Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?!

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (John)

Fri, 30 May 2008 02:46:05 GMT

Bias Soundsoap will get rid of it but its no cure.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (RTGraham)

Fri, 30 May 2008 02:43:04 GMT

ORIGINAL: Cromberger

I can assure you that, if you're using the typical ground lifting plug adapter and don't have it connected via the small metal loop to a known ground, you *can* get a rather nasty shock. I know this from very painful experience. You obviously have been lucky so far, but one day your luck may run out. Like if you're playing an electric guitar and let your lips touch a microphone that you're singing into.

Ah - is *that* why that happened?

I'm getting nostalgic for the dive-bar metal-band gigs of days of yore. " />

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (NYSR)

Fri, 30 May 2008 02:30:20 GMT

A] Get a three prong tester and make certain that ALL your outlets are correct in polarity and grounded.
B] If your guitar amp does not use a THREE prong plug have it altered to correctly disable the polarity switch and to connect a three prong powere cord in correct polarity and truly grounded.
C] If all your eqipment is properly grounded you cannot get shocked by having your strings grounded. If you get a shock when your strings are gounded it is absolutely certain that something in your set u is not properly grounded or plugged into an outlet that is wired incorrectly.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (bitman)

Thu, 29 May 2008 23:19:10 GMT

Gearslutz.com appears to be down right now, but in their tips and techniques section there is a post about eliminating the buzz that occurs to some guitarists sometimes when you take your hands off the strings. This is a grounding issue but have a look anyway.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (pianodano)

Thu, 29 May 2008 23:13:06 GMT

ORIGINAL: Dizzi45Z

I really like the Jazz Bass and I think new pick-ups would be the solution there. I wonder if custom pick ups would be a good idea for a Fender Squier. I wonder if it wouldn't just be better (maybe even cheaper) to just get a different electric guitar with humbucker pickups. What do you think? Also, where do you all recommend that I buy as far as brands of pick-ups and where?

I had Fender Custom Shop pickups (around 175.00) put on my Mexican Jazz Bass. I got them at GC. They didn't help get rid of hum though. My Telecaster hums also but not nearly as bad as the Jazz bass

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Cromberger)

Thu, 29 May 2008 19:34:43 GMT

ORIGINAL: Duojet
some guitar direct boxes have ground lifts built in. it has helped me with the same issue. not sure if this is dangerous, it's not a ground lift on the power cord, but rather just the guitar cable.

Hi, Duojet,

I believe that the ground lifts on most direct boxes and other similar devices are perfectly safe to use. I've got a Radial Pro RMP that has a ground lift that is safe to use. I also have a couple of Ebtech Hum Eliminators that not only work really well, but are totally safe to use. I'm only talking about using the 3-prong to 2-prong adapters that we've all used on our amps, etc.. These things, unless the little loop is attached to a good ground, are *not* safe, even though the vast majority of people using them have never been shocked. I have been shocked on more than one occasion and I've given up using these little adapters for that reason. And, I've been playing/messing with recording for 37 years. During that time, I've learned a few lessons the hard way..... ;>) Much better to be safe than sorry, as it were.

Best regards,
Bill

google mixer buzz guitar (mattila)

Wed, 14 May 2008 07:18:24 GMT

The ULTRA-DI DI400P is designed to connect a guitar or bass directly to a mixer without losing sound quality due to impedance mismatches, long cables or cycle hum. It allows simultaneous conversion of unbalanced, 1/4" jack input into balanced XLR output and routing of the instrument signal to an on-stage amplifier.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Rbh)

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:34:21 GMT

CRT's are the worst cause... second cause is almost any other digital processor...particularly cheaper ones with backlighting displays, IE most digital rack equipment.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Duojet)

Tue, 13 May 2008 23:55:13 GMT

ORIGINAL: Cromberger

ORIGINAL: 6StringGeek

I suppose in theory you could get shocked. We've used a ground lift in our church for the last several years and haven't had any problems, zaps or hums. I'm not saying it's the best answer, but it definitely works. :)

Hi, 6StringGeek,

I can assure you that, if you're using the typical ground lifting plug adapter and don't have it connected via the small metal loop to a known ground, you *can* get a rather nasty shock. I know this from very painful experience. You obviously have been lucky so far, but one day your luck may run out. Like if you're playing an electric guitar and let your lips touch a microphone that you're singing into.

I certainly agree that using a ground-lift adapter is *effective* at getting rid of noise and hum, but it does present some very real risk to your well being. If it were me, I'd get rid of all ground-lifters and make sure all equipment is properly grounded for safety. There are other ways to deal with hum than ground-lift adapters.

Best regards,
Bill

some guitar direct boxes have ground lifts built in. it has helped me with the same issue. not sure if this is dangerous, it's not a ground lift on the power cord, but rather just the guitar cable.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Pablo1234)

Tue, 13 May 2008 23:35:17 GMT

I initaly had no 3 pronged outlets in the house. I set my System up in my bastment and I use some verry old Equptment Like my Fender PA100 for an example. Beleve me when you stand on the concreate with no shoes on you will be shoked as the Ground path is no longer the nuteral.

I finaly got around to rewireing the place after my cousin came over. We wher recording one of his new songs and the first time he touched his lip to the mic he squaled in pain, I still have the recording for any of the doubters out their.

On a side note a good way to eliminate RF noise in a single room is to use Wire mesh screen or Aluminum foil under wall treatments, I had created a small room in my bastment for justr my computers to eliminate the fan noise. My girl freind then bought a wireless system for her keyboard and mouse and wow could I hear that in my recording room. I when to menards and purchased metal screen mesh and put it on my walls then coverd that with Wall treatment. All the wire mesh is grounded. It made a massive improovment.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (6StringGeek)

Tue, 13 May 2008 19:25:12 GMT

ORIGINAL: Cromberger

Hi, 6StringGeek,

I can assure you that, if you're using the typical ground lifting plug adapter and don't have it connected via the small metal loop to a known ground, you *can* get a rather nasty shock. I know this from very painful experience. You obviously have been lucky so far, but one day your luck may run out. Like if you're playing an electric guitar and let your lips touch a microphone that you're singing into.

I am sure you're right.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (tubeydude)

Tue, 13 May 2008 19:06:11 GMT

This might be of interest to some of you.

I've not heard one in person, but have heard that they work pretty darn well..

http://www.suhrguitars.com/pickups.aspx#bpssc

Enjoy...

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Cromberger)

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:52:43 GMT

ORIGINAL: 6StringGeek

I suppose in theory you could get shocked. We've used a ground lift in our church for the last several years and haven't had any problems, zaps or hums. I'm not saying it's the best answer, but it definitely works. :)

Hi, 6StringGeek,

I can assure you that, if you're using the typical ground lifting plug adapter and don't have it connected via the small metal loop to a known ground, you *can* get a rather nasty shock. I know this from very painful experience. You obviously have been lucky so far, but one day your luck may run out. Like if you're playing an electric guitar and let your lips touch a microphone that you're singing into.

I certainly agree that using a ground-lift adapter is *effective* at getting rid of noise and hum, but it does present some very real risk to your well being. If it were me, I'd get rid of all ground-lifters and make sure all equipment is properly grounded for safety. There are other ways to deal with hum than ground-lift adapters.

Best regards,
Bill

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (mattila)

Tue, 13 May 2008 13:44:42 GMT

are we allowed to post external retail links? im new at this stuff.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (mattila)

Tue, 13 May 2008 13:32:25 GMT

you say guitars.if is this affecting all guitars you use there is probably a impedence mismatch at input level .try a active di into a cab simulator. i use a berringer ultra g, 50 bucks and has a built in simulator and ground lift , shazam!! http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-GI100-UltraG-DI-Box?sku=150934

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (6StringGeek)

Tue, 13 May 2008 08:38:45 GMT

I suppose in theory you could get shocked. We've used a ground lift in our church for the last several years and haven't had any problems, zaps or hums. I'm not saying it's the best answer, but it definitely works. :)

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Thomas Campitelli)

Tue, 13 May 2008 02:14:08 GMT

ORIGINAL: 6StringGeek
have you tried a ground lift? I have used that on our PA and it kills the 60-hz hum. You can get them from home depot for like 30 cents. mine is a grey plug that i plug my power strip into, and then plug that plug into the wall.

While this isn't the end of the world, it's not terribly wise either. Those 3-prong to 2-prong adapters are designed not to defeat the ground, but to use the screw on older wall outlets as the ground. Now, will using one vastly increase your risk of electric shock? Probably not. The only thing that should be carrying current is the hot wire. The neutral should go to ground. In practice this doesn't always happen. Chances are that you are still grounded when defeating the third prong, but it is less safe to do so.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (guitartrek)

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:13:46 GMT

I was plagued with a hum for a couple of years. I recorded a lot of guitar with that hum and had to use gates and clip editing to remove it. I got fed up with it though. I tried to clean up all the electrical plugs and electronics. Got rid of all non-essential electronic gear from the area. I plugged everything into an expensive power conditioner. No change. I finally tracked it down to a switch on an electrical chord that would turn on and off my powered monitors. We have a lot of dimmers in the house which I suspected, but those didn't matter. Nor did the power conditioner.

I now have absolutely no hum. I now use a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Strat (new style pickups).

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Pablo1234)

Mon, 12 May 2008 23:09:24 GMT

Great way to get zaped.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (6StringGeek)

Mon, 12 May 2008 22:28:12 GMT

have you tried a ground lift? I have used that on our PA and it kills the 60-hz hum. You can get them from home depot for like 30 cents. mine is a grey plug that i plug my power strip into, and then plug that plug into the wall.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (mwd)

Mon, 12 May 2008 21:08:59 GMT

99% of the guitars you encounter are shielded poorly and how much they cost isn't a factor.

For whatever reason it's an area that almost all manufacturers skimp on.
Here are a couple of pix of my shielding project on my handmade marler strat.
All cavities are joined to each other.

The guitar is silent.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Cromberger)

Mon, 12 May 2008 19:54:27 GMT

ORIGINAL: Dizzi45Z

Everyone,

Hey everyone. I must first say that I am not an electric guitar player, so let me know if I am fighting the impossible.

I have always had an annoying buzz in my electric guitars which is not that annoying until you add compression and everything on the guitar, especially the bass. The buzzing only seems to happen when I turn up the tone knob or any knob that brings up the higher frequencies. When I am touching the strings, the buzz almost goes completely away. If I tilt the guitars in weird unplayable directions, I can get the buzz to go completely away, but this only works if I would play the guitar upside down at a 30 degree angle.

All of my equipment is plugged into UPS's that have power conditioning and report that I have a good ground. My studio is in an older house and I was just thinking that it was possibly a bad grounding issue. However, today I wired in a solid ground and nothing changed.

I am currently plugging the guitars in directly to a Vintech 473 preamp which then plugs in direct to my Tascam DM3200 where I am hearing the buzz. However, I get the same issue whether it is plugged into my ADL 600 (then into my DM3200) or plugged directly into the Tascam DM3200.

I have both a Fender Squier Stratocaster Made in Japan and a Fender Jazz Bass Made in Mexico that I have been testing this issue with, but everybody who comes and records has the same issue.

I read the post from a few weeks ago about guitar buzzing and other appliances in the house. I turned off everything in the house and the buzzing still persists as always. I also want to mention that not a single microphone of mine condenser or dynamic have had buzzing issues unless I really crank the gain on them.

The only other thing that I can possibly think of is the fact that we have power lines that run long the back property line of our house. The studio is towards the very front of the house, but perhaps this is what is causing the problem. If this is causing the problem, then I am going to go buy a chainsaw and move the power line poles a street over from our house. But hopefully it won't come down to that. :-)

Dizzi45z,

I agree with many of the posts here. Shielding your guitar and properly grounding it are big considerations. Not having a CRT on during recording is a must. Keep all power cords away from wall-wart transformers. Turn off all flourescent lighting. Get rid of any cheap lighting dimmers.

There is no need to go to humbucking pickups; Single coils will work just fine if you are careful about grounding/shielding/transformer noise, and all other electrical considerations are dealt with appropriately.

If you absolutely can't get results in this way, you might want to try some different single coil pickups in your guitar. I've got a Strat Plus with Lace Sensor pickups in it that works really well in most electronically noisy environments. The only thing that the Lace pickups won't handle (in my case) is a CRT. Got to turn off my CRT's, even when I'm using the Lace pickups.

If you still can't get pretty clean results after trying all of the above, you may be living in an area where there is a strong radio transmitter nearby. I went through this for years and it's very frustrating. Also, you may be on to something with your statement about power lines running right behind your house. And, no matter what you do, if you're compressing the signal fairly significantly, it's obviously going to bring up any low-level hum/buzz in the track.

You say your studio is in a older home. Improper and/or non-existant grounding could be your problem. Even though you've "wired in a solid ground", are you positive that it is done properly? There's a lot of stuff that I've read about this subject and, though I'm absolutely *not* an expert, it seems that there's a lot to know about properly grounding a facility. Forgive me if you are an electrician or someone who is an expert in electricty---no offense intended. I'm just passing on a bit of what I've read about this issue over the years.

Best of luck in solving your buzzing issue. This is a tricky and complex problem if the simple stuff doesn't work..... I'd be interested to hear how you solve this, when you do.

Best regards,
Bill

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Mr Clean)

Mon, 12 May 2008 10:20:29 GMT

ORIGINAL: ew
Unfortunately, that's how most manufacturers ground their instruments but no, it's not a good thing!

It's known as string grounding, and it essentially uses your body as a shield. Under the right (or should I say wrong) circumstances, it can be fatal; more than one person's literally electrocuted themselves onstage due to that.

Shield your guitar properly and run a grounding lug through the shielding. Then, ground everything to the lug and disconnect the string ground. It may save your life...

ew

+100 to that.

Keith Relf (born William Keith Relf on March 22, 1943 - May 14, 1976) is best known as the lead singer and harmonica player of The Yardbirds.

Relf was only 33 when he died from an electric shock he received while playing his electric guitar, which was not properly grounded (Br., earthed).

Make sure your gear is well grounded!

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (jshep0102)

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:32:16 GMT

I know you want it out while you play, but you can get rid of just about any noise without degrading signal with Adobe Audition. You can sample and remove anything( I've removed crowd noise effectively) from a track as long as you have a place you can sample only the desired noise. This is of course an 'after' solution, just wanted to give you the opportunity to consider it. Take care, Shep

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (The Maillard Reaction)

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:03:12 GMT

As a big fan of single coil pickups... I'd vote for good shielding way before installing humbuckers.

The problem is that lot's of guests are going to bring in poorly shielded and or noisy guitars.

This introduces a great opurtunity for you to have a record ready guitar available for them. :-) maybe even for rent.

If you deal with most of the noise source in your studio... dimmers, flourecent lights, and CRT video monitors then you can expect that your guests are no more noisy at your place than anywhere else they play.

I have a friend, he comes over and sets up his rig and his digtal all in one pedal... and the feaking set up just hisses pink noise at 80dB SPL... and he's clueless.

I'm crawling up the wall... just going nuts... and he's in bliss causes he's got 99 instant tones that he can play cover songs with....

WHATTA YA GONNA DO?

I repeat, shield your guitar... get shielding tape, and a shield plate for your pickup, have it all connected properly.

good luck,
mike

edit spelling

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (bilbosblues)

Mon, 12 May 2008 08:45:39 GMT

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/11/08/BUG1J9N3C61.DTL&type=business

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (ew)

Mon, 12 May 2008 03:52:33 GMT

ORIGINAL: newfuturevintage

As for the buzz reducing when your fingers are in contact with the strings, this is a good thing. It means the bridges are grounded, and yep, that's the way they're supposed to behave.

Unfortunately, that's how most manufacturers ground their instruments but no, it's not a good thing!

It's known as string grounding, and it essentially uses your body as a shield. Under the right (or should I say wrong) circumstances, it can be fatal; more than one person's literally electrocuted themselves onstage due to that.

Shield your guitar properly and run a grounding lug through the shielding. Then, ground everything to the lug and disconnect the string ground. It may save your life...

ew

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (TheSteven)

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:02:03 GMT

Here is a very useful link on the process that hasn't yet been mentioned:
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

Here is a good source for copper shielding tape:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding.html

Great links! Thanks!

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (RNCMKG)

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:44:41 GMT

I'll cast a vote for shielding as well. I recently shielded a MiM Fender jazz bass, and a Strat and got great results.

Here is a very useful link on the process that hasn't yet been mentioned:
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

Here is a good source for copper shielding tape:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding.html

I didn't follow the shielding process exactly, but incorporated the basic principles. The key is to fully shield the cavity and back of the pickguard and ensure there is full continuity to ground at the jack.

I found that both guitars are now very quiet, and there is no substantial difference in hum whether or not I am touching the strings.

RE: Guitar Buzz.... Impossible to fix?1?! (Hatchetman)

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:24:50 GMT

I can't help you with your problem, there are far more qualified cake bakers here than me, but I do have a workaround for you

Get yoursef a ground strap from a coomputer store, you wear it on your wrist. Find a good spot to clip it to your guitar so you are "touching" it...you said that makes it go away...so just ground yourself to the guitar...I have done this trick myself in the past, and for th time being, was my best workaround.