# Can't get rid of pickup hum issue...



## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

Problem = touch either pickup and they hum. Closer the hand gets to pickup, the noisier it gets. Tried reversing wiring on output jack, no change. So issue is in the wiring harness, but where? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

The link to high res pic is here... Pictures by cwittler - Photobucket

Lower res pic here...
View attachment 904


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Have you checked all those grounds for continuity; to the pickups and other exposed metal parts?


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

What brand and model of pickups are you using?

Did you follow any wiring diagram from the manufacturer's site?

I'm guessing here, but I think your pickups might be 4 conductor and 2 of those conductors should likely be joined and taped off if you are not splitting the coils.

Cheers

Dave


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Ahhhh Dave that does bring up another notion too. Do both pickups use the same colours for ground. If one is white the other black but you did white white black black reversing the jack just reverse which pickup is floating.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Nice picture, but iffy wiring/soldering.

A suggestion: Given that it is a standard 2-Vol/2-Tone setup, I recommend giving the Volume pots a little shift in orienation, so that the tone cap can wired directly between the Volume pot input lug and the Tone pot. All that extra shielded cable does no bloody good whatsoever.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

greco said:


> I'm guessing here, but I think your pickups might be 4 conductor and 2 of those conductors should likely be joined and taped off if you are not splitting the coils.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Dave


I was tired last night when I was looking at the pic. I can now see that the red and white wires (top left corner of the pic) have been joined and taped off for the neck (I assume) pickup. i'm not sure about the other pickup.

Keeperofthegood and mhammer are giving you good advice here. Tidy up/eliminate all the extra wiring and then check your continuity.

Cheers

Dave


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

greco said:


> I was tired last night when I was looking at the pic. I can now see that the red and white wires (top left corner of the pic) have been joined and taped off for the neck (I assume) pickup. i'm not sure about the other pickup.
> 
> Keeperofthegood and mhammer are giving you good advice here. Tidy up/eliminate all the extra wiring and then check your continuity.
> 
> ...


 its ok Dave, it is a good point. His wires are tied off under shrink wrap but who is to say they are actually connected under that wrap?

As to being tired, in the "weed"man thread, I am smoking "coke" kkjq


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

keeperofthegood said:


> As to being tired, in the "weed"man thread, I am smoking "coke" kkjq


I saw that...lots of hilarious responses !!

Cheers

Dave


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

keeperofthegood said:


> Ahhhh Dave that does bring up another notion too. Do both pickups use the same colours for ground. If one is white the other black but you did white white black black reversing the jack just reverse which pickup is floating.


Agreed.
Without seeing more................
I believe the leads need to be reversed. It sounds like the case is now hot + and the pos.lead on the coil is going to ground.
If the PUP works but is susceptable to touch then that is the problem.After solving the touch/hum problem and to be sure that both pups are in phase with each other, when combined(middle pup switch position) there should be minimal low end loss. If one is out of phase with the other, when combined, your low end is pretty much cut in half and the overall tone is very thin and quacky.
In that case then the 4 wires plus ground drain (2 leads per coil x 2 coils) need to be identified.
If a diagram for you particular pups is not available and you cannot get them in phase with a simple lead reversal as mentioned above, then by seperating all 4 wires coming from the pup and *measuring across any pair *with a simple *ohm* meter, you will see that *a meter reading in the neighbourhood of between 6 and 12 k ohms+- will be achieved.* 
Touch any two leads to your black and red probe meter leads and by process of elimination: Start with a black lead and find it's mate with your meter,chances are the mate that gives U a reading as mentioned will be white or red, Now U have a pair (one of the coils) by process of elimination the remaining pair may be green- and the remaining white or red+
sigiifa
Sorry.........have a look at the examples online.:30171373:
humbucker 4 leads wiring - Google Search
It's not rocket science, but my description sounds like it.


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## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I will walk my way thru them all and get back to you. I haven't monkeyed with a wiring harness in awhile.

The pickups are Duncan Designed humbuckers and the guitar is a Korean made Squier Master Series Chambered Mahogany Telecaster. Seriously! Some marketing genious actually branded it that in the event we couldn't figure out.

I don't have an ohm meter and have naturally curly hair, so I have to depend on Zen or Feng-Shui or whatever the Korean Masters relied on to wire this thing. Even though it looks pretty DIY to me.

OK! No one dare me go for split coils, in-phase/out-of-phase and series/parallel. No one! OK? LOL!!


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

Ok from Show All Pickups - Seymour Duncan  for referance

So, in Quebec here is a list of some supply companies:

Quebec

Find a shop  and head over. Ohms is good for a bad solder pad but you can cheap on it too. All you need is some alligator clip wires and a dollar store LED pointer/light (not laser) and a hammer!

Take the hammer and break open the LED assembly. Odds will be there are two or three button battery cells in a plastic housing with the LED stuck to it with spit and a prayer. You need to wire one clip to one end of the LED and the other to the battery where it forms normally a switch. Get creative in how you do it  and votive candle you have a continuity tester. What you need to do is unsolder the pickups, attach a clip to the metal, and then identify which wires are grounded coming from each pickup 

This is the general pic of the idea. I suggest the clips and dollar store simply because of versatility and ease, you dont need the resistor and such with a dollar store light. You can do one thing with a purpose made tester and that is test, with this you can tear it apart and use it for other things on the fly. You can use the alligator clips too while putting the harness together to test each step before you solder it in:


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

How's the hum tracking going on this?


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## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

So far I haven't had a chance to do anything about this. But oddly enough, I am going to "get around" to it now, tonight. I am pretty sure I just have to adjust the leads, etc. It is one of those worked before but doesn't work now problems, so it is just a matter of reversing whatever was changed. I think, I hope! Will let you know how I do. Stay tuned!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Please let us know what the problem was.

Good Luck with solving it easily/quickly.

Cheers

Dave


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## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

OK this is as fixed as it is going to get for now. The Duncan Designed humbuckers were in fact wired opposite to their Seymour Duncan ancestors. Black is ground and green is hot. Everything else in the wiring harness has to follow suit, obviously. Once everything is wired together the ground functions properly. The cheap electronics are definitely noisy though...lots of 120 cycle buzz...but at least the most offensive noises are gone. The guitar is at least adequate until I get motivated to tear it all down and upgrade everything. It is a great guitar for hacking around, so we will see what sort of GAS erupts in the next little while. Thanks for all the good advice. Cheers!


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