Shielding

[SanchoPansen]

Hey folks,

lately I have some serious issues with both my Hallmarks 60C. I get A LOT of interferences. And I mean A LOT.
Depending on where I stand in the practice room (or any place) it is unbearable. When I turn the guitar to a different angle, I sometimes helps.
So, is there any cure for this? It started without warning and I've switched cables, pedals, amps, etc. of course. Just the guitar straight into any amp (tube or ss) will give me noises I've never heard before. I even tried to change the shoes I'm wearing
Is there anything I can do? Copper shielding? Power conditioner? Potting the PUs? I'll do anything to get this down to a minimum.
It really is strange, as it started with a loud and clear buzz while practicing. Both guitars are affected.
Thanks in advance.

Cheers
Sancho

[Bob Shade]

Hello and sorry to hear about your new issue.

First, have you moved to a different part of the house to practice? Have you installed any new lighting? Any electrical changes? What do you mean by both guitars are now effected? How old are your cables? Have you tried any new cables, or just different ones? Are they high quality?


Second, I would like to say that we go out of our way to insure these guitars are exceedingly well grounded. We have shielding paint in the cavities, shielding tape over the electronics, and we use shielded wire, and ground all the electronics as well as potting the pickups for quiet single coil operation.

The first thing I would do is take off the pick guard and check your ground wire to insure it is connected properly. Also take a close look at all of the other ground connections. Maybe wiggle each wire to insure one does not have a bad connection somewhere.

This is a great start, so let me know how it goes and I will be more than happy to help you get this situation back to spec.

Bob

[Greg_L]

In addition to what Mr Shade already said, I think it's strange that both guitars would suddenly be affected at once, and you said moving around changes the noise characteristics, so that makes me think that something has changed in or around your house. Dirty power or radio interference maybe? Fluorescent lights? Christmas lights? TVs? Bad cables? Bad weather? Is the amp grounded properly? Maybe the third prong on the power cable is broken or missing? Single coil guitars naturally hum and buzz and any little electrical interference can make them extra noisy, so some is to be expected if you're using single coils. I've got power lines near my house and in bad or humid weather, my noise factor goes up with my single coil guitars. I've shielded a few Strats and other single coil guitars with copper foil, aluminum tape, and by grounding the whole thing to heck and back. Covering the underside of the pickguard and lining the control cavity with copper foil and conductive tape to make a sealed "box" that's grounded to the guitar can cut down on the interference. It helps, but I've never completely eliminated single coil buzz. Hope this helps.

[SanchoPansen]

Thanks for the fast replies.

We did not move, BUT there's a club beneath our practice room. I also suspected that they installed something close to our practice room (e.g. some light effects) until I went to a practice in a total different practice room at the other side of the town and had the same buzz.

I only use Monster Rock Cables (all less than a year old) but changed all these to standard cables with Neutrik connectors, which didn't make a difference (actually the buzzing was stronger with the cheap cables).

Checking all connections inside the guitar seems like I very good advice. Will do that asap.

I've also tried many different amps (Marshall, Fender, Orange) and it didn't change anything. Oh, we don't have power cords with 3 prongs only 2 in Germany.

I will check your advices first before trying to shield the guitars any further (also I do think they are already shielded very well!)

P.S.: after thinking about this for a a while...I don't dare to tell you, but I have changed the PU height on both guitars drastically. I lowered both neck and bridge PU more than 1/2". Could this be the cause? It's the only thing I did to both guitars...

[Bob Shade]

If you changed the pickup height I would try re adjusting it back. If the pickup is too high it will buzz against the strings even if they are not actually touching. The string vibrates and moves up and down while playing.

Question, does the guitar buzz only when playing? Or even when you are plugged in and NOT playing?

Bob

[SanchoPansen]

Unfortunately they are buzzing all the time, even when I'm not playing.
I am aware that Single Coil guitars always have a basic hum/buzz, but not like they do right now.
I've adjusted the PU height again to ~1/8" (3mm) from the strings like suggested and it helped a bit.
Before that the space between PU and strings was ~3/8" (1cm) and I think it might have caused some additional buzz (is this possible?).
Well, I made the decision to buy a power conditioner, just to eliminate all possibilities before re-shielding the guitars.

[Greg_L]

Did you check the grounding in the guitar? I had a P-Bass that lost it's ground under the bridge and it buzzed like a swarm of bees on steroids.

[Bob Shade]

Again, if it happened to both guitars at the same time, it sounds like it could be something else. We really never get anyone with complaints about noise in our guitars and given the fact we have sold hundreds of pieces I think it may be another problem.

I suppose it is possible that both guitars had a ground problem fail at the same time, but I don't know what the chances of that would be.

Have you tried another amp? What type of lighting do you have in the room? Try turning all of the lighting off and on while the guitar is on at full volume to see if the lighting in the room is a factor. Also is your amp grounded? I believe you said that it is 2 prong where you are? Is there a way to ground the amp?

Bob

[Greg_L]

Just having the amp grounded properly can make a significant improvement in noise. All that interference that guitar pickups pick up is supposed to go straight to ground through the guitar, through the cable, through the amp. That's why cavities and pots are shielded and grounded. If it's multiple guitars as you say, the problem just has to be somewhere else IMO.

[SanchoPansen]

I doubt it are the guitars now as well. There's no chance that BOTH guitars have this issue simultaneously.
I've contacted the landlord to have the power supply checked, as I think it might be a grounding issue in our room.
German regulations are very strict, that's why we only have 2 prong cords. Usually there is no need to check the power outlets,
but even an electrician can have a lazy day And the discotheque beneath us installs new stuff frequently (lights, sound systems, etc.).
Chances are that they hired a guy to have new stuff installed and he didn't do a good job.

I've tried all amps ('64 Bassman, '76 Bandmaster, '78 Quad Reverb, RI Vibrolux) and had the same issue on all of them.

Additional there's gonna be a power conditioner under the christmas tree. I wanted to get one anyway.
Thanks for the replies and the friendly help as usual. I will keep you posted!

Kilian