ring?
I'm a little worried that the pick might fall down into the guitar.
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I prefer some foam to guitar picks, but lots of things work. The cold, dry weather we've had recently has affected almost all my guitars, and they started buzzing. I replaced the springs on one with rubber tubing, and that actually made it worse. I ended up pushing the springs into the tubing so that both were installed, and that fixed the problem. I have some bits of foam earplugs in a couple of pickup rings. Black is much better, but I had to use red for one, and it's really obvious. Some magic marker should take care of it if I leave it in place, though. I expect things will get back to normal once we get back to normal humidity. 30% is much below normal for here.
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It barely shows above the edge of the pickup ring. Play with different pick gauges to see how tight a fit you need before clipping off a sliver, then use something thin to wedge it in and it barely shows. I used my 4” steel ruler to slot it in. If it fell in, you might have to shake things around to get it back out, but a thick enough pick gauge should prevent that. Just make it tight! Originally Posted by Longways to Go
I used my small wire cutters to clip off a small arc shaped slice of pic, nice and flat, like a large toe nail clipping
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Properly sized lengths of silicone surgical tubing works well too, too. Originally Posted by Little Jay
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For quick fix I do what the OP did and shove a pick in between the cover and plastic ring and it fixes the rattle/buzz. Then when I get around to doing other work on the guitar will pull the pickups and replace the springs with surgical tubing and works great.
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I did the pick fix this afternoon. Worked great. 5 minutes to do.
My guitar wasn't really buzzing badly, just a small grumbling undercurrent.
I used a .73 for the neck and a .88 for the bridge. Nice solution it seems
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Another easy fix is to remove the pickups from their rings, wrap the pickup edges with vinyl electrical tape and reinstall them - the soft vinyl tape buffers the two hard surfaces. And it's a totally reversible procedure.
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I’ve done this several times on different guitars and it’s a great quick fix. And if you need an extra pick you always have one B) Originally Posted by docbop
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Sorry to go off topic, but Originally Posted by Max405
My brother worked with a guy who’d bought in the 80’s a used Caddy, got it for a low price. After driving it a little he was annoyed by a persistent rattle, he checked everything (within reason) and could not find the source. Exasperated and considering re selling, he finally came to take off the inside panel of the driver side door. That’s when he found the empty Coke bottle that had been tossed in by a begrudged GM employee 12 years prior. Factory installed rattle!
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Where does one find the appropriate surgical tubing and/or the "stronger" replacement springs? Are there known, good sources for these things?
Thanks!
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If you ever come across a possible source for surgical tubing (nurse, hospital tech) be sure to ask for pieces no larger than 1 inch. No one will procure a junkie sized length for you.
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I did that one , works great Originally Posted by Hammertone
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You can find it at any chain drugstore or any aquarium store. The drugstores are usually less expensive. Originally Posted by M-ster
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If you can't find the tubing elsewhere, StewMac has it for sale. Not cheap, but it's available. They also have springs, and whatever else you may need. Ebay has tons of it, all sizes and lengths, much cheaper than StewMac.
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I also forgot to mention, a hobby shop with glow fuel engines sells the stuff for fuel lines as well.
Comes in handy for replacing pots in hollow bodies, too.
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Depending on one's OCD, using a half pick between the pickup and the ring, not only can stop the vibrations, but can also be handy to center the pickup in relation with the strings if its a bit off on one side or even tilt the whole pickup so its surface is 100% parallel to strings.
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There have been pups with more than two adjustment screws from Schaller, Ibanez, and even Epiphone. I imagine the 3 or 4 spring / screw pairs limit or eliminate pup rattle. For some reason I don't think anyone makes them with 3+ adjustment screws any more?
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I did the same with my 175, only did I use a part of a sax reed instead of a pick. That was around 1975. The reed is still there. Originally Posted by docbop
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So I did the pick in between the pick-up & pick guard trick a couple of weeks ago. It helped some, but in the longer run, it also brought to my attention some other grumbly vibrations when playing acoustically. Now, I'm not 100% satisfied with the fix. I've still got some demons to address. BTW, the guitar is super satisfying in general, but I'm chasing down a little more perfection.
I have a string change coming up, and I figure that will be a good time to mess around with it. I'm thinking the grumble is coming from the pick-up springs. I also know there is a loose wire that will knock against the body inside if I shake the guitar around. I'd like to know what y'all think is the best approach to clean up the grumble. I'm thinking about wrapping the pickups in electric tape, maybe the same treatment for the springs? Or should I use some plastic tubing or foam in and around the springs?
BTW, I believe that the bridge PU is the major culprit, mostly from strumming and pressing down on various parts.
None of this is super annoying, especially when plugged in. But now that I hear it unplugged, I can't unhear it!
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On my 175 the buzz was caused by the underside of the pick guard just touching one of the pickup mountings. I stuck a tiny blob of blutak under it and it went away.
It took me about 15 years to figure this out!
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I had an Ibanez with 3-point adjustment and it was fantastic. I've often thought someone should male a 2-to-3 adapter kit with mounting rings and a spanning bar. It's not rocket surgery, and could be completely reversible. Next time I see an Erector set a a yard sale, I'll have probably forgotten why I wanted it. Originally Posted by GNAPPI
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