I recently installed twin PAF's in my 1987 Squire Stratocaster. Of course, it was fully shielded with conductive adhesive copper tape. All sections of the cavities have 100% continuity. There is a ground wire soldered to one section on the copper tape, in addition to a tremolo/bridge ground and input jack ground. The back of the pickguard is covered in copper tape and the pots and switches run directly along one, uninterrupted piece of tape. There are "ears" of copper tape that fold over the edges of the cavities that come into contact. Even the adjustment springs and baseplate of the pickups are grounded because the springs contact the copper tape as well. The tremolo spring cover is backed with aluminum tape, as I ran out of copper.
I have a very persistent noise in this guitar, as if frying eggs. I was using GFS wax potted, nickel covered (8.6k Bridge - 8.0k Neck) PAF's initially, and then switched to Gibson 57 Classics, which are around 7.5k each. Guess what??? The GFS PAF's are MUCH QUIETER than the Gibson 57 Classics, but the noise is still ever present.
When I switch between positions, the noise remains constant. If I roll off the volume or the tone to about 1/2 way, the noise goes away. I'm running 500k Alpha pots on this rig at present...single master volume and single master tone.
The 5-way switch is one of the cheapo, plastic ones, identical to the one that came in my 1987 Squire. The switch is a little scratchy.....but I have a brand new 3-way Switchcraft (all metal) out of a recent Schechter build, so I can easily swap that in later.
My current practice room has no dimmers...in fact, we have no dimmers in the entire house. Both my Marshall DSL40C's are dead-quiet when switched on without the guitar plugged in. I have switched cables. There is no buzz or pop when any metal part of the guitar is touched. You can touch the pickups and the noise does not change. I am confident the problem is in the guitar itself.
Then, I made an interesting discovery...If I moved as far away from the amp as my 6 foot practice cable (Whirlwind Professional) would allow...and then turned a certain way in the room, the noise diminished, almost totally disappearing!!! And that was with no lights on and no electronic devices in the room.
What's interesting is, my EMG equipped Schechter does not behave this way, so it's only affecting my "passive" guitars.
Very interesting...Thoughts????
I have a very persistent noise in this guitar, as if frying eggs. I was using GFS wax potted, nickel covered (8.6k Bridge - 8.0k Neck) PAF's initially, and then switched to Gibson 57 Classics, which are around 7.5k each. Guess what??? The GFS PAF's are MUCH QUIETER than the Gibson 57 Classics, but the noise is still ever present.
When I switch between positions, the noise remains constant. If I roll off the volume or the tone to about 1/2 way, the noise goes away. I'm running 500k Alpha pots on this rig at present...single master volume and single master tone.
The 5-way switch is one of the cheapo, plastic ones, identical to the one that came in my 1987 Squire. The switch is a little scratchy.....but I have a brand new 3-way Switchcraft (all metal) out of a recent Schechter build, so I can easily swap that in later.
My current practice room has no dimmers...in fact, we have no dimmers in the entire house. Both my Marshall DSL40C's are dead-quiet when switched on without the guitar plugged in. I have switched cables. There is no buzz or pop when any metal part of the guitar is touched. You can touch the pickups and the noise does not change. I am confident the problem is in the guitar itself.
Then, I made an interesting discovery...If I moved as far away from the amp as my 6 foot practice cable (Whirlwind Professional) would allow...and then turned a certain way in the room, the noise diminished, almost totally disappearing!!! And that was with no lights on and no electronic devices in the room.
What's interesting is, my EMG equipped Schechter does not behave this way, so it's only affecting my "passive" guitars.
Very interesting...Thoughts????
