Less than excellent? *GASP!

[tseegert]

So in another thread, I expressed that I was having issues with hum thru my SLSMG/Vetta II rig. Depending on which way I turn, I can either almost eliminate the hum, or magnify it. This is less than optimal obviously. At gigs with a light system, it was nearly unusable unless I turned the gain down way less than I desire for my music.

I had recently taken my SLSMG to a guitar tech to check for soldering issues, as I had installed a couple Duncans in place of the EMG HZ's that came stock, and in the process I apparently had a bad solder joint... its to be expected, I'm no tech. So he went thru and fixed my ground. It cleared alot of the noise up, but alas, not all of it.

So I mentioned a new lil device by Electro Harmonix, The Hum Debugger. A kind sould informed me that I should eliminate the problem at the source; my electronics. He said he had a similar problem until he replaced his blade switch with a toggle. Which leads me to my question; Does my SLSMG (which came stock with HZ's, and has the Eeriedess paintjob, just so you know the model) have less than desireable electronics straight from the factory? Could the switch really be that much of a nuisance?

I need to relieve this hum from my rig, essentially. I play with a Line 6 amp model, full gain and just a touch of compression, with the gain on the compression barely above neutral. The guitars pickups are a JB and Jazz. Its loud enough depending on the direction I am facing that when I am playing my guitar on full volume, and lightly palm muting notes, that the hum actually bleeds thru the sound of the guitar.

Basically I run my guitar straight into the Vetta, thats the rig in its entirety. If someone could please offer some insight into this problem, please holler, I have too much wrapped up into this stuff to be dealing with the noise issues. It's drivin me mad.

Thanks a ton in advance.

[Sunbane]

As far as I've heard, all Jackson imports come with the cheapest possible electronics nowadays. But, is your tech reputable? Has he checked so there aren't any ground loops in the wiring of your guitar?

[Cygnus X1]

Also, is the switch body properly grounded? The five way has enough mass to the body that it can pick up stray emf signals on its own.

[charvelguy]

Well, process of elimination. If there's another guitar available, (you're other guitarists) give it a go through your rig and compare results.
Sounds like a shielding/grounding problem with RF somewhere in the signal chain and just haven't found or elminated the source.

Those high gain models like the insane are noisy though. Has it always done this or is it a recent more noticable type of thing?


I have a similar problem occuring with a custom wound pickup in a Korean guitar. Its a ceramic mag humbucker, 13.5k (made by Manlius pickups) its wired up correctly according to manufacturer but man, it produces just nutso noise even with hum cancel on. The manufacturer swears his pickups-especially his custom wound humbuckers have no noise issues, but I have read an account or two stating otherwise.
I love the sound of the pickup, but I would not be able to use it live.
The factory pickups were fine-dead silent. So, its either the rest of the electronics, the shielding, or how its wired or the picklup itself as it will be much noisier than any other axe outside of a single coil.

[CharvelRocker]

Im becoming convinced their imports have issues when ti comes to grounding to the bridge. My DK2T has a similar issue, and it goes away for a little when I wiggle the treble side post a certain way. Its like however they are grounding it to the bridge is not working well.

[emperor_black]

my slsmg was different when compared to my DK2T (in which I shun the noise-causing blade switch and replaced with a toggle) is that it did not have a pickup cavity grounding. Since the dk2t came with passive pickups as standard, they had pickup cavity grounding. A small metal plate held in place by a screw with a wire soldered which in turn terminated into a common grounding point. (hope i'm making sense)

My 2006 SLSMG which came with EMG actives did not have the pickup cavity grounding. Obviously, because active pickups dont need it I'm told. I dont know about the EMG-HZ's. but you might try grounding the pickup cavity and see if that helps.

[bibz]

My slsmg had a small hum, turned out a ground wire got loose during shipping (one that had been screwed down). Quiet as a mouse since, and I do my own soldering.

[emperor_black]

somehow I was never impressed with the SLSMG's build quality to begin with. yes, it was much quiet than the DK2T (before I made the changes) but there were other problems. For example, on the high E, there was literally no sustain. And the 3rd string had an annoying buzz that would never go away unless I had the action up high. it was as though something was obstructing the vibration.

Somehow, the quality of the DK2T, I never saw in the SLSMG. Needless to say, its gone! Thank god! Now, me, the DK2T, wife and kid...we are a happy family.

[trysgrt]

Thanks for all the replies. The build quality of mine is very good, I've no problem with sustain or action. When I got it, it needed a little lovin to get it just right for me, but since it's been a beauty.

As far as the switch goes, how did you replace a blade with a toggle? Arent most toggles round at the base? I'm just trying to picture what it would look like in place of the blade, as I am assuming you put it in the same spot as the blade switch?

I would have to wager that must be the source, as I said it has a JB and Jazz in it now, and the wiring was looked over with a fine tooth comb according to the tech at my local store. When he took it, he did in fact fix a bad ground he found when I installed them. I think I am going to break down and get a hum-debugger nonetheless, at least after I try one for myself.

At any rate, thanks for the input and I will definitely keep all of this in mind in the future.

[emperor_black]

As far as the switch goes, how did you replace a blade with a toggle? Arent most toggles round at the base? I'm just trying to picture what it would look like in place of the blade, as I am assuming you put it in the same spot as the blade switch?

You can't just replace the blade with the toggle unfortunately. I had long disconnected the tone knob because I never used it. I removed the tone knob and in its place, put a toggle switch. Wiring was a breeze . The blade was confusing with 8 poles and what not. I never used the middle position of the pickup selector anyway. It was either bridge or neck. So, I got a SPDT (single pole dual throw) switch from radio-shack which had three soldering posts. I took out the tone knob, screwed the toggle switch in place, connected the ground to the middle pole of the toggle, the hot from the neck to the upper pole and hot from bridge to the lower pole. That's it! The pickup selector switch is the first line of contact in a guitar where the hot from the pickups is router to the volume and from there to the tone knob. If you have a faulty or less than perfect switch, you are bound to have some problems. Sometimes, I had to wiggle my blade selector switch a little for the neck pickup to work. It had became that bad. the electronics on the dk2t suck!!

[charvelguy]

Another consideration is how you are transfering power to your rig.
Voltage regulation and smoothing out the power from surge, spike and bad spots-filter and process your power. (forget the exact terminology used)
I'm guessing that is pretty much what an effect like the hum debugger would do in a similar sense with the audio signal.