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Ask Husi: Guitar Troubles

By cam (Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 03:46:46 PM EST) guitar, livewire, acker-dacker (all tags)

I get this clicking sound when I put my fingers on the strings. Like I am grounding the guitar. What is this? How can I get rid of it?

The annoying thing is it makes its way into the recordings, I have these clicks in weird spots and havent been able to eradicate them. I think it is this effect.

Is my guitar not grounded or something? or is my amp so crap it is not grounding and making me a live part of the circuit or something?

Any EEs with a musical bent know?

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Ask Husi: Guitar Troubles | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

i wonder by ana (4.00 / 1) #1 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 03:54:55 PM EST

if grounding yourself to the same whatever that the amp is grounded to would help. Electronics techs have these watchband-like things with a snap on them, which mate to a curly wire with an alligator clip on the other end, for grounding themselves when working on sensitive circuitry.

Can you introspect out loud? --CRwM

Excellent idea! by cam (2.00 / 0) #2 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 04:06:54 PM EST

I can probably rig something up quickly.

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

Yikes! by blixco (4.00 / 1) #6 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 04:41:58 PM EST

Be careful of that. Very careful. You shouldn't be grounding yourself.

Crack open the back of your guitar....wait....is it a tremelo or string-thru bridge? If you have an access plate in the back of your guitar, open it up and look for the ground wire that has come loose.

If the above == not true, then your electronics may have lost their ground. Crack open your volume / tone / wiring loom area, and check for loose wires there, as well.

And finally, try a different amp, like at a music shop.
---------------------------------
Taken out of context I must seem so strange - Ani DiFranco
[ Parent ]

it has a whammy bar by cam (2.00 / 0) #7 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 04:50:47 PM EST

which I took off, the strings go through the bridge from the underside of the guitar. I took the back plastic off, it has a wire running to the backplate of the bridge that is soldered in there.

How would attaching myself to the bridge be any different to touching the strings?

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

: Well, by blixco (4.00 / 1) #9 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 06:08:02 PM EST

you can let go of the strings if you get shocked.
So, if your groundwire is soldered, then you're enjoying glorious humbucking hum. Get some seymour duncans and call it a day!
---------------------------------
Taken out of context I must seem so strange - Ani DiFranco
[ Parent ]

took the front covers off by cam (2.00 / 0) #8 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 05:01:40 PM EST

all the wires appear to be connected.

So amp or cable maybe?

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

IMPORTANT NOTE by wumpus (4.00 / 1) #10 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 06:25:55 PM EST

Grounding straps contain a 1Meg Ohm resistance between wrist and ground. You won't find many techs* willing to work on live electronics without the resistance. I suspect that this won't change the sound too much (unless it only happens the first time you touch the strings, but not the second time).

Wumpus
* EEs generally wear these only after a suit makes them and is still standing nearby. After that he must ritually burn the thing before being allowed to put his plastic pocket protector back on.

[ Parent ]

: That reminds me of... by iGrrrl (2.00 / 0) #17 Sun Aug 06, 2006 at 05:11:23 AM EST

...the story where the guy and his wife/girlfriend were into bondage. He was an electronics engineer/tech. After going out to lunch one day, she collared him and chained him to his work bench. When the (Christian, vitamin-selling) suit walked in and asked him what the hell was that, he answered, "Ground strap."

"we had a little over an hour to see the entire zoo. we scanned the map, and decided on what is most urgent: wombats." misslake
[ Parent ]

Has it always done that? by Bob Abooey (4.00 / 1) #3 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 04:17:25 PM EST

Did you look at the pickups or the pots for a loose wire?

Warmest regards,
--Your best pal Bob

I dont think it has always done that by cam (2.00 / 0) #4 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 04:30:57 PM EST

but I only got sensitive to it when I was trying to clean up some of the SHMRB recordings.

I will check next time I change the strings (prob another 6 months yet)

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

Just tried the each pickup switch(?) choice by cam (2.00 / 0) #5 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 04:32:41 PM EST

all of them hum more when my fingers are off, than when my fingers are on the stings. They all click when my fingers make contact.

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

i was gonna suggest that by fleece (4.00 / 1) #11 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 07:44:12 PM EST

i'm pretty sure my guitar does this too. I'm not getting it out of the attic to check. either way i played through that many effects it would get swallowed up.

[ Parent ]

Get it out of the attack by cam (2.00 / 0) #12 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 08:25:36 PM EST

there is an MFC on, that means anyone with a musical instrument and a tape recorder or computer has to enter. This means you too.

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

: ummm by cam (4.00 / 1) #13 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 08:30:06 PM EST

attack is supposed to read attic ...
cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]
: arggh it's been a long time cam by fleece (2.00 / 0) #16 Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 12:09:35 AM EST

i sold the amp and the four-track to pay bills sometime around the turn of the century

[ Parent ]

Do NOT ground yourself to the same line by BadDoggie (4.00 / 2) #14 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 08:56:41 PM EST

Unless you want me to go after your widow, that is. Check the pots for a loose connection. Do they crackle when you adjust them? If so, change them out, and not for new cheap-ass pots. Check the grounding wire from the inpot to the bridge and make sure there's a clean connection. Make sure the ground connection on the amp to the wall and the inpout is clean.

Those are the three most common points that would cause this problem.

woof.

OMG WE'RE FUCKED! -- duxup ?

Have you tried a different cable? by lm (4.00 / 2) #15 Fri Jul 28, 2006 at 09:17:17 PM EST

I had a problem like that once when my 20' cord started to go bad. Replacing the cord made the problem go away.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic

Ask Husi: Guitar Troubles | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback


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