Pickup Cavity Ground Wires Not Grounding Anything?

[Joezuu]

Hi guys I'm a longtime reader of this forum but a new member. I just got this Jackson Soloist XL (hss) off of ebay from a guy who said he was selling it for a friend. I plugged it in and was really happy with it (I've never owned a soloist before), but of course I needed to change the stock pickups.

Anywho, I removed them and noticed that there were wires screwed into the bottom of each of the cavities which were connected in turn to a tab screwed into the side of the control cavity which was then connected to the back of the volume knob. I figured it was for grounding the cavity shielding, but I thought it was odd that they were in cut out areas of were the paint should be.

On a hunch I tested the pickups cavities for electrical continuity with my multimeter and found none. None on the paint and none in the little cut out area that the tabs were screwed into. I've never had a shielded guitar before but I thought the point of it was to be electrically conductive. If so, what is the point of these wires? Am I missing something? Most of my knowledge about wiring and electronics comes from a high school electronics class and by reading forums such as this one.

Also, I thought that the Soloist XL was supposed to come with a JT-590. The trem on this one appears to be a JT-580 LP. What's with that?

The reason I'm posting this is because I'm now getting constant buzz from all of the pickups even when I replaced the stock ones. I figured it was a bad solder joint or a missing ground but I checked and re-checked everything and I can't figure out what the problem is. (BTW, the trem IS grounded).

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Pics:

[Axewielder]

The shielding paint in the pup cavities is covered by normal paint which is non-conductive. It might be tricky to test with an ohmmeter.

[Newc]

However, the screws are in contact with the shielding paint layer, so in turn everything should be grounded. If you've still got the active electronics in it (not sure if the XL came with it or not), it could be that.

Try connecting each pickup alone to the jack directly (and grounded, obviously) to rule out the pots and switch.

[warlok]

What they said ^^.. And about the trem, that is a 1994 only JT580LP with the squared off, floyd shaped baseplate. They're great trems (IMO). If you get rid of it, I'll take first dibbs..

[Joezuu]

@Newc The XL came with passives and they sound pretty bleh. I'll try connecting each pickup to the output jack like you say.

Also, as for pickups, I threw an X2N into the bridge but the cavity is so shallow that the pickup hits the bottom and remains very close to the strings. In effect, it completely overpowers the other pickups. I also have a duncan hot rails in the neck and dimarzio yjm in the center. Should I get a slightly lower output pickup for the bridge? I like high gain, chunky rhythms. Thanks for the replies!

[jdr94]

Are you sure its the pickup hitting or the screws? I cut my screws short in my old soloist and had no problems with putting an x2n or dimarzio d_activator in it. Dont know if its different as mine was a soloist pro.


Edit-btw the x2n will overpower most pickups

[Joezuu]

However, the screws are in contact with the shielding paint layer, so in turn everything should be grounded. If you've still got the active electronics in it (not sure if the XL came with it or not), it could be that.

Try connecting each pickup alone to the jack directly (and grounded, obviously) to rule out the pots and switch.

Hmm, no dice. I still get a loud hum when I connect the any of the pickups directly to the output jack. The ground from the pickup also goes directly to the output jack too right?

Also, so the shielding paint is in the cutout area where the screws are? Should there be no contact between the shielding paint and the non-shielding paint?

@Warlok I'm not selling it... Yet...

[jdr94]

So it was fine, you swapped the pickups and now theres hum? Are u sure the oupt jack wires arent reversed?

[Joezuu]

So it was fine, you swapped the pickups and now theres hum? Are u sure the oupt jack wires arent reversed?

Yeah, I checked that. When I connect the pickup directly to the output jack to rule out the pots, do the shielding wires need to be grounded at the same time?

[jdr94]

Honestly ive never found those wires to make that big of a difference. Maybe cause ive always used a noise suppressor, but if you connect the pickup(out of the guitar) to an output jack and still get the hum, the only thing i could think is that the pickup is bad or the guitar cable is bad. Probably a silly question, but have u tried different cables?

[Trem]

well by now everyone knows what i'm gonna say but - search on threads for shielding your guitar...
start from scratch, shield that bitch with copper tape - pickup cavities too, the paint is shit.
Rewire from scratch - make it nice and tidy ground everything to one point, make sure all cavities have continuity with the tape - ect..

a thought -by chance are you temporaily working around anything that could be causing interference... florescent light ect..

[jdr94]

Sup trem, funny i was just about to edit my post and ask the same thing about lights and whatnot causing interference.

[warlok]

Trem - have you ever tried aluminum tape? Notice a difference with copper?

[Trem]

Trem - have you ever tried aluminum tape? Notice a difference with copper?

i haven't, i have seen others say it worked for them.

Hmm, no dice. I still get a loud hum when I connect the any of the pickups directly to the output jack. The ground from the pickup also goes directly to the output jack too right?

Also, so the shielding paint is in the cutout area where the screws are? Should there be no contact between the shielding paint and the non-shielding paint?

@Warlok I'm not selling it... Yet...

the thing about trying to answer questions about buzz and noise and stuff of that nature over a forum, where it could be anything and hard to answer for sure as a persons not standing next to you to see for themselves,...there are some typical suggestions by ones experience that can help, but what it pretty much comes down to is finding out what what needs to be done and just doing it. sometimes it takes more than once till you get it right but you will figure it out...least that's the way i look at things. tenacity it works for me

[Joezuu]

@Trem

Yeah I'll probably just end up re-shielding it and I have read a lot about that. And I do understand the difficulty of not actual being there to diagnose the problem but honestly I've never had a grounding problem that I couldn't fix, but then again most guitars I've owned had active pickups.

Also, the small practice room I have in my garage has two florescent lights, but all of my active guitars have been dead quiet.
I guess I just figured that I did something stupid or overlooked something. I have ruled out the amp and cables and I even moved to a different room but still have the hum. I'll keep trying different things and I just ordered all new pots, jacks, etc.

Last thing, regarding the X2N, how far away from the strings should it be to avoid interfering with the vibrations, etc? The furthest I can get it is about .3".

Thanks for all your help guys.