Noise

[BLK]

Hi everyone, new member here!

So obviously everybody is familiar with the noise (I always assume RF) that you hear when you take your hands off the strings. It varies depending on which way you’re facing, how near you are to your amp, it goes away when you turn down your guitar’s volume, touch any grounded part, etc.

I’ve experienced it on every guitar I’ve ever had, but on my new, used (2017) McCarty it’s louder, and much more noticeable than any of my humbucker guitars, as well as everybody else’s guitar I’ve compared it to side-by-side including my friend’s Custom 22 (passing my plugged-in cable back and forth).

Poking around the control cavity with a chopstick didn’t show anything to be loose or cause any change in noise, I haven’t looked in the pickup cavities (it doesn’t change when I switch pickups anyway). It changes slightly when engaging/disengaging the coil splits.

Any ideas? Are 58/15s any noisier than other pickups?

Thanks, BLK

 

[BLK]

PS: it’s not just absurdly loud, or I would have no doubt that it had a problem. Like I said, it’s just very noticeable. And again, more so than I would consider normal.

Fwiw, I’m a pretty experienced player/guitar owner in general.

Thanks again!

 

[BrianC]

Pickups are dipped in wax during the build. Some heavy some light amounts. Maybe its this????

 

[BLK]

Pickups are dipped in wax during the build. Some heavy some light amounts. Maybe its this????

I see what you’re saying - I probably didn’t describe it well enough. It’s like a hum, not a mechanical noise.

Thanks

 

[Acnestes]

It sounds like something is wrong with some electronic component or the shielding. Possibly not grounded properly. That guitar should not be making noise. I'd take to a tech with the right test equipment.

 

[garrett]

For some reason PRS quit shielding the electronics cavities years ago. You should be able cut the RF interference back by shielding the control cavity.

 

[jak3af3r]

My 97 McCarty through a Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe picks up Spanish AM radio here in Nashville ONLY when I'm touching any grounded component. It was rather funny one night gigging and the song ends with faint Mexican music playing in the background.

 

[BLK]

My 97 McCarty through a Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe picks up Spanish AM radio here in Nashville ONLY when I'm touching any grounded component. It was rather funny one night gigging and the song ends with faint Mexican music playing in the background.

Haha, that's a feature!

Yeah, thanks for the opinions, everybody. I'm going to drop it off at the shop for a checkup!

(garrett, I'm also going to have a look at the shielding/lack thereof)

BLK

 

[CandidPicker]

MY PRS S2 SC has similar problem, though it's barely noticeable and doesn't interfere when playing in a live situation. The hum usually occurs when my guitar volumes are turned up past halfway, and more so when a boost and/or overdrive effect is in the signal path. Yet, I've not checked if the coil-taps are the issue, and can't recall whether the humbuckers are both on does the problem occur.

My gut feeling tells me it's one or both of the coil-taps in single-coil mode. Though I have some time Thursday to determine whether this is true or not.

Some years ago I owned a Barber Burn Unit distortion effect with my Mesa Lonestar amps that picked up God-knows-what radio from someplace. It wasn't the shielded guitar, just the wrong length of instrument cable that acted as an antenna and added gain stages that amplified the radio signal.

I owned only the same length cables at the time, so the Barber Burn Unit was sold and the radio signal went away. (Which was likely the smarter move, since all that gain was way too loud for my basement music room...pictures falling off the paneled walls from the sheer volume of the amps)

Maternal unit herself had to literally walk downstairs and tap me on the shoulder while I was in full stage jam presence to speak with me. Ever seen a skinny kid jump a foot upwards into the air? Yup. Mom got a kick out of doing this, but it was a pet peeve of hers when I jammed at excessive volumes she'd sneak up on me and tap my shoulder.

 

[BLK]

Maternal unit herself had to literally walk downstairs and tap me on the shoulder while I was in full stage jam presence to speak with me. Ever seen a skinny kid jump a foot upwards into the air? Yup. Mom got a kick out of doing this, but it was a pet peeve of hers when I jammed at excessive volumes she'd sneak up on me and tap my shoulder.

Funny (about your Mom, not the noise!).

For me, just to follow up, at the moment I’m just kind of in a holding pattern on this.

It’s something that has only been happening intermittently, and not very often. It’s happened in a couple of locations.

I’ve gone through the guitar with a multimeter and a chopstick and nothing is loose, everything is grounded that should be, all of which makes me wonder if it’s due to some external condition.

I don’t know - it’s so intermittent anyway that there’s no guarantee that it will make noise on somebody’s bench if I do take it in, and since I’m not playing professionally at this point I guess it’s not life-or-death. (I played a for-fun gig at a bar the other night and it was fine).

BLK

 

[CandidPicker]

Funny (about your Mom, not the noise!).

For me, just to follow up, at the moment I’m just kind of in a holding pattern on this.

It’s something that has only been happening intermittently, and not very often. It’s happened in a couple of locations.

I’ve gone through the guitar with a multimeter and a chopstick and nothing is loose, everything is grounded that should be, all of which makes me wonder if it’s due to some external condition.

I don’t know - it’s so intermittent anyway that there’s no guarantee that it will make noise on somebody’s bench if I do take it in, and since I’m not playing professionally at this point I guess it’s not life-or-death. (I played a for-fun gig at a bar the other night and it was fine).

BLK

Yeah, true story about Mom.

My only suggestion is to use your ears carefully to discern whether the hum is when you don't touch the strings or the guitar itself. If it's the strings, and the hum is comparatively low in volume, it's likely your cable length, your effects (and/or connections) and amp in the signal path. If it's when you touch the guitar, it sounds more like an improper ground somewhere.

TBH, I've got all this down pat and have used a TC Electronic Sentry Noise Gate for mitigating extraneous noise. The pedal works appreciably well despite the fact that some residual noise occurs when my boost and overdrive are switched on simultaneously. While the pedal doesn't eliminate all noise, it does keep noise to a "dull roar."

In all honesty, the resultant hum is minimized, and eliminates extraneous hiss as well. Sentry's are not terribly expensive, but are a must for my effects board handling noise. It won't cause darkening of your signal either, an added plus. The Sentry is relatively transparent and is a key factor towards improved guitar tone.