Why is my stratocaster humming/buzzing like crazy?

Question

I just replaced the volume and tone pots with new fender ones as well as the pickup selector switch because when I was younger, I installed new texas special pickups but did a horrible job haha. This time around, with my soldering skills a lot better, I replaced them. As well as with all new wiring. I followed the diagram from fender and its buzzing/humming like crazy. Most forums I come across are about people whose buzz goes away when they touch the strings or the bridge etc. My problem is the opposite. My buzz gets louder when I touch the string and when I have the volume on between 1-8. When I go to 9 and 10, most of the buzz goes away. However, if I grab the cable jack where it inputs into the jack on my strat, ALL the buzz and hum goes away. Do I have a cold solder joint somewhere? Again, I followed the wiring diagram from fender perfectly. Is it a bad input jack? Thats the only thing I didnt replace. Maybe its the old cheap solder on it or maybe it just went bad. (FYI i used 60/40 rosin solder) not cheap lead free stuff. Any help is greatly needed. I know strats naturally hum more than others because of the single coils but this is beyond that. I also think I read somewhere that you dont need to have a ground wire running from tone pot, to tone pot, to volume pot. Idk about that as i just followed the wiring diagram from fender. I need help!

? · Accepted Answer

Hello there,

Guitarnuts has a good troubleshooting guide.
http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/electrical/trouble/strat.php

I think it is safe to guess you have a problem in your ground circuit. I would start by checking your wires at the output jack. Make sure they are not reversed.  The ground wire goes to the prong of the jack that touches the sleeve of the plug. The hot wire goes to the prong of the jack that touches the tip. It is common to get them reversed. The ground wire from the jack goes to any pot's case. The hot wire from the jack goes to the volume pot.

if the wires at the jack are not reversed, then trace the ground circuit. Look for a bad solder joint, or a ground wire that got soldered to the wrong place. Also watch to see that done of the hot wires are soldered to the ground circuit.  Also look at the areas of the wire that you stripped away the insulation. Sometimes one single strand of the wire comes looses and touches another wire or some portion of a switch.  It is pretty easy for a single strand of the braided wire to be free to touch something around it.

In tracing your ground circuit, keep in mind that all ground wires (jack, pickups, and tremolo claw) run to a case of any pot. A wire will run from the case of each pot to the case of the adjacent pots. The ground circuit forms a complete loop that way.

Later,

GibsonEssGee · Answer

Earthing problem for sure. Things that should be grounded together :

Potentiometer metal cases
Potentiometer tag connection (one each)
One wire from each pickup
The bridge piece
The output jack
 
See http://www.gearslutz.com/board/instruments-guitar-bass-amps/513115-help-me-wire-my-stratocaster-please.html The post from Claveslave shows the correct wiring diagram. 

Check your grounding with a multimeter on the ohms range. Finally, as a sanity check, check the guitar lead.

Nomadd · Answer

It needs to be a shielded cable and the shield needs to be connected on both ends to a solid ground. You're describing an ungrounded guitar. It could be bad contacts on one of the jacks or the shield contact of the jack not soldered down right. 
 All pot cases need to be grounded.

Trending News

Why is my stratocaster humming/buzzing like crazy?

3 Answers