Members mbengs1 Posted November 24, 2014 Members Share Posted November 24, 2014 It hums loudly (when distortion is on) and the output is weaker than it used to be. I will take it to the guitar repair shop. but can you tell what is wrong with the guitar? is it just a solder joint gone bad? if having it fixed doesn't fix it that would be a bummer lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted November 24, 2014 Members Share Posted November 24, 2014 Are you sure the problem is not with the distortion ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chordite Posted November 24, 2014 Members Share Posted November 24, 2014 Sounds like an earth problem, dry solder joint. If you have a resistance meter try checking for zero resistance between the jack socket outer and the bridge and any other earth points you can get at.Also try a different amp / lead to make sure the problem is in the guitar not external. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 24, 2014 Members Share Posted November 24, 2014 Are you sure the problem is not with the distortion ? I was thinking the same thing. Sounds like a problem with whatever you're using for distortion. If you're running your distortion pedal on battery power, it may simply be a weak battery but that's probably unlikely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Floyd Rosenbomb Posted November 24, 2014 Members Share Posted November 24, 2014 Sounds like a solder joints on one of the ground pickup wires came loose, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted November 24, 2014 Members Share Posted November 24, 2014 What kind of guitar? Does it have a battery in it? If not it'll be a physical connection or component that your tech should be able to isolate and fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted November 24, 2014 Members Share Posted November 24, 2014 Try the simple stuff first. Try a different cord, try a different amp. If you still have a hum its likely inside the guitar. Make sure it isn't your pedals too. Remove them and see if you get your volume back. The most common points are where problems occur are places where you can tug on wires or have components loosen up. its plugged in and the knobs. The nuts that hold these jacks and pots in place get loose and they may move round and break a wire off or short a wire. Soldering the wires back on isn't that hard to do. As a musician you should learn to fix simple connections like that yourself. The rule is, tin the solder iron tip, heat the connection, then apply solder. A little goes a long way so don't glob it on or you can short something else out. Unscrew the jack and take a look, for any loose wires at the connections. If you find the ground wires broken off, buy a cheap soldering iron and solder from Radio shack and solder it back. You're getting some sound, so it sounds like a weak ground or partial short. Cheap guitar cords are notorious for this. One good tug and the connector or wires inside can be toast. Unless your pickups have taken a direct impact from something, Its less likely they are the cause. Of course you may be having some amp or pedal problem too but I suggest you use a little deductive reasoning to rule those out. Use a different guitar, try no boxes, try a different amp etc. You should note, drive boxes will amplify any hum coming from anything before it. If you have single coil pickups, like a fender guitar, many were never originally designed to run with high gain devices and need additional shielding added to get rid of that noise. The other possibility is you may be cranking the box up to do what your amp should be doing. Try running the amp louder and the box lower and you should have less noise and more raw power. If the hum came on all of a sudden then check all the things I and others have mentioned. Oh, one other possibility. Some pedals don't like generic wall warts. Try running the pedal on a battery and see if the hum goes away. Pedals like Boss and others require a zero hum adaptor. If you're using some radio shack or wallmart junk, its going to make those pedals hum badly. If you find that's the case get a Boss, or Danelectro zero hum adaptor and it will be as quiet as a battery. If you run more then one pedal those spot one jobs work well on most pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Burgess Posted November 25, 2014 Members Share Posted November 25, 2014 You'd be surprised how often a problem like this turns out to be the selector switch. A guitar doesn't really have that many moving parts. Selector switch and the output jack are usually the only things that can go wrong on a guitar that's seeing normal usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbengs1 Posted November 25, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 25, 2014 I haven't used the guitar in a month and it sounds very different now. weaker output + loud hum. with clean you cant hear the hum but it still sounds weak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 25, 2014 Moderators Share Posted November 25, 2014 What guitar is it? Is it plugged direct into an amp? Have you tried another amp? Have you tried another lead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve2112 Posted November 25, 2014 Members Share Posted November 25, 2014 What guitar? What kind of amp? Could be a loose wire- so just take off the plate on the back and have a look. As others have said, could be a cable or amp problem too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbengs1 Posted November 25, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 25, 2014 The guitar is a fender mim 2002 stratocaster. the amp is a bugera 6262 head with a 2x12 cabinet. i haven't tried another amp but my other guitar sounds fine through the same rig. the same thing happened to another guitar. i think its just wiring gone bad. i hope the pickups didnt break because that would be hard to replace. i dont think its the pickups because i doubt all three pickups would break at the same time. it doesnt matter which pickup is on. its still noisy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Grumpy Posted November 25, 2014 Members Share Posted November 25, 2014 Check the jack first. It's held in with two screws. Unscrew and gently lift it out, should look like this: There should be two wires solidly soldered to the jack terminals. The jack should not twist or rotate in the plate, if it does, tighten down the nut. If a wire has broken off, take it to your tech to have it repaired. What typically happens is that the jack nut gets loose, and the jack begins turning and twisting, which then pulls and flexes on the wires until one of them breaks off. If the ground wire breaks off, you'll still get some signal, but it will be weak and you'll have lots of hum, does that sound familiar? Volume and tone pots can also come loose and turn in their holes, and will cause similar problems. This can also cause pot terminals to "ground out" on cavity shielding. Very unlikely for a pickup to fail unless it's been physically damaged as it is simply a coil of thin wire; no moving parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pickyphone Posted November 25, 2014 Members Share Posted November 25, 2014 You'd be surprised how often a problem like this turns out to be the selector switch. A guitar doesn't really have that many moving parts. Selector switch and the output jack are usually the only things that can go wrong on a guitar that's seeing normal usage. facebook hack Yeah I agree 100% I had some problems similar, but then I flipped that switch and heard it was working on the other pickups. opened, soldered, sorted. Check it OP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted November 25, 2014 Members Share Posted November 25, 2014 ... the output is weaker than it used to be... Has anything at all changed since the output used to be stronger? Did you change amps? Move to a new place? Drop the guitar? Get any new appliances in your home? etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted November 26, 2014 Members Share Posted November 26, 2014 I would like to know what his other guitar is. If that guitar has say humbuckers, and he's been playing it for awhile, has his amp and drive boxes set up for that one, just plugging in a strat with its single coils is going to sound wimpy in comparison. Single coils don't have the output of a Humbucker and you have to re tweak all your settings to make it compare. It also hums allot more, especially when you kick on an overdrive. Its one reason many guitarists mod their strats adding extra copper foil shielding to the cavity and back of the pick guard. Some even switch to noiseless pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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