Noisy Tele that shouldn't be

[papabear16]

Hello,

I have a kit-built Telestyle guitar that has a ton of hum, but shouldn't. All three of my electrics—a Les Paul, a Strat with Zexcoils, and this Tele kit with Mojo Tone Quiet Coils—should be nearly silent. The Les Paul and Strat are, but the Tele hums like crazy. And it gets worse when I step on an OD pedal, especially the Super Phat Mod.

I hope to go back under the hood on the Tele to solve this problem this weekend. But what am I looking for? I'm a hobbyist who wired this up all myself using good components. The cavity is shielded with tape. Long runs of wires are twisted around each other. And I had no trouble wiring up the other guitars. And for what its worth, the Tele has a a four-way switch with the front position having both pickups in serial, like a humbucker. Other than the hum, it sounds terrific and everything works as it should.

Thanks for any advice.

[Bill Moore]

I had just fired up one of my amp builds, noticing a lot of hum with my Tele. I couldn't check it out until the next day, but then there was no hum! My wife walked through and turned on the light, hum returned! (The light is on a dimmer!)

[Don]

The problem could be as simple as a cold solder joint.

[phantomman]

The problem could be as simple as a cold solder joint.

+1

Recheck your work.

[papabear16]

+1

Recheck your work.

Okay, good, and will do. Is there a good way to detect a cold or otherwise bad solder joint? I've got a good multimeter but a bad set of eyes.

[Offshore Angler]

Okay, good, and will do. Is there a good way to detect a cold or otherwise bad solder joint? I've got a good multimeter but a bad set of eyes.

Chopsticks

But hey, really, there are no such thing as "noiselss" pickups, just some are less sensitive than others. Even humbuckers hum. It can also be your cords too. They can act like an antenna so even if the pups are silent you get noise.

Is the cavity shielded? All that wiring in there will pick up hum just like pickups. And if you use a power supply for your effects that's the first place I'd start looking. Some pedals are notoriously noisy too. So, you just need to start with the bare amp, then put your cord into it sans guitar, and then add the guitar and find the source. If it's the guitar does it go away when you touch the strings? Does it change when you move the guitar? How about when you move the pickup selector? Does it go away or change?

Chuck

[papabear16]

Chopsticks

But hey, really, there are no such thing as "noiselss" pickups, just some are less sensitive than others. Even humbuckers hum. It can also be your cords too. They can act like an antenna so even if the pups are silent you get noise.

Is the cavity shielded? All that wiring in there will pick up hum just like pickups. And if you use a power supply for your effects that's the first place I'd start looking. Some pedals are notoriously noisy too. So, you just need to start with the bare amp, then put your cord into it sans guitar, and then add the guitar and find the source. If it's the guitar does it go away when you touch the strings? Does it change when you move the guitar? How about when you move the pickup selector? Does it go away or change?

Chuck

Thanks, Chuck. It's true that no pickups will be silent. Here, I'm comparing the Tele to my Strat (with Zexcoils) and Les Paul (with SD '59s), and the Tele is MUCH noisier. The comparisons use the same cords, pedals, amp, etc. That's why I think something is up with the Tele.

Yes, the cavity is completely shielded, both around the pickups and in the control cavity. I'm pretty sure the back of the pickguard is, too, although I'll check that when I open things up to check my connections.

As far as your other questions, the hum does respond a little, but not a lot, to how I move. But unlike when I had regular single coils in my Strat, I can't find a near-silent orientation in which to stand.

Other than checking connections, does any of this suggest anything else I should look for?

[phantomman]

Other than checking connections, does any of this suggest anything else I should look for?

Defective pickups.

[papabear16]

Defective pickups.

Well, that's an unpleasant thought! But if I get in there (probably this evening) and everything else checks out, I guess that makes sense.

[Jim Nowacki]

Yeah, this is late, but I hadn't seen this thread before, so I hope it helps someone with a buzz problem.

Make sure the neck pickup's cover is grounded. I just did that last night to my Offset Tele and the buzz is almost gone- the little that's left can be almost completely eliminated by touching anything that's grounded, even when the guitar is next to my amp and near my TV. The bridge PU doesn't have anything but the bridge plate to help with shielding, but there was no shield wire at the neck.

As I wrote in another thread about noisy Teles, I honestly don't know why they don't twist the wires and ground the neck pickup cover at the factory.

[phantomman]

I honestly don't know why they don't twist the wires and ground the neck pickup cover at the factory.

You don't need to be a NASA rocket surgeon to figure that out. You spent perhaps an hour to correct an oversight. Well, in FMIC's "hive" mentality, that's perhaps ten bucks in production costs that they'd prefer to pocket rather than build something right.

Every detective will tell you the same......follow the money.

[Jim Nowacki]

Is this noise hum, or buzz? There's a difference. Hum is 60Hz or 120Hz, from bad filter caps, magnetic fields from power cords in the amp, bad solder joints/partially broken wires in wall wart power supplies, Caps passing DC, etc. Buzz is interference from things like soldering irons, TVs and other devices that create higher frequency noises.

[Jim Nowacki]

You don't need to be a NASA rocket surgeon to figure that out. You spent perhaps an hour to correct an oversight. Well, in FMIC's "hive" mentality, that's perhaps ten bucks in production costs that they'd prefer to pocket rather than build something right.

Every detective will tell you the same......follow the money.

But that hive mentality has existed for 60 years and they haven't done anything to fix it. I know it's about money, but seriously? This is ridiculous. They should be able to 'waste' five seconds per pickup and output jack and not feel the effects.

Nowhere near an hour. Adding the Copper foil made it an hour, but at least I now know that if I really want to hear the noise, I should turn off my laptop that was next to the headstock of my old Baja Tele and the TV needs to be off. With the TV off, my Squire is extremely quiet for a Tele that has the stock pickups.

[OldStrummer]

I suspect this "hive mentality" is one reason Leo decided to sell the company and start another (two, actually). I've said it before, "Artists build instruments, businesspeople build profits." Sometimes the two are mutually exclusive.

[Offshore Angler]

Leo didn't play. He sold amplifiers to steel players. Then he built steels, then spanish guitars.

[Bill Moore]

I had a friend from California who lived near Leo's original "radio" shop. said his dad bragged that Leo could "fix any radio he brought him!"

[phantomman]

As I understand it, Leo began repairing radios and juke boxes during WWII then began servicing sound systems for movie theaters and indoor sports venues. For having little or no formal training he built quite a reputation in Southern California and the rest as they say is history.