Members muellator Posted March 24, 2011 Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 I've got a PRS 513, there is a loud hum (which I understand is normal with single coils), but it cuts almost right out if I touch one of the screws or some metal which is connected to the circuit. Is something wrong with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jarick Posted March 24, 2011 Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 Yes, it's not grounded right. There should be a wire running from the bridge post to the ground of the controls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 Frick, I took it back to the shop and he said he looked at it...I peeked in myself and there appears to be a wire running from the bridge to the controls, there's a stupid circuit board in this guitar, maybe its not on the right spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted March 24, 2011 Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 I've got a PRS 513, there is a loud hum (which I understand is normal with single coils), but it cuts almost right out if I touch one of the screws or some metal which is connected to the circuit. Is something wrong with it? What what should happen with a proper string ground. You essentially become part of the shielding. Is there shielding in the control cavity? If not pick up some of the 2 inch wide copper tape from stewmac and shield the electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 What what should happen with a proper string ground. You essentially become part of the shielding. Is there shielding in the control cavity? If not pick up some of the 2 inch wide copper tape from stewmac and shield the electronics. So there's nothing wrong with the grounding? My other guess was some interference issue, will shielding it make a noticable difference in the humming, because there is no shielding. Also, with the pickups on the 513, has anyone removed them? I'm assuming just unscrew them at the caps, I've actually never removed pickups from a front loaded guitar like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted March 24, 2011 Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 Shielding is fairly effective against interference. It won't be whisper quiet but it will be miles better than it is now. Of course you could hunt down and get rid of noise sources at home, but it's not practical to rely on that if you gig or play at others places. The copper tape is pretty easy to work with. The only thing you have to be sure of is that all points of the shielding are connected to ground. In a control cavity that is usually taken care of by the pots smooshing down on top of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 I'm uploading a video to YouTube to show you what exactly is happening, though I think you get the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Becker Guitars Posted March 24, 2011 Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 I would definitely double check to make sure that ground wire is making a solid contact to both the bridge and the ground. It may be there, but if it is not contacting both points then the whole circuit won't be grounded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members k_strat Posted March 24, 2011 Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o_EurzNe34 ??? Your video is set to "private". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 24, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 ??? Your video is set to "private". should be good now, my bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Firebrand Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 I ran into an American Deluxe Telecaster with this issue. Everything was proper, but it buzzed when your hand came off the strings.The resolve?In the new models, the S-1 switch is made of PLASTIC, not metal. Once the S-1 was replaced with a normal volume control, everything was whisper quiet.I am certain if the owner found a metal S-1 switch it would remain quiet. As for 513s, I have found anytime I used the "single coil" mode, the guitar always hummed/buzzed when not being played.The pickups are true single coils. I don't know that the extra shielding will do that much for you. At least it doesn't happen while you play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 I would definitely double check to make sure that ground wire is making a solid contact to both the bridge and the ground. It may be there, but if it is not contacting both points then the whole circuit won't be grounded. This ^ ^ ^ ^ That sounds to me much more like a poor ground than a hummimg SC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 This ^ ^ ^ ^That sounds to me much more like a poor ground than a hummimg SC. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a grounding issue, as I was before. I'm pretty annoyed with the shop, I just spent a lot of money on the guitar, it should have worked in the first place, and they should have fixed it when I took it in. I'm not sure if the tone and volume pots are ground together, that may be the issue. I sent an email to PRS with the video, he said it was likely a grounding issue. The buzz gets louder when I place my hand on the strings, it should be the opposite. Thanks for all the help guys, I'll take it in and get them to do it since I don't have any extra wire on me and let you know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 The buzz gets louder when I place my hand on the strings, it should be the opposite. Now that does sound like a bad ground. Good luck getting it sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Now that does sound like a bad ground. Good luck getting it sorted. Yeah I forgot to mention that detail haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 If the ground was bad, it wouldnt get quieter when ground was touched it would get louder. If it doesnt get quieter when you touch the strings it may be the bridge wire is bad. Strings are grounded through the tailpiece or bridge and must be there on all guitars. If anything its a lack of shielding in some shape or fashion. Best you can do is take a pic of the cavity and let us look at the wiring. Other issues that can add to the problem is a guitar cord with low shielding content or an amp chassis that doesnt shield the entire circuit. You want a guitar cord with 90% shielding iff possible. Cheap cords are often 70% or less. That may be fine playing clean with HB's, but with single coils and gain added the noise floor comes way up into the audiable ranges and gets amplified. Next, single coild pips often have single leads vs a high impediance wire that has the core shielded. With the hot wire exposed, it will act as an antenna picking up all stray EMB in tha audio range to be amplified. The only cure is the shield the guitar cavity or replace the single wires with high impediance shielded wire and also ground the pickup covers. If the amp is poorly shielded like so many budget amps are, then the amp cavity may need additional shielding added which Ive done to many amps that just lack good ground shielding. Next the power outlet ground can be a big issue. If the amp chassis isnt going to ground then there may be additional issues there. If you use foot pedals having those pedals on the same outlet as the amp may be important as well. Having Zero hum wall Warts for pedals is paramount as well. Some pedals like Boss require zero hum because they contain no filtering in the pedal. When you throw a cheap 9v adaptor on them they will hum sounding like you have a bad guitar ground or cord when all along its the wall wart pumping AC noise into the signal chain. lastly, some times you mey need a good AC noise filter that has an isolation transformer. This virtually removes the amp voltage from the building and floats it separately and can remove and AC imbalance that may be occuring die to line problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members muellator Posted March 25, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Well I've tried 2 different guitars through this amp, both single coil, not nearly as loud, and like normally, it gets quieter when strings are touched. I've tried this guitar through another amp in another outlet, same issue. So the problem has pretty much been isolated to the guitar, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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