My electric guitar seems to be having circuitry issues.?

Question:The amp and chord are just fine. When I plug in my guitar, a loud buzzing noise seems to erupt out of the amp. I really dont want to pay some guy 50 some odd dollars to fix it; and it would be far more valuable to learn to correct these problems if indeed they occour in the future.

If you have any advice or methods of how to remmedy the raucus resonance I would appreciate it!

Thanks!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The amp and chord are just fine. When I plug in my guitar, a loud buzzing noise seems to erupt out of the amp. I really dont want to pay some guy 50 some odd dollars to fix it; and it would be far more valuable to learn to correct these problems if indeed they occour in the future.

If you have any advice or methods of how to remmedy the raucus resonance I would appreciate it!

Thanks!

With your guitar plugged in, does touching the strings or bridge eliminate the buzz?

If it does then you have a broken earth connection between your bridge and your output jack. Solving the issue will depend on the type of bridge you have as there are several methods of attaching the earth wire to the bridge.

Borrow a multimeter or find a friend who has one and knows how to do basic continuity and resistance testing and measure the resistance from the bridge or tailpiece to the earth side of the ouput socket on the guitar. It should be 0 Ohms. If it's not it's an earth issue and the fix can be tedious but it's simple.

If you post what type of bridge / tailpiece you have I'll edit this post to include specific instructions. However the basics are to remove the pickguard or rear cavity cover.

The first thing to do is to ensure that the earth cable is connected at the output socket as it may have come adrift due to bad solderig, or the joint may be 'dry' so resolder the joint. Hook up the guitar to the amp and see if the buzz/hum is still there. if it is, move on to stage II.

Stage II is to destring the guitar and remove the bridge or tailpiece (depending if it's a gibson type end piece or combined like a telescaster or a trem.) and look for the wire that connects it to the output jack. Check that it's making good electrical contact and that there's no corrosion, if there's corrosion clean up the area with a fine bit of emery paper (wet and dry) or steel wool, or even a fine cut file. re-assemble and test. If it's still not working correctly send me an email and I'll walk you through the other problems in the electrical side of the axe.

try a different chord... if it still persists, its the pickups u need to replace...

or move the pickup selector up or down a few notches

Do you have another guitar? Have you determined it was the amp or guitar. I would be hesitant on recommending fixing it yourself. Things like that are not cheap, and usually do not have a quick fix that requires a beginners expertise. Save the time and hassle and take care of your equipment and send it to the shop. That way if they break it, you can be compensated. I always send my stuff to the shop, even though Im an IT Hardware tech. Its not worth the money if I try to fix it and break it, then I would have to buy a new amp.

Good Luck.

Sounds like a bad earth to me.

Somewhere something is touching something it shouldn't.

Unscrew the jack socket from the guitar and make sure it looks right. It might even just be that the jack socket is loose.

What make/type of guitar is it? It might help to diagnose.

Other things that can cause a buzzing sound are things like fluorescent tube lights and having the guitar and amp too near a computer or fan. A bit of screening under the pickguard will cure most of that sort of problem. Screening is a metal foil by the way.

Cheers

If you are certain that it is not the amp or the cord, open up the guitar and check to see if any of the wires have come loose, as well as if any of the metal parts are touching that are not supposed to be. If so, you can solder them back. Or you could be a person afraid of a learning experience and take it to the shop. Guitars are not hard to fix. Even if you do mess a wire or two up, you are in no worse situation than you were in before. The choice is yours.

to diagnose this problem I would go as follows:

turn on the amp and without plugging anything in turn up the volume and gain pretty loudly. if no buzz, then it isn't an internal ground inside the amp (probably). turn down the volume, plug in the chord without the guitar, and turn the volume and gain back up. Try touching the other end of the chord with your finger. If you are now experiencing this buzzing sound, you have a ground in the chord. Replace the chord. If not, plug in the guitar. With the guitar's volume off, are you hearing the buzz? If so, you have a grounding in the wiring or the speaker jack. If you hear it when you turn the volume on the guitar up then you have either a pickup issue or a pickup wiring issue.

Fixing each of these issues will require a certain level of expertise and describing how to do them all are beyond the scope of this answer. The most important thing is to diagnose the problem as well as you can, so you aren't trying to fix something that isn't broken.

It is a good idea to pick up a book or a dvd and start studying how to fix your guitar. Having diagnosing skills, soldering skills, knowing how to intonate your guitar and replace your pickups are some good skills to have at your disposal.

Saul