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GOT AN ELECTRONIC PROBLEM!!!!! Need Help!

Okay, so I've install piezo transducers into a few CBGs. Problem: I finally was able to buy a working amp to test them in, and the sound comes through...but there's this pervasive HUM that only stops when I TOUCH the 1/4-inch jack that's plugged into the guitar with my hand--which may be a giant clue.

I also use a pre-amp, which I thought would solve the problem. One person mentioned that it might be the piezo itself, although I use a pretty readily available on from Radio Shack, and the problem exists in all of my piezo-installed guitars, so the problem, whatever it is, is repeated in all of them.

Maybe it's an insulation problem, in which case I need to know how to insulate whatever.

Or it could be a grounding problem (?) In which case, I need to know about all that.

I THINK the problem should be easily solved; I just don't know what the problem is or how to solve it.

Can anyone help me???

- Kevin

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Permalink Reply by HENRY LOWMAN on March 8, 2010 at 6:18pm

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/volume-knobs-on-transduc... might be the solution. I think you do in fact have a grounding problem. Make sure you have grounded to the jack properly. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by HENRY LOWMAN on March 8, 2010 at 6:20pm

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/volume-knobs-on-transduc...

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Permalink Reply by HENRY LOWMAN on March 8, 2010 at 6:22pm

I can't get the file to pull up...it keeps saying "reply deleted". Check out the forum and type in piezo diagrams and you'll find it. Sorry.

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Permalink Reply by HENRY LOWMAN on March 8, 2010 at 6:24pm

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/volume-knobs-on-transducer...FINALLY!!! It worked!!! Check out this pic...THIS SHOULD WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...LOL

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Permalink Reply by jim on March 8, 2010 at 6:35pm

Hello Kevin, Most of the time hum problems with piezos can be traced to bad solder joints. Try to resolder the connections at the jack. And while the solder is cooling ,make sure you keep it still. And let it cool slowly with no drafts or air blowing on it. If that don't work, the next thing I would suspect is the patch cord. Try a different one if you got one. Good Luck.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin M. Kraft on March 9, 2010 at 2:32am

Thanks, Henry. I still don't understand the ground wire thing. Is this an another wire I ad to the configuration or something? The diagram isn't making any sense to me, since I'm an electronics moron. It's like a foreign language to me.

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