buzz when I touch neck pup, improper ground?

[sonicstew]

Hello wise tele-techies!!!

I have just recently installed some Kinman pickups in my American Series tele. I also did the shielding that is described on guitarnuts. com.

Everything seems to be working great. Except, I noticed that when I touch the neck pick up there's this strange buzz. But when I touch my strings or any other hardware it stops. And the buzz returns only when I touch that neck pup by itself.

So I thought this was kind of strange since Kinman says his neck pup covers are 'invisible', but I'm not a techie at all so that could mean or not mean a whole bunch of things. So did I not ground something properly or is that just the way it is? I'm fully prepared to live under these conditions as I never touch my neck pup with my finger - unless I'm grinding away, but my right hand will be grounding the strings anyways. But just some info on this and why would be great. I apologize if this is a repeat topic - I did do a search and there was something about cutting a wire from the neck pup and using another wire to attach to the cover and grounding it - I got lost.

Thanks for reading...

stew

[Mickey]

I'm not a techie either, but I've had ground problems (that's how I got to TDPRI in the first place) and they're a total hassle.

First thing to check -- the wiring in your house! If you've been testing the new pups at home try them somewhere else, or get one of those socket testers, they're smart to have anyway (if you don't already).

[Lyle Caldwell]

Don't unsolder or cut any wire on the pickups- that would be something to do if the pickups were out of phase, but that's not your problem.

Now, I can't say I know what your problem is, but I would suspect there's something boogered up in your wiring scheme, particularly with the ground.

Are you sure the neck pickup is properly grounded? Because if it were, there would be zero potential between the pickup cover and the bridge, so touching the cover would not generate any noise (in fact, it would further reduce what slight noise there might be- the Kinmans are noiseless, but your other wires, even in a shielded guitar, will introduce some noise - how much depends on the electrical environment).

Check all the grounds with a voltometer- from any point to any other point (including the shielding) there should be 0 ohms of potential.