Jazzmaster EMG Pickup Help- Humming

[glennleaguesny]

Hey guys,
So, I purchased a Jmaster pickup/pickguard set and I’m having some issues. I’m far from a guitar tech- but i followed the instructions EMG sent and believe i have everything installed correctly. I even followed Mike Adam’s installation video.

I can hear a hum in both pickup positions. I am getting sound with both, both pickups are working correctly and I can play out of them. But there is still definitely an hum and I’m unsure why. I have heard that EMG pickups are supposed to be silent. I was just wondering if you can take a look at the picture to see if there’s anything you can see that’s wrong. I have tried multiple amps and cables. I also brought it into the guitar shop that I work at part time and plugged it in there, it still has a hum, so I know it’s not my apartment wiring.

I don’t have any ground installed or anything, but I believe they don’t need one? I had the whole cavity covered in copper tape, but took it all out because I thought that may have been causing the humming, but to no avail. I don’t think I received a dud set, I’m assuming this is user error, but was hoping someone could help me troubleshoot.

Thank you!

[glennleaguesny]

[shigginpit]

I looked at the datasheet that EMG provides on your pickup set and this seems like a very straight forward install, I don't see anything that you've done incorrectly. As with most of EMG's other pickup systems they also explicitly state that there is no string ground required. My only suggestion from experience with other shittier models of emg pickups is that although perhaps not in all applications, or on all guitars, or in all situations (which is why they don't seem to mention it), sometimes there can be noise present when a signal wire crosses or is too close in proximity to a power wire. Anywhere you see that it looks like that may be the case (probably several places from appearances), try and space them a little apart from each other temporarily using rags or foam or whatever you have on hand (even if the stock harness is what runs them close together) and see if the noise lessens or subsides. You may in fact pinpoint the specific junction where the noise source is originating from by doing this, and if that does the trick, you may need to add a bit of additional insulation between those wires.

If that doesn't do it, I can't imagine what the issue would be because the pickups are designed to be noiseless and if the amp or the grounding at your home were the issue, it wouldn't have followed you to the store. That's the best I got, I can't imagine anything has been wrongly connected as you stated everything works and if something were plugged in upside down or locations were mixed up (super unlikely with a preassembled system) it wouldn't work at all. You could try reseating the plugged connections or look directly inside them (the plugs) and make sure a loose strand of copper wire hasn't somehow mysteriously made its way in there connecting 2 points which should not be touching, but otherwise I really couldn't say.