Noisy Jagmaster

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:15 am

I have a custom Jagmaster with Lindy Fralin Texas Special Jazzmaster pickups. I am having trouble with a noisy pickup selector switch. The switch was brand new when I installed it. The 500K pots and wiring were the original that came with the Jagmaster and I wired them up to the pickups. Sounds like a grounding issue possibly. I also thought I heard it fading back and forth when it was in the middle pickup position between the pups.. I am currently playing .10s on it and it's tuned flat. ( Now that I have the Duo Sonic and Jaguar with .11s, the .10s on the Jagmaster feel really loose.) Any ideas on what I should check first?

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:33 am

taylornutt wrote:Sounds like a grounding issue possibly.

analogsystem · Post by **analogsystem** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:38 pm

Those Fralins should be hum canceling in the middle position I'd guess.

Fortunately you have a very simple wiring scheme. Id' open it up and re-touch all the connections to make sure they are sound, assuming you have verified the scheme is correct.

Check out some tele wiring diagrams as you could wire your guitar the same (2 pups, 3 way, master vol, master tone). You'd just need to transpose the the 3 way switch type from a std tele wiring diagram which is easy.

Also check that a "hot" isn't touching a ground somewhere (shielding inside?) though this would normally cause a short.

Does the guitar's hum change when you touch metal on the bridge? How about if you touch the metal of the guitar lead itself?

Also always do the "bonehead" test and try another cord, another amp, etc to make sure its the guitar.

Good luck!

chisa · Post by **chisa** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:54 pm

you may have left the iron on the switch too long and damaged it

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 8:22 pm

chisa wrote:you may have left the iron on the switch too long and damaged it

that. I did that to my duo-sonic when I was modding it. had to replace it.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:27 pm

Use a thin gauge solder from Radio Shack... not the thickass solder from Home Depot plumbing aisle. Radio Shack solder being so thin, melts super fast (less heat needed) and leaves nice shiney joints behind. And stay away from solder guns or at least use it on it's low setting, most have a dual setting (low/high) built into the trigger... when the gun starts vibrating loudly your on "high" (or the light gets bright). I use a 20 watt/40 watt Radio Shack pencil type solder iron, 40 watts is slow to warm up but it's all ya really need.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:20 am

analogsystem wrote:Those Fralins should be hum canceling in the middle position I'd guess.

Fortunately you have a very simple wiring scheme. Id' open it up and re-touch all the connections to make sure they are sound, assuming you have verified the scheme is correct.

Check out some tele wiring diagrams as you could wire your guitar the same (2 pups, 3 way, master vol, master tone). You'd just need to transpose the the 3 way switch type from a std tele wiring diagram which is easy.

Also check that a "hot" isn't touching a ground somewhere (shielding inside?) though this would normally cause a short.

Does the guitar's hum change when you touch metal on the bridge? How about if you touch the metal of the guitar lead itself?

Also always do the "bonehead" test and try another cord, another amp, etc to make sure its the guitar.

Good luck!

The Fralins are reverse wound and do cancel when in the middle position. I will open it up tomorrow and take a peek at the wiring. I doubt I damaged the switch but I will keep that in mind. I shielded the inside using Shielding paint. I will photograph as I go and hopefully I can isolate the problem.

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:51 am

Do you have a multi-meter? If you don't then you should get one, and check your grounds throughout.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 3:52 am

Pullover wrote:Do you have a multi-meter? If you don't then you should get one, and check your grounds throughout.

I have one, but I need to relearn how to use it. What should I set it to and what should I check out?

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:05 am

Put it on the lowest Ohms setting and pretty much everything that should be grounded check to the back of one of the pots (including the negative side of the pickups). The meter should read 0 through out.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:07 am

Pullover wrote:Put it on the lowest Ohms setting and pretty much everything that should be grounded check to the back of one of the pots (including the negative side of the pickups). The meter should read 0 through out.

Does the guitar need to be plugged into a cable while I am testing? Sorry I am an Computer Science guy, not an EE. But I learn quickly.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:12 am

you could make a cable to test the ohms of your pickups. just a just a normal guitar cable with one end bare wires would work. hook some test leads with alligator clips to your multimeter and clip the alligator clips to the bare wires on the guitar cable. then you can read the ohms of whatever pickup your selecting. at least I think that would work.

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:21 am

No need to apologize. It doesn't need to be plugged in. Just hold one side to the back of a pot and then touch the other side to back of the other pot. Touch the shielding, the bridge or the strings, the outside of the plug, the neg side of the pickups, the back of the switch... If anything reads sketchy then you can touch a wire across it to see if you get rid of the noise. If this doesn't make sense I'm sorry, I've had a few drinks in me.

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:24 am

mage wrote:you could make a cable to test the ohms of your pickups. just a just a normal guitar cable with one end bare wires would work. hook some test leads with alligator clips to your multimeter and clip the alligator clips to the bare wires on the guitar cable. then you can read the ohms of whatever pickup your selecting. at least I think that would work.

That will check the pickup through the volume and tone pots but it won't always tell you if it's grounded properly.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:24 am

Pullover wrote:No need to apologize. It doesn't need to be plugged in. Just hold one side to the back of a pot and then touch the other side to back of the other pot. Touch the shielding, the bridge or the strings, the outside of the plug, the neg side of the pickups, the back of the switch... If anything reads sketchy then you can touch a wire across it to see if you get rid of the noise. If this doesn't make sense I'm sorry, I've had a few drinks in me.

So after I touch both pots, I will keep one on the back of one pot and touch the other areas you mentioned? And it should give me a reading of 0.0?

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:30 am

exactly, if you get something other than that then you can get a piece of wire and touch it across the affected area to see if your noise goes away. If you touch the wire across and all volume goes way then you've shorted across something that's not supposed to be shorted across.

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 4:38 am

I might add that if you don't have it shielded then you should consider shielding it. I usually get some elmers spray adhesive; spray the back of some aluminum foil and then line the cavities and the bottom of the pickguard with foil. As long as everything is touching ground, it usually works.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:02 pm

I played all my guitars again just to check my setup. My Duo Sonic and my Jaguar sound great. The Jagmaster seems to only be making noise when I touch the switch. The middle position sounds like it should. So at least it seems the switch is noisy for now. I just wanted to be sure of the symptoms before I open her up. My EE friend helped me sauder the switch, so I doubt we fried the switch but I won't know until later. Post pics soon.

analogsystem · Post by **analogsystem** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:59 pm

You Jagmaster makes sound WHEN you touch metal so there is a ground issue. You are in effect, becoming an antenna when you touch metal on your guitar.

Did you ground the switch itself? Often that is left off wiring-diagrams. All metal parts need to be grounded (but only once or you got a loop).

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:08 pm

NEEDS MASTERY BRIDGE!!

Noisy Jagmaster

Noisy Jagmaster

Re: Noisy Jagmaster