Wired my first tele! Ground hum problem...

[klasher]

So I wired a tele for the first time using a few different youtube vids for guidance. Four way switch, sounds great, and I only burned myself once. I count that as a win.
Only problem is I'm getting a little bit of ground hum in all positions when I touch the pickguard. Any idea what that could be? I do remember when I soldered the ground wire from the output jack to the casing of the tone pot, the little puddle of solder touched the solder from the ground lead of the cap on the tone pot. Not sure if that could be causing it or not.
Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Old Verle Miller]

So I wired a tele for the first time using a few different youtube vids for guidance. Four way switch, sounds great, and I only burned myself once. I count that as a win.
Only problem is I'm getting a little bit of ground hum in all positions when I touch the pickguard. Any idea what that could be? I do remember when I soldered the ground wire from the output jack to the casing of the tone pot, the little puddle of solder touched the solder from the ground lead of the cap on the tone pot. Not sure if that could be causing it or not.
Any suggestions appreciated.

Odd ... does it hum when you touch the pickups? Controls?
If the hum occurs on all positions, using shielded wire to the jack may help. Also check to see that there's a good ground connection at the bridge plate. You may want to go to the effort of copper-taping the inside surface of the pickguard, too.

 

[Geo]

Did you attached a ground wire to the neck pickup cover after snipping the existing one on the pickup?

 

[klasher]

The neck pup had 3 wires already, one being a ground wire. If I remember correctly I grounded that wire to the casing of the volume pot.

 

[klasher]

Odd ... does it hum when you touch the pickups? Controls?
If the hum occurs on all positions, using shielded wire to the jack may help. Also check to see that there's a good ground connection at the bridge plate. You may want to go to the effort of copper-taping the inside surface of the pickguard, too.

More info. It only hums when I touch the pickguard, especially near the neck pup, which is chrome covered but has the third wire for grounding purposes that's soldered to the volume pot casing. It doesn't hum when I touch any of the controls or the bridge plate, or the neck pup itself for that matter (or the bridge pup). It's only when I touch the pickguard, but again especially near the neck pup.

 

[kbold]

Pic's would help.
As mentioned by O-V-M, check the bridge plate is grounded.

I only burned myself once. I count that as a win.

Hmmmm ... I'm not sure that would be classed as a win.

 

[klasher]

Bridge plate is grounded. I'll try to grab pics later today.

 

[Lonn]

It hums when you touch the plastic pickguard?

 

[58Bassman]

Can you post the diagram you used? What material was used to make the pickguard?

If you touch the pickguard and hear hum, it means that the pickguard is electrically conductive and it's connected to a hot wire. If it buzzes, and that's a different sound, it could be caused by a ground that's needed, but not connected.

What happens if you touch the bridge strings, tuners or screws used for the selector switch?

 

[BlueShadows]

It hums when you touch the plastic pickguard?

Was thinking the same thing, doesn’t make much sense as a grounding issue if touching plastic is the only culprit. And if it changes in intensity with proximity to the neck pup I wonder if it is a connection issue there.

 

[pipthepilot]

So I wired a tele for the first time using a few different youtube vids for guidance. Four way switch, sounds great, and I only burned myself once. I count that as a win.
Only problem is I'm getting a little bit of ground hum in all positions when I touch the pickguard. Any idea what that could be? I do remember when I soldered the ground wire from the output jack to the casing of the tone pot, the little puddle of solder touched the solder from the ground lead of the cap on the tone pot. Not sure if that could be causing it or not.
Any suggestions appreciated.

Is the noise hum or crackle? Crackle would suggest static discharge from the pickguard which is actually quite common. It's easily resolved with copper tape on the back of your pickguard, just make sure the tape is grounded.

 

[klasher]

I

Is the noise hum or crackle? Crackle would suggest static discharge from the pickguard which is actually quite common. It's easily resolved with copper tape on the back of your pickguard, just make sure the tape is grounded.

Yeah it's definitely a crackle. Not a hum or buzzing. And it's intermittent. I was playing with it a bunch tonight, both w/and without OD pedals, both loud and quiet. It's definitely a crackle and definitely intermittent. The pickguard is plastic. Doesn't happen when I touch anything else, not the pups themselves, not the bridge, not any of the controls or the control plate. But it definitely is more noticeable when I touch closer to the neck pup, but NOT when I touch the neck pup itself. I'll look into the copper tape route. So dumb question: how do I ground the copper tape?

 

[pipthepilot]

If you have regular tele with pickguard and metal control plate: After covering the back of the guard with copper tape, stick an inch strip of tape across the body into the control cavity so that when the pickguard and control plate are in place, they're both touching it. The control plate should be grounded, so when the control plate and guard are both touching the small strip, the guard will also be grounded.

If you have a Thinline type pickguard where the pots and switch are directly connected, the copper tape will be ground via the pots.

Do you have a multimeter? If you do, its always good practice to test your ground connections after wiring your guitar by selecting continuity test, touch one probe to the Jack socket ring and then go around with the second probe to test everything is grounded. Make sure you test the back of the pots, the switch chassis, the control plate, the bridge and any shielding you have installed.

 

[kbold]

I


Yeah it's definitely a crackle. Not a hum or buzzing. And it's intermittent. I was playing with it a bunch tonight, both w/and without OD pedals, both loud and quiet. It's definitely a crackle and definitely intermittent. The pickguard is plastic. Doesn't happen when I touch anything else, not the pups themselves, not the bridge, not any of the controls or the control plate. But it definitely is more noticeable when I touch closer to the neck pup, but NOT when I touch the neck pup itself. I'll look into the copper tape route. So dumb question: how do I ground the copper tape?

Crackle .. that's different to hum.
You can apply a sheet of copper foil, (or aluminium foil will work just as well ... with addition of some contact adhesive) to the back of the pickguard. If something already grounded, like a pot, switch, or pickup is making contact with the sheet, that should be sufficient ... check with a multimeter. Otherwise (to be certain) solder tag a wire to the sheet and ground the wire.

 

[Tele-Monster17]

Dumb question but, did you shield the back of the guard and all the routed pockets with copper tape?

 

[uriah1]

Just do it over. You could also then check one pickup at a time.