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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on March 24, 2014 at 8:19pm

Yep, sounds like buzz rather than mains hum. I had the same thing. A few things you can check:

1. Does it go away when you touch the volume pot?

2, If so, does it go away when you touch the strings?

3. Have you tried it with a different amp?

4. Have you tried the same amp with another guitar?

5. Can you plug the amp into another power socket?

Let us know and we should be able to diagnose. Are you happy with your soldering? And if you could posy a pic of your wiring that would help. When I had the buzz it turned out it was my practice amp, I tried it on my big amp and the noise was gone...

Good luck Mel!

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Permalink Reply by Mel Ristau on March 25, 2014 at 5:31am

Thanks Richey - your post on your first set of pickups was a helpful read. I'll report back after working through the checklist. Groucho, haven't advanced to a slide at this point. Quite sure the buzz is electrical. Here's the pic of my wiring:

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on March 25, 2014 at 6:17am

The wiring looks fine Mel. Let us know how you get on with the other checks.

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Permalink Reply by Mel Ristau on March 25, 2014 at 9:14am

Tailpiece was made of aluminum. So remade out of tin and ran a ground wire to jack's ground. No more buzz.

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on March 25, 2014 at 10:16am

Well done Mel! Enjoy your first handwound pup. please post a video too :-)
I make my tailpieces out of wood, but stick a bit of copper tape across the string ferrules on the part hidden by the box and solder a bit of wire running to the back of the pot. Works a charm!

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Permalink Reply by Groucho on March 25, 2014 at 2:06am

Are you using a slide?  It could be the high string vibrating above the fret where you have the slide. 

Put your finger behind the slide and it will stop the vibration.

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