[greekdude]

Hello ppl, long time no post, sorry for that, but all my DMZ seemed to work fine!

this is about the Carvin dc135, in which the tech installed a push/pull pot for series/parallel to neck (dimarzio air norton S) and also bridge (dimarzio super distortion (full size)).
Well, the guitar makes noise, which stops when I touch the strings. Ok you will tell me, so it should be, except the Blazes does not.
The same problem has my Aria Strar with dimarzio fast track 2 (b), fast track I (m), the Chopper (n).

Also, when I approach the right hand on the bridge pup (super dist) the buzz / hum increases ..... When that happens, pressing all the strings with the left hand then the buzz disappears.

The mods on the strat push/pull neck for series/parallel, push/pull bridge for series/parallel, + add bridge to all positiond switch + bridge tone control, I did it myself. The wiring on the Carvin was made by the tech, while Ibanez with his blazes is stock.

Are some magnets affected more than others by static electricity?

Checked for the shielding of the pups and indeed the chassis is connected to the ground in all the aforementioned guitars (strat / Carvin) ....

If I did not have the blazes to function super quiet, I wouldn't investigate further.


As a side note, the blazes are new, the guitar was bought in 2014, while the super distortion, air norton S, fast tracks, chopper were bought and played for over 20 years... maybe something happened to them? Also I have to say this is only under high gain.

[buddroyce]

I had that once. Was a grounding issue. Took me forever to narrow it down, turn out that the back of the push-pulls that I thought was grounded wasn't properly done even though it passed the conductivity tests.

[greekdude]

I had that once. Was a grounding issue. Took me forever to narrow it down, turn out that the back of the push-pulls that I thought was grounded wasn't properly done even though it passed the conductivity tests.

thank you!
Can you please explain with little more detail what was wrong in your case? What should I check?

The Aria strat I know it is a mess because I have done the wiring (ages ago), so this is kind of expected. But the Carvin was done by a tech and it seems a decent solid job, checked it visually and could not find an flaw. The guy has grounded the pots from the middle and the back of each push/pull pot (not the lugs side, the opposite side).

Maybe he didn't connect properly the bare wire? Although (as in your case) it passes the tests.

[buddroyce]

In my case I think it was a solder joint that wasn't quite right. The push-pull I used had some weird coating that didn't quite bond with the solder very well and required me to sand the back of the pot a bit.

[greekdude]

In my case I think it was a solder joint that wasn't quite right. The push-pull I used had some weird coating that didn't quite bond with the solder very well and required me to sand the back of the pot a bit.

thanks. I pulled out the pots yesterday and the soldering seems solid and strong (I know the problem with push/pulls's coating and soldering on the top, this has happened to me as well, but these ones are soldered from the side - opposite to the lugs). I am thinking of redoing the wiring without push/pulls, just normal pots and check one component at a time.

[greenlion]

Are you sure everything is grounded properly?

[greekdude]

Are you sure everything is grounded properly?

yes, the soldering seems super solid, and everything seems electrically correct. But I have suspicions aboute the resistence I measured between the pups chassis and the ground. This was close to zero but not at all times. Maybe there is not enough "flow" towards the ground in order to eliminate all the buzz.
Maybe I'll do it step by step without the push/pulls. One component at a time.

anyways, thanx tons for your help ppl. I'll be back to report!

[greekdude]

Hello, just a follow up, I have already odrered new push/pull pots, wires, to try the components on the buzzing strat first before re-doing the wiring on the Carvin. But today I saw that neither of the guitars had any buzz at all, no matter the orientation, position, AC or lightts.

[greekdude]

UPDATE! it's not the neighbor or anything!
the way I play is :
guitar -> boss me-25 -> headphones. The boss output jack was most of the times connected to the amp, which I rarely use. So the amp was most of the time off. But lately I had it disconnected (since I didn't use the amp). Now I couldn't imagine there would be such a huge difference if I connect the output of the boss to the input of the amp. I connected it (with the amp switched off as usually) and the problem is gone.... What puzzles me is that the blazes still didn't buzz....