Joe Strummer Tele Noise. Help!

Since I am a newbie with Tele's this may be a dumb question.

I noticed that when I am plugged into my amp or even my Boss GT-10 by itself(not plugged into the amp), the sound without playing anything is like it's not grounded, like you have a bad cable, but the kicker is when I touch the strings or the volume or tone knob the guitar gets quiet instantly!

Normal or not??

Sounds like it's not grounded properly. Maybe a grounding wire to the bottom(underside) of the bridge will help.

I'd check the ground...Those Strummer Teles are sheilded in all the cavities so hum should be minimal.

Please give more detail about the ground!

You may need to do a little surgery to determine this. The easy way is to open the control cavity and look for a separate single conductor ground wire (not a pickup wire) that goes from the control cavity towards the bridge pickup.
To be totally sure, pull the strings and loosen the bridge. You should see a wire that's slipped under the metal plate of the bridge that doesn't seem connected to anything. That wire should be soldered directly to the housing of one of the potentiometers (ground).

IIRC, when the buzzing stops as you touch the strings, it's a pretty solid indicator that your ground is good. If there were no continuity, touching the strings would have no impact on the buzz.

So which is it??
Neocaster says its normal and others think there is an issue.

This is not helping!!!

Follow my thinking here, until someone jumps on who can answer authoritatively.

If touching the strings causes the buzz to stop, the ground is continuous from the sleeve lead of the cable to the pots (and control plate) by wire to the bridge, saddles and strings. If the continuity were interrupted anywhere, touching the strings would have no impact on the buzz.

Try a cleaner power source. Single coil pickups can get louder when they share a supply with "noisy" electronics, things that put 60-cycle noise back on the line like fans, compressors, and fluorescent lights.

If touching the strings causes the buzz to stop, the ground is continuous from the sleeve lead of the cable to the pots (and control plate) by wire to the bridge, saddles and strings. If the continuity were interrupted anywhere, touching the strings would have no impact on the buzz.


This what I thought too...This is one of those luke-warm discussions though where some people insist that you must have a seperate ground for the bridge and others (like me) don't.

Try a cleaner power source. Single coil pickups can get louder when they share a supply with "noisy" electronics, things that put 60-cycle noise back on the line like fans, compressors, and fluorescent lights.

I hope the new poster will hang with us, as there's buzz and then there's buzz. The sound I get when I let go of my strings on virtually all my guitars is the same in the primary guitar playing area because of the above factors Neocaster has described. Annoying, sure. Life is full of annoyances.

I'd suggest that the buzz is from the Unrequited Ghost of John Grahm Mellor but I think my sense of humor would not be well understood.

Bump. Anyone?

Theres a Strummer at my local dealer, but I've never played it, so I can't speak to any characteristics. This hum you may hear may or may not be a problem.

If you find the diagnosis difficult to do (or fix) yourself bring it back to the dealer where you bought it, or a a fender authorized dealer if you're the original owner and it's been less than a year since purchase. Otherwise you'll likely pay a fee for diagnosic/repair if the warranty is out.