Hi Guys,
so I'm working on my first licence plate guitar using and aluminium (i believe) plate bought back when i didn't know any better.
I have made the box and the neck and am using a mini humbucker pickup bought from chickenbone john. after wiring up and assembly etc it all works yay!!
However, if i touch the edges or the plate itself this picks up too with a delightful (i don't think) buzz. i'm assuming this is a grounding issue and have tried taping a ground wire from the back of the volume pot to the bridge (also metal-an adjustable one) but that didn't seem to make a huge amount of difference. i saw someone on here mention about grounding the plate itself? with what and how??
Replies
thanks for all of the advice guys. I have now fixed the problem. rather embaressingly it was because I had wired up the jack socket the wrong way round. that will teach me to not use a standard mono jack!
Nah man, you can always use a standard mono jack from now on because you'll never make that mistake again. :-)
is it the same sound you get when you are about to plug a live amp into an instrument and touch both the tip and ring with your finger?
sounds like you've tried to ground it (the licence plate / bridge) but inadvertently used the hot side of the circuit instead of the ground side
Deffo sounds like a grounding issue..I use these minbuckers all the time in license plate guitars and never have a problem. Simply trapping an earth wire under the plate thru one of the screw fixings will do the job..but it sounds like you might have inadvertently got the thing wired up wrong..touching the plate when properly earthed should pretty much stop any humm or buzz.
wouldn't suprise me if I had wired it wrong as it's my first licence plate and second ever humbucker wiring! will check it through again tomorrow. so would that ground wire run from the back of the pot? and is that extra to the one attached to the bridge or instead of? thanks for the reply