Will a ground wire fix this?

I know this is a dumb question, but I am a novice when it comes to electronics, so...

I got a set of Rio Grande Dirty Harry pickups. My assumption was that if the neck pickup is uncovered, it doesn’t have to be grounded. But I am getting the worst hum I’ve ever experienced from a guitar. When I push in either the volume or tone knob, the hum stops. So is this simply a matter of one or both of the pickups needing to be grounded, or does it sound like it’s some other issue?

thanks

 

it’s a 52 avri and was working fine with the stock pickups. The new ones are wired exactly the same way, except the neck pickup isn’t grounded because there’s no metal cover over it like standard Tele neck pickups. Both pickups have the standard positive and negative wires. There’s just no ground wire for the neck pickup because there’s no metal cover. Otherwise, they’re wired exactly the same as the old ones.

when I said “push” one of the knobs..no, there’s no push/pull or any of that stuff, it’s a standard 52 avri. I just mean if I touch or lightly press one of the knobs, the humming stops

 

yes. But I am using an Obsidianwire 4 way switch harness, which came with a ground wire and the instructions said that standard covered neck pickups needed to be grounded. I’m not sure if it originally came ground (pre 4 way), I can’t remember.

in my other Tele, I have the same 4 way harness, and Vaughn Skow pickups (also an uncovered neck) and it’s not grounded, but they’re quite as a church mouse

 

yes, series and parellel. And yes, they hum in every position. I can’t believe the harness is the problem, because it’s the same harness that I had with the stock pickups and there was no hum, but the standard neck pickup was grounded, that’s the only difference.

I’ll take a pic tomorrow when I open it up again

 

So then, will grounding one of the pickups stop the hum?

it’s not a normal single coil hum. It’s a loud obnoxious hum. Far worse than any Tele or Strat I’ve ever had

 

no. I put a ground wire from the control plate to the back of the bridge, but that did nothing. I forgot to take pics, but I took a video of what it’s doing if I can figure out how to post it on here. There’s the normal single coil hum, and then there’s this annoying “fizz” above the hum. The fizz is what stops when I press on the knobs.

I honestly think it’s an issue with the pickups. They’re wired exactly the same way as my other Tele, and it’s the same 4 way harness I had with the stock pickups