Single Coils with Distortion NOISE

[HNB]

Got them both wired back up. Still not done with setup. They are being pains. I put electrical tape down under the switch to keep it from grounding out on the new shielding. Sunburst did ok but cream decided to be ok until I got it turned up to have the neck pickup ground out.... so tomorrow I take it apart to fix. Swapping necks actually caused for quite a bit of setup work. I had to add springs because of the tremolo lifting too much with elevens. Both necks need the truss tightened to reduce the relief.


Good news though. No noise even if I don't touch the strings. (Made it hard to figure out if I connected all the grounds back right since touching grounded stuff didn't change the hum like it used to. There is still single coil noise, but much less than before shielding.

[HNB]

Adjusted the relief this morning on both necks. They are much more straight. Only a slight gap now. Should help the fret noise in the upper notes. I am going to swap out a couple of the height adjustment screws on the sunburst. The high E and B string saddles have shorter screws than the others. Maybe they were filed. I need a little more height.

Strat adjustments are pretty interesting. Not sure why people complain about Jazzy and Jag trem setup. Strats aren't much of a picnic either. LOL Trem too high. Add spring. Retune. Trem too low now. Back screw out a little. Retune. LOL

Strange thing though is before I changed necks on the sunburst, I think I had elevens on it with three springs and it floated fine. I swap necks and then the tremolo was lifting up way high with elevens so I had to add a fourth spring. You would think changing the neck wouldn't make the springs act different?

[HNB]

Got the relief and floating bridges set up last night. Necks are almost dead straight. I get a little fret buzz on the sunburst strat but only if I play hard. Action is pretty low on both. I guess I could always do higher action if I really wanted to.

The shielding did some cool and different things I am not used to. With most of my guitars, I am used to a little hum when you aren't touching strings and it goes away if you touch anything grounded. (Switch, plate, etc.) With shielding in both guitars, there is no difference in any noise when I am not touching the strings or when I touch anything that is grounded. I can still pick up a little noise directionally, but if I turn the guitar away from the noise source it is picking up on, the noise goes almost completely away. In position two or four there is no noise at all. With a DS1 or other high gain pedals, there is still noise, but that isn't any different with my humbucker guitars, so I think the noise is in the pedal or something else. (Just a part of noisy pedals.)

I know there is debate on shielding under the pickups. I would recommend it from testing before and after. I don't notice any sound change, but the drop in background noise and such is pretty big. Wasn't hard to do at all and the only real problem I had was the strat switch tabs touching the cavity and getting grounded out. I bend the tabs away more and put down some electrical tape in the cavity under the switch and it seems to be fine now. Tight fit in there.

Thanks to everyone for tips and suggestions. I appreciate it.

[MechaBulletBill]

Was the dummy coil in the burst not having any effect on the noise?

[HNB]

No. I think it wasn't set up correctly.

[Embenny]

Got the relief and floating bridges set up last night. Necks are almost dead straight. I get a little fret buzz on the sunburst strat but only if I play hard. Action is pretty low on both. I guess I could always do higher action if I really wanted to.

The shielding did some cool and different things I am not used to. With most of my guitars, I am used to a little hum when you aren't touching strings and it goes away if you touch anything grounded. (Switch, plate, etc.) With shielding in both guitars, there is no difference in any noise when I am not touching the strings or when I touch anything that is grounded. I can still pick up a little noise directionally, but if I turn the guitar away from the noise source it is picking up on, the noise goes almost completely away. In position two or four there is no noise at all. With a DS1 or other high gain pedals, there is still noise, but that isn't any different with my humbucker guitars, so I think the noise is in the pedal or something else. (Just a part of noisy pedals.)

I know there is debate on shielding under the pickups. I would recommend it from testing before and after. I don't notice any sound change, but the drop in background noise and such is pretty big. Wasn't hard to do at all and the only real problem I had was the strat switch tabs touching the cavity and getting grounded out. I bend the tabs away more and put down some electrical tape in the cavity under the switch and it seems to be fine now. Tight fit in there.

Thanks to everyone for tips and suggestions. I appreciate it.

That's great news! So shielding really did make all the difference. I also agree that Strat setups are a pain...and tune-o-matics also, for that matter (depends on the model, but on some of my guitars, those damn thumbwheels just turn at the slightest breeze while changing strings). Most Fender and Gibson guitar hardware was designed 60 years ago (or at least the basic designs upon which slight variants have evolved) and they're each unforgiving in their own ways.

That lack of noise while not touching the strings is the hallmark of a properly-shielded guitar, so you did a great job. What I learned on this very board is that we act like giant antennae picking up interference, and touching the strings grounds us (if the strings are properly grounded, of course), thereby eliminating our bodies as a source of noise. My American Special JM really needs a shielding job - it's the worst offender for that of any guitar I've ever owned. I guess Fender figured the pickups were humbucking so they could cheap out on shielding or something.

[HNB]

It kind of makes me wonder what my other guitars would sound like shielded.