New player, newbie question: how do I deal with RF hum/buzz?

[Dan Perez Sax]

Hey, I've been playing for about 3 months and just got my second guitar, an S2 Thinline. I LOVE the way it feels to play and I can play faster and cleaner than I could on my SE custom 24. But... this guitar picks up a lot more RF interference from the electronics in my room than the SE did. Why is that? What can I do about it? My friend's response was, "Get a guitar that doesn't buzz," but... I really like this guitar, dammit lol.

I can get less buzzy sounds by turning the gain down on my amp or turning down the volume pots on the guitar and turning the amp output volume up, but as soon as I try to get a little crunch, there's an ever-present hum that's driving me nuts. An interesting thing I've noticed is that when I pull out the coil tap, it doesn't add or change the buzzing sound AT ALL, unlike the SE guitar where some buzz would start when the tone knob was pulled out.

 

[Dan Perez Sax]

Things I've tried: different cables, eliminating pedals, keeping everything on one circuit, going direct into Apollo. Same results every time. The only thing that changes (not reduces to manageable levels, but reduces somewhat) the hum is facing a different direction. If I turn down the treble, it's fine, but I've been told that practicing with the treble up helps you practice a more consistent, lighter touch cuz you can hear slight differences in the picking better, so I want to do that.

 

[Rider1260]

Sounds like a wiring issue , stuck coil tapping , short look near the tone pot for wires touching together or a wire shorting a lug.
Contact PTC send them good pictures they will get you sorted

 

[Dan Perez Sax]

Siiiiiiiiiick, thanks. Was hoping it's something that's just plain wrong like that, aka fixable. As opposed to something that's by design somehow or something I just have to get used to.

The bridge tone control does sound a bit dirty which I thought was weird for a 2020 model PRS.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Remember, most SE have shielding paint in the control cavity and the S2 USA made do not. This will allow more external RF to penetrate. Not saying there is not a short or something.

Does the noise change when you turn your body around? This could indicate the external source of the noise also. Cheap house wiring will cause that.

 

[Dan Perez Sax]

So the noise does change when I turn my body around. I was also mistaken when I said pulling out the tone knobs doesn't change the hum at all. It does, but doesn't make it really louder, just different. When either one of the tone knobs is turned all the way down, the buzzing sound disappears. I did open up the guitar and look for shorts or disconnected grounds, didn't see any. I also deliberately touched some of the live leads and that's a way louder buzz than I'm getting.

I dunno if I'm just being dramatic and maybe guitars just buzz? LOL I'm trying to get a clean-ish tone that breaks up a bit when I play the strings hard, but as soon as I introduce a lot of gain, it's buzz city. Not using any real pedals (except a wammy pedal, but the buzz is identical with or without that in the signal chain), just playing through a spark amp with its models. I know some of this is a normal ground buzz because it quiets down when I touch the strings, but it just seems way too loud compared to the sound of the notes if that makes sense.

I also get static if I run my finger over the top of the guitar. Is that normal?

 

[Tone-y]

Are you sat near a computer/monitor?

 

[Dan Perez Sax]

PC tower and TV are about 3ft away. Laptop is behind me another 3ft away or so. I have some amount of freedom to move the chair when I plug into my amp, but if I'm recording DI, it would be pretty inconvenient not to sit at the controls. The amp is about 5 ft away from my seated position, opposite the PC tower.

I sit wedged in here:

And the screens go here:

 

[Tone-y]

Quite likely RF noise then. Is it better if you take the guitar and amp into a different room? Might just need to do a good shielding job on the S2. I've just done a Strat with shielding paint and a metal pick guard plate. Was quite an easy job and had worked well

 

[Wailing]

I had the same problem with a Les Paul, like Tone-y a good application of shielding and a good check of the earthing did the trick ! Hope you can get it sorted.. S2’s are such great guitars !!

 

[Dan Perez Sax]

Practicing in another room is not viable. My roommate will kill me in my sleep. LOL she's already pissed that I practice sax and flute all day in my room, but if I move the night's guitar practice next to her room, she'll have an aneurism hahahaha. I will add shielding and check the grounding again... To be honest the wiring looks impeccable to me. The only grounding I can't verify is a thin pinlike line running from the top of a pot through a pinhole in the wood, I assume to the bridge.

 

[Fram]

Yep that will be your bridge ground.

might be worth buying some self adhesive slug tape (the copper stuff) and shielding the control cavity and back plate.

I had a similar issue with my les paul, fine at home but as soon as I got to some gigs it would drive me nuts, the slug tape helped a lot.

Not as much as selling it and buying a Vela though

 

[Warmart]

Definitely try turning off your pc, laptop and really everything else. If that fixes it try adding back one thing at a time, then you'll know it's interference.