backlash92

About a year ago I ended up making some upgrades to a Starcaster by Fender, for those of you that aren't familiar with them they're basically beginner guitars sold at retail stores around the holidays. I needed a little bit more bite out of my guitar so I decided to slap on a Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup I received from a friend after he made some upgrades to his Jackson. At the time I didn't really mind but basically on clean channels I don't get much of any buzz or feedback, but when I turn on distortion I get a pretty annoying buzzing sound.

I'm wondering if maybe I should replace the pots because the ones on there can't handle the humbucker or if it may just be bad wiring?

sytharnia1560

pot value won't cause hum so it will be wiring...pic of the wiring will help

backlash92

Basically that right there. incase you can't tell the red and white are taped together and not connected to anything

metal-matt

looks like you've got the wires the wrong way around ground to signal, signal to ground?

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guidothepimmp

You should be using a 500k pot for buckers ..

Hot to the switch is ok, or you could wire it to the hot lug. But if you went from single to bucker , then you're likely still using the 250k pot?

LeviMan_2001

I don't know exactly whats going on but it looks like the shield of the pickup is connected to the switch? The shield should go to ground and the positive should go to the switch.

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IronMaiden76

Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

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sytharnia1560

yeah it looks like the bare is soldered with the black wire to the ground on the switch.....which is wrong

the green and the bare wire need to got to the pot and the black to the switch (one of the lugs will be bridge position

also you need to solder the red and white together (doesn't look like they are in the pic)

backlash92

ok so I just realized this is an old pic of when I first tried to install the humbucker. Right now I have it wired green to switch and black to the back of the volume pot. Both of my tone pots are disconnected and the red and white are soldered together. I don't have access to a picture right now but I will try to update later if I can

edit: as far as buzzing, no doesn't stop when I touch the strings or the bridge. Like I said before it's only noticeable with distortion on. I'm sure its something with this guitar because I use the same setup with an ibanez I have and those pickups don't have the buzz with the distortion

Telecaster7

My guess would be the cheap Starcaster components I'd say the Ibanez uses higher quality parts that don't buzz as much.

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LeviMan_2001

If it doesn't stop buzzing when you touch the strings, then you need to ground the bridge. There should be a wire running to the trem claw (bit that the springs hook onto) from a ground (back of the pot or something).

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backlash92

The bridge is grounded, there's a wire running from the volume pot to the bridge. I'm wondering if maybe that white cable on the lower left of this picture might be a problem. But I doubt it, since its to the output jack and I have the buzzing issue with the humbucker only. Another note, the pots are 500k so thats not the issue either. Maybe just the messy soldering job I did?


EDIT: another question. This guy >>>
is wiring with a similar setup (going from sss to hss) and he did black to switch and green and bare to pot. Is that how I should be doing it ???

IronMaiden76

Different pickups have different color wires for hot and ground

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backlash92

I suppose I'll just leave it as is then, I can't figure it out .-.

LeviMan_2001

So does any hum go away when you touch the strings? It should. Now are you sure you really have a seymor duncan pickup? Because check out this picture. Different manufactures have the same color wires, but connecting to different things. Which could be problematic.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/suppor...tic=color_codes

Also, buzz will always become greater when you switch on distortion, that is obvious. But the humbucker should be much much quieter (noise wise) than the singles.

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sytharnia1560

This....as I told you in my last post the BLACK wire goes to the switch and the GREEN goes with the BARE wire to the pot....do this and your buzzing should go away