Jaguar grounding?

Post by **Doog** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:19 pm

Hey all,

I'm overhauling Noirie's Jag for him and I'm up against a problem I think may be inherent with the Japanese Jags- buzz when you aren't touching the strings or any metal part of the guitar.

Everything is grounded fine; the buzz stops when you touch the aforementioned parts of the guitar.. but is this REALLY the way it's supposed to be? It's basically the same wiring as my Jazzmaster now (no rhythm circuit), but I've had zero problems with the Jazzy.

Any ideas on this age-old problem?

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:21 pm

That's how mine is

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:40 pm

So everything is grounded including the bridge? Shouldn't be anything left to buzz?

Post by **Doog** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:52 pm

I checked the wire going to the tailpiece- all present and correct, I'm not sure of the CIJs have ground wires going to the bridge cups like they did in the oooolden days.

I've sat there with a crocodile clip attached the ground on the jack, touching the other end to every metal part- nothing.

Gaaaah.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:59 pm

I dont think i had that problem with the Jags, just the CIJ Mustang. If the bridge cup(s) is grounded the only other thing i'd check is the control plates and the grounding wire going from the pup to the claw.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:04 pm

The plate will be grounded to the pots casings, worth checking that that whole assembly is grounded to everything else.

Do you has multimeter?

Post by **Doog** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:06 pm

There's only a claw on the stock neck pickup now, it's a Lace Sensor under the stock pickup cover in the bridge position now. But it was doing of all noise malarky beforehand, so I don't think it's that.

SO ANNYOGNGIGN

No multimeter up here annoyingly. There's metal spacers between the pots and the underside of the control plate; I thought maybe that could be causing some problem if they're tarnished or whatever? Seems unlikely though. I chucked a ground from the jack to the top of the volume pot (with the other "grounds") for good measure, but with no results.

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:16 pm

Someone said I had a noisy setup on you tube...

[youtube][/youtube]

That was a Seymour Duncan Sjag3 in the bridge.... now with the JB in there, it's really quiet !!

Is the neck pup equally as noisy ?

Hows about tin-foiling underneath the guard... I did that too and seemed to have a positive effect in noise reduction !!

As long as the buzz goes when you touch the metal parts it should be grounded alright.

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:44 pm

I have the same problem. What was said about a wire going to the trem? I don't have this - I have the jag with copper plates for shielding.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:57 pm

Mike wrote:The plate will be grounded to the pots casings, worth checking that that whole assembly is grounded to everything else.

Do you has multimeter?

I was thinking more of the 3-switch plate, as i remember there is a lug of sorts there and the stock pup is usually grounded to that. If the Lace has been grounded elsewhere it may have effected the chain.
I could never sort that CIJ Mustang out, damn thing did'nt make sense but i swear blind it was the mini switches.

Is the problem apparent on all settings Doog, even with both pups on?

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:04 am

Hmm, Seymour Duncans diagram says different but looking at it i cant see a ground to the 3-switch plate

Post by **Doog** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:59 am

Fran wrote:
Mike wrote:The plate will be grounded to the pots casings, worth checking that that whole assembly is grounded to everything else.

Do you has multimeter?
I was thinking more of the 3-switch plate, as i remember there is a lug of sorts there and the stock pup is usually grounded to that. If the Lace has been grounded elsewhere it may have effected the chain.
I could never sort that CIJ Mustang out, damn thing did'nt make sense but i swear blind it was the mini switches.

Is the problem apparent on all settings Doog, even with both pups on?

Yup, both pickups, in any config.
Both pickups ground to the top of the volume pot, as does the bridge pickup 2-way switch on the plate (as do all of them, being metal and thaaaaat). There's also a copper plate like so:

.. that wasn't connected, but I could see was at one point. So that's going to ground and all.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:33 am

Yeah that should be grounded.

Are the three switches on the control plate grounded to the loop?

Post by **Doog** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:03 pm

There's only a grounding tag on the bridge pickup switch, surely it's a common ground, since they're pretty much entirely made o' metal and on a metal plate?

Post by **Doog** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:50 pm

Hmm, a bit of reading online leads me to try grounding the conductive paint in the pickup cavity and to see if a ground wire to the bridge cup makes any difference. I've read so much conflicting information about the whole "touch metal > buzz stops" thing being just how the guitar is... or isn't. RAGHH, I really want to sort this out, if only for the feeling of beating it. And making Noirie pay me more, obviously.

pumpkin · Post by **pumpkin** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:01 pm

Doog wrote:Hmm, a bit of reading online leads me to try grounding the conductive paint in the pickup cavity and to see if a ground wire to the bridge cup makes any difference. I've read so much conflicting information about the whole "touch metal > buzz stops" thing being just how the guitar is... or isn't. RAGHH, I really want to sort this out, if only for the feeling of beating it. And making Noirie pay me more, obviously.

I don't know if this is helpful or not but a mate of mine had this problem on his Jagstang. Finally he coated all the cavities and the bottom of the pickguard with cooper shielding. He cut his fingers up on it, so he wore leather gloves when working with it from then on.

Found this on the net.

http://www.artandtechnology.com.au/guit ... strat.html

Best of luck!

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:03 pm

Doog wrote:Hmm, a bit of reading online leads me to try grounding the conductive paint in the pickup cavity and to see if a ground wire to the bridge cup makes any difference. I've read so much conflicting information about the whole "touch metal > buzz stops" thing being just how the guitar is... or isn't. RAGHH, I really want to sort this out, if only for the feeling of beating it. And making Noirie pay me more, obviously.

Neither of them will harm, you'll be creating a Faraday cage around the pickups which is a good thing.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:22 pm

My Highway One Strat had a grounding wire to the conductive paint, it baffled me until i twigged on. Info on the bridge cups being grounded as standard seems sceptical, i know rob(og) swore by it though so i suppose its worth checking. I grounded mine on the JS build and that guitar is silent, a lot of metal on Jags though.

Post by **Doog** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:58 pm

I think I've sorted it! I was reading people with grounding problems having buzz when touching the polepieces: thread here.

So basically, I changed around the wires on both pickups (as not to put them out of phase)- no problems with touching the polepieces, and reduced noise overall, including the noise you get when both pickups are turned off.

Success, I think? I guess it's possible a lot of CIJ Jags have been wired the wrong way, or the wires were the wrong colour? Who knows, I'd be interested in any technical thoughts on this.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:04 pm

Doog wrote:I think I've sorted it! I was reading people with grounding problems having buzz when touching the polepieces: thread here.

So basically, I changed around the wires on both pickups (as not to put them out of phase)- no problems with touching the polepieces, and reduced noise overall, including the noise you get when both pickups are turned off.

Success, I think? I guess it's possible a lot of CIJ Jags have been wired the wrong way, or the wires were the wrong colour? Who knows, I'd be interested in any technical thoughts on this.

Awesome!

I'll give you some extra coin for your trouble dw