Soo, I finally swapped the HZs into the Kelly....

[Twitch]

....and the the damn feedback issue persists. So, apparently it wasnt the Duncan Design pups that were the problem. The HZs were feedback free in the TFF. So what the fuck??

Is it possible that the density of the wood and size of the body of the Kelly have anything to do with this? Also, I found out, and cant believe I didnt catch this before, the Kelly has the 580 Tekuchie, which means brass block.

Heres the skinny, if the Kellys body is parallel to the speaker cabinet baffle, ie, normal playing position, I get feedback, even with a noise gate. If I turn so the Kellys body is 90 degrees to the speaker cabinet baffle, all is good in the world, no feedback.

I originally thought it was the cheaper pups, but as noted, known silent, good quality pickups from another guitar did not solve the problem. Where do I go next.

Please dont say copper tape. The TFF did not have copper tape and I wasnt even utilizing the metal paint in the pup cavities and it had no feedback issues, even with the AB on. The Kelly IS using the metal paint and I have the sides and rear of the control cavity encased with about 4 layers of aluminum foil and the same with the trem cavity. Shieldings not the issue, though I am aware copper tape would be better, but considering the TFF had NO shielding beyond whats in the PUP and had no issues, Im ruling it out.

Please, help. I love this guitar but its almost unusable live and for rehearsals.

[DalyTek]

Twitch, it sounds like either interference (shielding) or a ground issue, which are connected to each other.
First, is the bridge grounding properly? Sometimes the wire disconnects from the trem and is hard to notice.
If you have a multimeter, check for continuity between all the various grounds.
The shielding won't work if the various parts are not contacting each other properly to wrap the ground signal around the rest of the wiring.

[Twitch]

Twitch, it sounds like either interference (shielding) or a ground issue, which are connected to each other.
First, is the bridge grounding properly? Sometimes the wire disconnects from the trem and is hard to notice.
If you have a multimeter, check for continuity between all the various grounds.
The shielding won't work if the various parts are not contacting each other properly to wrap the ground signal around the rest of the wiring.

If theres an issue it would have to be the bridge ground or the vol pot, as I redid that god damned center point tap tonight as well as the 3way. Maybe Ill check the OP jack too. I can sort that real quick just by touching the strings and seeing if the buzz goes away. Thanks DT, Ill check that out.

[Twitch]

Ok, the OP jack and plate, volume knob, 3way body, strings, tuners and bridge all kill the buzz. Could this be a bad volume pot? I did notice that halfway through its rotation some static gets added to the buzz that not present full on or almost off, and Im not talking scratchy pot here, this static occurs while the knob is stationary. Its not dirty pot crackle, its sound more like what it would sound like if I was close to a fluorescent light(which there isnt one in the vicinity) but only happens when the pot is in the middle of its range. Could a bad pot just fuck the whole system? Its not scratchy and works as it should short of the static in the middle range.

[DalyTek]

Twitch, you have a grounding problem for sure. One of the following is going on:
1. You have something not grounded at all.
2. You have a bad/weak/cold solder joint.
3. You have a ground loop (i.e. more than one path to ground.)

Can you get a good clear picture of the cavity? I'll see if I can visually see anything wrong there.

[TKEblue]

What a coincidence twitch, I was just about to post that I fixed the wiring in my kelly today. Just ended up being a bad connection on the pot. Mined had similar problems, bad feedback and hum. It still has a little but its 100x better then it was. Maybe its a bad connection on yours?

[Twitch]

Ill get a pic sometime this weekend, got a show tomorrow, so it will wait. I did notice that the vol pot doesnt have shielded wire between it and the 3way, nor between the 3way and op jack. All my other guitars do because I put it there at some point but dont recall if they had it to begin with and dont recall it ever being an issue before. I put in shielded wire on everything as an overkill measure when swapping pups. The Kellys the only guitar Ive havent done any work on besides resoldering the ground on the OP jack when I first bought it. I agree it could be a ground loop as thats kind of what I thought too but wasnt sure enough to mention it. I may just replace the pot, switch and OP jack and add shielded wire between them and see where that gets me.

[Twitch]

What a coincidence twitch, I was just about to post that I fixed the wiring in my kelly today. Just ended up being a bad connection on the pot. Mined had similar problems, bad feedback and hum. It still has a little but its 100x better then it was. Maybe its a bad connection on yours?

Interesting. Well, if I swap all the guts, Ill surely have fixed that issue. Its still got the junk stock pot anyhow. Love me some CTS pots.

[Trem]

Grounding or a short. Check that your jack is tight, like take it out and tighten the inside nut against itself. I did have that happen where it felt tight from the outside, but i took it out and there was a little play on the inside, it made squealing and scratching sounds. Wiggle your cord at the jack and see if it does it, but mine would only do it sometimes, had to be at a certain angle it seemed cause i could wiggle it pretty good and nothing would happen, then i'd just be playing and turn one way and it would happen. It was driving me nuts and i checked all my wiring and all that shit over and over and it was just the jack.

[TKEblue]

What do you mean it has the 580 takeuchi so that means brass block? Did they have brass blocks on them from the factory or you have one laying around?

[Twitch]

Its the Tekeuchi model 580, not the cheapy 580 found most of the time. It may not be brass, but its not steel or pot metal, so Im guessing its brass.

[TKEblue]

Ah I didn't know that. I just checked mine too and mines stamped takeuchi as well. Learn something new every day.. lol

[DalyTek]

It not having shielded wire between the pot and the switch shouldn't have any adverse effect if the cavity itself is shielded.
Theoretically, it's possible that an interference could be generated inside the shield, but I have never seen it happen.

Replacing all the guts will definitely take care of the problem, but it's way overkill.
I don't see how it could be a short, since it only happens when the guitar is aligned to a certain orientation to the amp.
It's definitely got to be some break in the shield. I always use my multimeter to check continuity between all the components and true ground.
I put my meter on the continuity buzzer setting, plug my cable into the guitar and leave the other end of the cable unplugged.
Touch one probe of the meter to the tip of the plug and use the other probe to touch each component to check if there's continuity.
I test each pot case, the switch case, the tuners, the foil shield or ground gang screwed into shielding paint (if there is one), and any mini switches too.
Testing the tuners actually checks the bridge and strings in the process, and you don't need to check the jack because the cable is taking care of that.
Using the cable ensures that you are checking at the point where ground leaves your guitar and enters the amplifier to complete the circuit to true Earth ground.

I know you probably already know most of that, Twitch, but I wanted to put it for anyone else reading that may have similar problems.