Project...FINISHED!!!!

Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Wales

I have finally finished my Les Paul project which i started about 5 years ago. I stripped it all back, bought new hardware, gave it a lick of paint, bought a new wiring loom, and i LOVE it!!

However i do have a slight problem....
I seem to have a grounding issue with the guitar.

When i touch the strings,volume knobs, bridge, jack cable the hum stops. ive checked all the wiring and it looks all grounded and i cant work out whats wrong. The way i get around this is to connect a wire to my "E" string (after the bridge), then wedge the other end in-between the male end of the jack cable and the jack socket.

Any ideas???

Anyway here are some pics....

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:24 pm

There is supposed to be a ground underneath to the bridge stud or tailpiece stud, is it attached still or did it come off when you had it apart? The only other thing would be a poor solder joint at the input jack

Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Wales

yeah the ground from the bridge stud is still there. I even put another in at the stud for the tailpiece. Ive checked all soldering points at the jack also. ITS DRIVING ME NUTS

Joined: 23 Nov 2005 Posts: 8254 Location: Ontario, Canada

Nice looking guitar. If you could post pics of the wiring cavities I might be able to suggest something.

Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Wales

Thanks!
Very happy with the matte finish.

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:57 pm

Is the barewire ground laying/touching on a pot? The solder point on the topmost pot in your image looks like crap Bro, I think your problem is there. Looks like it's running down to the tab. The one on the pot to the left looks a bit suspect too

Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 2469 Location: Ontario, Canada

I don't see a ground wire.

Do you have a ground wire attached to the bridge or tailpiece? Normally there is a hole drilled/wire connected from the tailpiece stud down to the pots.

I don't see that on yours. Did you build this yourself?

Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 6624 Location: Minnesota

I dno't see a ground wire either. One that comes from the bridge post.

Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Wales

Yeah, i built this myself.
The hole to the bridge stud i put going from the bridge pickup cavity.
The ground wires are the small white wires coming from the hole leading to the pickups.

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 4:45 pm

martynmordecai wrote:

Yeah, i built this myself.
The hole to the bridge stud i put going from the bridge pickup cavity.
The ground wires are the small white wires coming from the hole leading to the pickups.

The ground to the bridge should be a stand alone bare wire type. What is that bare wire running next to the green one that does not look like it's going anywhere?

Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Wales

i got so annoyed i grounded the stud for the bridge and also the stud for the tail piece. That why there are 2 of the small wires there.
The bare wire next to the green wire is going to the pot, it is coming from the Dimarzio x2n pickup

Joined: 13 Feb 2004 Posts: 5593 Location: phoenix az.

should be a ground running from ur tailpiece stud to ur ground in ur electronics cavity.guess im not seeing it.

Joined: 13 Feb 2004 Posts: 5593 Location: phoenix az.

whats the headstock look like?

Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 2739 Location: Southeast MI

If you have a wire from the tailpiece and the bridge both grounded that's forming a ground loop which can cause more noise.

Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Wales

GuitarGoat wrote:

If you have a wire from the tailpiece and the bridge both grounded that's forming a ground loop which can cause more noise.

AWESOME!!! its now working fine!
Im not sure what was causing the buzzing in the first place (before i added the second grounding wire), but now it seems fine. Thanks

Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 6624 Location: Minnesota

Looks like you might have a fake there. It don't look right.

Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 157 Location: Wales

it is a fake, the Gibson is a decal.