How to fix Ground Noise | Guitar Tech Tips | Ep. 8 | Thomann

[@garygrinkevich6971]

Just spent an afternoon trying to search for a ground problem and the buzz was because i have the amp plugged into a power strip with 2 computers, an A/C and a lamp turned on. i'm posting this to save someone in the future - check your external connections first and work inward from the outside starting with the jack first, it may save you a bit of effort with disassembly and reassembly.

[@oneandonlyarajivp]

Hi Gary. My amp is plugged into a similar situation, a power extension with my macbook, an adaptor for my overdrive pedal daisy chain, a toothbrush charger and some other appliance. Is this bad and what could be causing my guitar hum and if so why? Also any suggestion on what I could do here please? Thanks

[@garygrinkevich6971]

@@oneandonlyarajivp no worries dood just unplug it all and see if it helps might have to borrow a grounded outlet from a neighbor if possible use a grounded 3 pronged extension, also somtimes the internals on a laptop can buzz and whir, if you can run the toothbrush off a battery that may help isolate grounding as well. Damn noisey wall pixies

[@generalawareness101]

I am stumped because everything has continuity but if I touch the strings, or any metallic piece on my guitar, the hum goes away. I checked the ground from the wire to the amp to the input jack then the output jack of the guitar to all metal pieces. Every single point had continuity. I am stumped.

[@garygrinkevich6971]

@@generalawareness101 check your grounds again, and maybe the output jack sometimes they need to be bent to make contact firmly with the cable. Ive had bad solder joints that read good until i tightened the jack into the body cavity and the contacts would pull loose, also you're wires could have a bad connection. Godspeed.

[@generalawareness101]

@@garygrinkevich6971 I wouldn't put it past having bad wires from the rat's nest I saw in the guitar. Squier Bullet Mustang, and the Squier Fat Strat I own does not have the issue, so it is guitar related for sure. I will have to give it a complete look over when I replace my guitar nut (been in my city for a week now but USPS keeps saying arriving late so may be lost/stolen/broken).

[@pchandrakant1]

I just completed my first kit build and was getting a NASTY buzz and very low signal-to-noise ratio. I checked EVERYTHING and finally, after watching this, realized I had my jack wired backwards. Thank you!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Haha! How cool man, congrats on building your first guitar kit! Happy to help. //cheers, Kris

[@JameMakesNoise]

Keep in mind that on some guitars the metal components connect to ground by being screw onto a shielded pickguard. So if you can't figure it why something like a jazzmaster rhythm selector switch isn't grounding, it's because it's wiring is designed to be use with a shielded pickguard. If you don't wanna shield your guitar then you may have to run another wire to the jack

[@benbush1227]

excellent lesson! and put a smile on my face... I always wondered if that type of work was only done by cranky people! nope ... theres happy ones too! great job, appreciate you.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Yeah man, thanks! Gotta keep the smiles. It's medicine. :) And life's so much nicer this way than complaining all the time, right? //cheers bro, Kris

[@budgetguitarherogeartv4143]

Perfect timing. Was having this issue with one of my guitars and thought it might be the pickups. Will try the steps in the video. Cheers

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Dead mans shoes That’s really cool to hear. Good luck man! //cheers, Kris

[@eddierayvanlynch6133]

A lot of us have that one ax that's been "fixed" so many times we don't want it messed with... This helps a lot. Kudos. 👍👍👍👍👍👍😎

[@tiesundanfsboi8251]

Thank you very much I’ve spent almost 3 days trying to ground my HSS strat build excellent walk through 👌👌

[@christianboddum8783]

Just discovered that my multimeter has continuity tester because of this video, thanks a million :-)

[@VashStarwind]

Thanks man this video helped me a lot. I just redid some wiring on my guitar and it had a horrible buzz after, and i thought i messed everything up. Turns out my input jack wires were backwards. Sounds so much better.

[@RobertEMason]

This video helped me trace and find a very annoying ground buzz. Your technique led me right to the solution

[@bigshlong69able]

Thank you so much! I put a humbucker pickup in the bridge of my tele a year ago and it’s had this horrible horrible buzz since then and I couldn’t find the ground issue! I replaced a faulty pot, I redid connections over and over and couldnt figure it out. Then I watched this video and realized I never checked the continuity of my Jack. Low and behold that was the issue! The ground and hot wires were connected to the wrong spots on the Jack. A quick solder from one to the other and boom the whole guitar is fixed and sounds great! Thank you so much for your help!!

[@billpholde4816]

Thank you showing where the continuity setting is on a multimeter. It's amazing how many of these grounding/shielding demos assume everyone knows that!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Sure thing Bill! I know, it's unbelievable how many assume that some basics don't need any explanation. That's not very helpful. 😅 Take Care //Kris

[@taimoooooooor7594]

got have to be the most helpful video on the internet. using that DMM technique saved me plenty of time and was able to solve the problem within seconds. thanks man. SUBSCRIBING YOUR CHANNEL!!!!

[@philcollis100]

Glad I found your video: I wasted a day changing wiring on new pickups trying to get rid of the buzz - after seeing your tips I checked the output And the wires were the wrong way. Next time I’ll check that first! Thanks!

[@thepenguimoose562]

I am dealing with this and I figured out what it was before I watched this and feel amazing, thank you for the tips and saving my sanity

[@SonicSoundofDoom]

I was having not a hum sound but lots of static coming from my amps and evening computer monitors (plugin amp). I found this video and tested my pots, all worked fine but then I tested the Jack and nothing! It was connected however the ground wire and white wire were in the opposite space they should be in. I switched them and tested as you mentioned and it worked! Now that static noise is gone. Thanks so much for this video!

[@scottfederico3913]

This was an awesome video! You have a nice conversational style and explain everything very clearly!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Thanks a lot! //Kris

[@OspreyD40]

Added thought: it seems that a number of people have been able to trace their issues to broken wires on the jacks. That can come from tightening a loose jack nut from the outside of the instrument without stabilizing the jack body inside the instrument, such as by taking a few minutes to remove the cavity cover plate (on solid body instruments with easily accessed control cavities) in order to hold the jack firmly, while tightening the nut on the outside. Unless the jack body is firmly prevented from rotating, tightening the outside nut rotates the whole jack, pulling on the wiring until a wire snaps. The wires are often very tiny and don't put up much resistance to being yanked. There are a couple little tools that will go into the jack from outside, press firmly on the sides of the socket to hold it firmly and allow the outer nut to be tightened without rotating the jack body. One is the String Swing CC18 tool. Easy as can be to use it.

[@DePistolero]

Hey, thank you, yesterday I watched this video because I've been doing stuff to my old guitar a few years ago ( 10+ ) and In my blissful ignorance just switched ground and hot..... so my guitar buzzed louder than the guitar sound, so I just stashed it... and using this video I was actually able to get to the root of the problem, and to my surprise it is as quiet as the night now... extremely cheap guitar, and fender 10w old and also broken. but it is all very quiet now. Huge Thank you!!!!

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

That is awesome, glad to hear that the video helped to revive your old guitar. Cheers //Kris

[@phaeded0ut]

Ran into this hum problem with my new Harley Benton RB-12CS, along with a few more fit and finish issues. The grounding issue turned out to be a soldering problem (hum showed up when the strings or bridge were not touched). Because of this guitar looking like a brand we cannot mention, I flipped the bridge saddles, octave strings and did a bit of nut-work, besides the standard setup for intonation and lowering the strings for increased playability. The frets were in dire need of dressing as my fingers came away with lots of metal dust. I also removed and replaced the tuning machines with Gotoh locking machines and Schiller strap locks. One thing to note is where on a three-way switch or five-way switch is where to place one of the probes from the multimeter. The next mod I might undertake on this guitar is to pull all of the pots and switches and use a bit higher quality copper foil on the underside of the pickguard and to leverage copper foil up to the pickguard screw holes in order to shield the cavity, too. This is a very fun guitar, by the by. Great video, thank you!

[@alexnuzzi4780]

You saved me a trip to my tech! I put new pickups in my Jackson rr1 and couldn’t figure out my ground problem. After getting a multimeter with continuity I found the problem in five minutes. Coated springs!!!! 🤦‍♂️

[@kennethh2430]

I just purchased a "Condition 2" Kramer Pacer Tiger finish from Guitar Center/Musicians Friend. Being 'Condition 2' you'd expect light scuffing at the worst. The sales rep on the phone couldn't tell me any details other that the guitar was located in their warehouse. Being just over 20% less than a new one and also not wanting to wait for a the new ones to be stocked, coupled with an easy return and a good experience with another 'Open Box' guitar, I ordered it. Got it, opened the box, inspected and I could find absolutely nothing wrong with it, other than the whammy bar doesn't want to thread on smoothly once in a while. I plugged it in, sounded great clean, added some gain...OMFG, very loud! LOL Finally popped the covers off, looked fine. Checked continuity and voila! Ground wire from the bridge had broken off at the POT. Tested again by touching until I can solder after work...noise levels are now within spec! I'm wondering if this was why someone returned it? Saved me over $150 - thanks whoever you are! And thank you for the post, Thomann and Andertons are amazing. The service you provide the States is top notch!

[@prodreams5594]

Your episodes made my life easier!! Thank you so much

[@4stringed]

4:47 literally magic. None of my instruments are that quiet

[@keithklassen5320]

Maybe it's because you have more electrical interference in your area, or maybe it's because your power supply is more noisy, or maybe it's because your amps have their own grounding issues?

[@Adriano-do-Couto-Illustration]

A single coil guitar will also be a lot noisier than a humbucker like this one.

[@herrunsinn774]

I have a "Cordoba GK Pro Negra" (nylon sting) with a "Fishman Prefix Pro Blend" acoustic pickup. I bought it in 2015, so it's now 6 years old. Late last week, it developed a hum when plugged into my amp. The hum get worse, the closer my hand came to the piezo and would go away if I would touch the outside ring of the guitar plug socket (the "strap button" on the bottom of the guitar). This told me it was a grounding issue. So make a long story short, I took it to a repair shop and the repair person predicted it wasn't a loose ground wire, but rather a bad piezo. He said over the years he has NEVER (excuse the caps) seen a Fishman pickup that eventually didn't have a failing piezo in it. It's just part of "doing business" with a Fishman pickup. It turned out he was right. He replaced the piezo and the guitar was once again right as rain. The cost wasn't too bad... at €70 for the replacement piezo and €30 to install it. I only mention this because this video focuses on dedicated electric guitars... but acoustic guitars (with pickups) can also have grounding issues. If you have one with a Fishman pickup, don't overlook the high probability that a faulty piezo is the culprit... and not a broken or loose ground wire.

[@crisektoras8588]

You saved my life thanks... One diagram i had it had the hot jack in ground..omg they are terrible it was opposite in jack thanks bro

[@grumblyone3334]

Well shucks! I've got a 90s JagStang that's got that EXACT issue! It also had some bad wiring from the factory, & I've been in there before, but I've had that grounding hum ever since. Very possible I botched a soldering joint, I suppose. (Sigh). Looks like I've got some more work to do! Thanks for the insight!

[@diegoambrosio9121]

My guitar starts trembling when I approach the soldering iron! Haha! Excellent video.

[@NEO_RKX]

LOL

[@arthurwiebusch9292]

this video is perfect, straight to the point

[@timothyward5196]

Thanks! This helped me figure out my output jack wires were reversed on a barrel jack. Helpful video

[@AscentToZenith]

Off topic but that guitar is straight up beautiful!!

[@niklasroos]

This is one of the best instructional videos I've seen. Thank you. Will be able to fix my guitar this afternoon. Could not see any loose ground wire yesterday, but probably a bad solder joint I now will be able to identify. I actually suspect it is the same as in the video with the input jack. I didn't realize how to check it with a guitar cable before now though.

[@Fernandorivasc]

Wow, ypu made my day I was trying to get rid of the ground noise in my 1999 godin radiator and turned out to be just this problem, the jack was wired backwards. Thanks man

[@valmarin4260]

0:53 SOS in morse code lol

[@Charles-fd1uj]

Just wanted to say a massive thank you, having the exact same issue thought it was something faulty with my focusrite. Found your video when I was trying to get an example of the sound to send them and what do you know, opening up the jack and I see a loose black cable. Guess I'll go pickup a soldering Iron tomorrow. Cheers for spreading the knowledge, got a subscribe from me.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

That's awesome to hear Charles, glad you like the series. Check out the playlist, we have tons of videos already and new episodes are coming every Thursday. Cheers! //Kris

[@OspreyD40]

Very helpful! I had a vintage Gibson EB 3 that had inconsistent terrible racket. I couldn't figure whether the source was a bad pot, the jack... anything seemed to be able to trigger it. Tech Jon Mouradian found a loose wire, as in your video, and pointed out several cold solder joints. He resoldered all the problem areas >> perfect! Thank you.

[@theepimountainbiker6551]

Cool easy explination thanks. Need to check my grounds but I think my problem is in my pickup switch. Bridge and bridge/neck selection its fine no noise. I put it on just neck it hums like crazy ONLY WHEN TOUCHING THE STRINGS, not when Im not touching them. Never had this issue before

[@Delectatio]

Each time I turn on distortion pedal I feel like my guitar turns into a radio - sometimes I can hear some phrases from movies or TV shows someone watches in the neighboring apartment. When I touch the strings (or cable, or the pedal) the noise disappears (almost).

[@f1s2hg3]

Great show and excellent instructions for fixing your noise on electric guitar 🎸

[@LeeGee]

These Solar guitars are lovely

[@Owenator26]

Awesome video man! Thanks

[@n.h.moreno]

Dude ... That was great. "Hmmm. It looks like someone---prepared This guitar for the video!!!" This really helps wit my bass guitar's buzzing

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Glad to hear that!! Yeah, we couldn't find a bass or a guitar with ground noise issues, so I had to prepare this poor Solar. :) At least I was able to show you guys, how the whole process looks like. Cheers //Kris

[@nazec1720]

Very very helpful! I have this issue, now all I hope for is that this will be fixed.

[@rattyguitars]

Chris, that was great! I had a buzzing sound issue with the FELSEY FLP350 (their first batch). Located it at the bridge and was a coating issue. The coating blocked the ground running through the inserts.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

I'm glad to hear that you have it sorted out. That coating issue is something that happens every now and then unfortunately. Luckily brands learn from it and improve as fast as they see it slip through. Cheers man //Kris

[@guitarslinger3914]

Brilliantly explained 👍

[@ceonach]

Thanks Kris. Straightforward and to the point. Needed that.

[@adiiqbal8010]

This was just the video I was looking for thank you!

[@hball6695]

very helpful video for electronic noobs like myself. The test drive sounded pretty good, too. Many thanks! from Montreal.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Hey man, thanks so much! //Kris

[@pasteye1671]

Check the jack lead for continuity before condemning the output socket - if the cable is faulty, it could make it look like the fault is on the socket. Also, if you plug in and sound comes through the amp, then the socket cannot be open circuit.

[@Coggler101010]

I've been told active pick-ups don't need to be grounded. Is this true?

[@ChokDK-bryllupsmusik-duo]

Humming "Sending out an S. O. S." First guitar in the world that can play a tune without using the strings :D :D :D Great video.

[@elclaudiosanchez]

Great Video Man! thank you!!

[@danielmiller2886]

Great info! It would be worth mentioning how to isolate where the hum/buzz is coming from in your signal chain and determining if the problem is in the guitar itself or somewhere further down the line. It can drive a person mad, for sure!

[@ZacksRockingLifestyle]

Well, wouldn’t you just try plugging the guitar straight into your amp first to see if the buzz remains? If it does not, investigate signal chain. From there, start removing pedals one at a time, then two at a time, etc, until buzz source(s) in signal chain (has/have) been isolated, I’d think.

[@joelwells]

Hi, I can't figure out wether the noise I have is an issue with the building/electrics/grounding or the guitar. Ive isolated the guitar, going direct to my interface's hardware input, running on external battery (so no computer or mains plugs at all) and their was no noise. Does this mean there isn't a problem with the guitar or would I only get noise if connected to mains anyway, so could still be either? 🤯

[@truculenttones]

Thanks for helping me fix my guitar!

[@06szymonszymanski]

Great tip again! Now we just need to find out who unsoldered the ground cable 🤔

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Szymon Szymanski I think it was Ola. He surely wanted to fool me. Haha! //cheers, Kris

[@neuropacker]

Excellent instruction. Am looking forward to viewing more of your videos.

[@RekEighty]

I found a lot of times too guitars that came in for repair I worked on, loose flakes of solder had gotten lodged into areas of switches and across lugs on pots etc that were causing the issues. If no broken wires are found and everything else is checking out, look for loose bits of solder debris that might be stuck somewhere.

[@petestewart2701]

Thanks Kris. My problem is exactly that. Cheap soldering kit ordered!

[@donald-parker]

New comment on old video .... I just found a problem with my home made strat that has been bugging me for years. Somewhat intermittent but often lots of static sounds that were driving me nuts. I took the whole think apart, applied new copper tape (with conductive adhesive) to the whole pickguard (and in the process broke two leads from pickups that took me a long time to trouble shoot) and DeoxIT-ed all the pots, and all seemed to be good. Until I put the trem arm in (WIlkinson trem - very similar to Ghoto). Any touching of the trem arm caused static scratch sounds. So I used my multimeter to test continuity. Bridge, strings, everything all seemed to be grounded. But not the trem arm. I found if I screwed the arm further into the bridge and tightened the trem arm grub screw I had a good ground and all static noises went away. Which was probably me original problem all along. Lesson learned - test all grounds before trouble shooting. The problem might not even be a wire.

[@WinchurchGuitar]

Fantastic video!! Thank you for making this.

[@AngleCry]

One word wow . Very helpful lesson.

[@robertkelly3357]

Now that’s a useful video!

[@PENNYGLEN]

Very helpful videos. Thank you so much.

[@NessiGreenaway]

Hi Kris, thanks a lot for the video! Could you do a follow up video on connecting the shielded pickguard of a Fender offset guitar to ground? Thank you very much much.

[@eeayquetting5963]

Thank you, this was super helpful

[@jasq99]

Just wanted to let you guys know, if anyone is struggling with humming les pauls (tribute, studio) please check or rewire the toggle switch. I just did whole rewire of my 2004 studio and was shocked of what kind of wires were used to toggle switch to be honest. They were very thin and horrible wires, which when replaced and follow 50's wiring there is no hum at all now.

[@PooNinja]

Electricity loves the Earth... it’s always trying to get to ground.

[@PooNinja]

Cold solder often looks ok when it’s totally not! Just reflow and your good to go.

[@gregparker8349]

Kind of...Electricity doesn’t want to get to ground necessarily it wants to get back to its source, it uses the ground as a means for that

[@woolofmana8644]

@@gregparker8349 what's its source??

[@Vigilante311]

It also loves giving me a brain aneurysm when trying to fix it

[@PooNinja]

@@Vigilante311 awe the joys of intermittent failures 🤬

[@cruddygamer1524]

I truly wish I'd found this video BEFORE I took my old build because of a bad ground. Thought it was the ground to the bridge but resoldering it didn't work.

[@joeurbanowski321]

Thank YOU..!! Just saved me a repair bill..!! WHHOOOOooooo..!!!👍🏼

[@TedCurran]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@saulmusic3420]

Thanks, everything well explained 👏👍

[@plywoodcarjohnson5412]

The first thing to check must be under the bed to find the troll who did this to you. I do have a sound on my threestring. It is the isolation. Should it be connected to the white cable? The sleeve, right?

[@saskojancev]

Did ola englund know about this :D

[@rodrigoleche3751]

You're amazing! I managed to fix my bass

[@Pedrusko]

Thanks A LOT. I had a loose solder point at the negative that went to the back plate, the springs one. There was continuity, but the solder joint was very loose. Almost went nuts until removed back cover and moved the ground wire and saw it barely attached. Move every cable and joint. Bye bye hum!!!. ^_^

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Sweet! Problem solved -> good times. 💪 Cheers //Kris

[@humblegeorge]

Thank you more than I can express !

[@jamesford8104]

Sir thank you for the video. I am having an issue with my guitar. Whenever i plug my guitar it is making hissss type noise. But when i touch strings or bridge. That noise stops. How to fix it? I hope you will answer. Thanks again.

[@PISSEDOFF-MADABOUTIT60]

Yo great work that color on your ax was nice color. I am going it guitar repairs at the age of 58 and I am going in cold with the knowledge of what I know from the early 80' and what I now in between that time my career has been in cooking. Videos like your make sense of it all. I have Ibanez I was lining the pocket with foil for a shield and it worked pretty well the humming is very low andI used elmer's glue to keep the foil in place. I ask you like I do others can you look in to the things that cause house wiring like that because ONCE I moved my gear I to my BASEMENT I lost a lot of the humming problems.

[@lochiebrody7920]

Thanks mate.

[@niemand0]

0:53 Thats a dubstep guitar right there!

[@Peterickenbacker1]

Good video, but would have helped if you showed us how you have those cables connected to that meter for those of us not familiar

[@mickjames5388]

Thank you!

[@BrewerShettles]

Great Video !! Guitar playing!!! - what if there is static with nothing plugged into a tube amp?

[@daveguitar_]

Thank You for your tech tips. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@emach07]

Fantastic! Thanks a bunch 😊

[@flatcolorgallery]

This video 100% helped me solve my problem with my new wiring assembly. Ironically it was the input jack that was brand new but faulty. Thank you for the video!

[@juleswinnfield3958]

0:55 Why was this so unintentionally funny😂 (Yes my humor is broken)

[@joseluisinsualugo5287]

Great, great and fantastic. Thank you.

[@pat-enz]

Nice video bud. Are you saying that Tom is looking at each guitar carefully if it is buzzing or not before you send it to your customers? Actually, that would be great.

[@welfiblablabla]

Love this series 😊

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Awesome Tom, thanks so much! //Kris

[@ambroseharper8316]

Thank-you 😊

[@marchallaert7372]

Very helpful thank you!

[@frostedhead]

I get grounding noise when I take my hands off the strings? How do I fix that?

[@deostar2009]

I think it might be your bridge and strings that are not grounded properly.

[@Ulquiorful]

Found a solution?

[@deostar2009]

Hell it might be the shielding of the hole guitar that's bad and not the bridge and strings, sorry my fingers didn't wrote correctly what i was thinking on my other comment =)

[@guitarsnstuff4810]

It could just be 60 cycle hum witch is caused by frequencies from electromagnetic interference if you playing high gain with a single coil pickup it’s bound to happen or sometimes if you have enough gain with a hum bucker it can still happen Solution 1 find your sweet spot What I mean by that is point the guitar in different directions around the room and if you stop hearing hum that’s your sweet spot Solution 2 use foil to block interference This is something that’s better shown so I can’t really explain it Problem/solution 3 this will coast money and it’s not always the problem but it will benifite your guitar in general Your pots have gone bad This especially happens when you do a lot of sauntering the heating and cooling of the pots can destroy them and that’s a cause of 60 cycle hum Solution 4 get a noise suppressor This is a pedal that you can get that cancels out 60 cycle hum but you can also loose a lot of sustain and when using a lot of gain your going to put the resistance really high and sometimes it will make a really strange noise

[@boimesa8190]

@@guitarsnstuff4810 how to fix it?

[@musicbill]

Im working on a squire Tele and it has a loud buzz and it gets louder when I touch it.What would cause that?

[@brCharlieNagy]

Great video thanks. So the black plate of the pickup should be grounded, too, right ?

[@ZX-6R]

that was so clear, thanks!

[@bharathguitarsounds7995]

Iam facing this on my passive pickup used on acoustic guitar. Cannot open it up. Any means to fix it?

[@justinTime077]

Break open the guitar with an axe

[@blainecolwell7171]

This video helped me out, unfortunately though I was really stressed at first because I couldn’t find the issue until it got to the part where he said the white wire was the hot wire, I realized I soldered the output jack the wrong way 😂🤦‍♂️

[@makinganoise6028]

Start with the Jack first in most cases, or if you have swapped pickups 🙂

[@scottyvand]

Thank you. Very helpfull.