I bought resently new LS-120 (LS-125) nice flame top - 2007 model. Guitar is very fine and have really "good response". I did not liked those stock PU?s (MK II) - little too "muddy" IMHO. Guitar tech change pickups to my old SD 59`and JB, which I have in older ALS-48. Then there come some buzzing with them. Buzz disappears when I touch PU?s screws. My amp is Vox AC30 CC2X with half power mod and don`t buzz with my ES-60 with SD Pearly Gates or with ALS-48 with SD?s. Any ideas to help? I really love to play with LS-125, but buzzing irritates me a lot.
Strange buzzing - any ideas?
- Thread starter pekkaee
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JohnA
Well-known member
Sounds like an earth off somewhere. This could be a bad solder connection or a wire off somewhere. Basically the shield of the pickup wire, the backs of all the pots, the ground wires from the jack socket and the selector switch should all be connected together in one continuous loop which should be connected to the ground wire.
If you got your Guitar tech to fit the pickups then he should check the wiring.
If you got your Guitar tech to fit the pickups then he should check the wiring.
Thank You JohnA! Today I tried same LS-125 with two other amps (some of those solid state Marshall and one Johnson modeling hybrid amp) in two different buildings - no buzzing! Then I come back home and again buzz came back. I think there must be something odd (maybe poor el-groundings??) in electricity in my house. I change amp to different wall sockets and there is difference between wall sockets. Now I can live with that buzz, thou it?s still irrigating me. Could climatic moisture, we have about 100 % now - all the snow is melting , interfere, or something else? Strange that buzz comes only with that LS-125? :lol:
mattim
Well-known member
Sounds like the pickup cover is not adequately grounded Can you measure the resistance from your pickup screw to to e.g. pot cover, it should be zero ohms. I have added an extra ground wire for the metla pickup covers because of similar problems. (I didn't bother to open the pickups to fix the problem inside pickup)
Matti
Matti
AlanN
Well-known member
Bad news. Your pickups are infested with millions of tiny, angry bees, which can only be sated by a loving stroke.
Not really, John and Matti are almost definitely right. Check the bottom of the pickups; you can often add a wee blob of solder between the case and the pickup base plate to make it go away.
Does the buzz disappear when you touch the bridge or tailpiece?
Not really, John and Matti are almost definitely right. Check the bottom of the pickups; you can often add a wee blob of solder between the case and the pickup base plate to make it go away.
Does the buzz disappear when you touch the bridge or tailpiece?
Thanks for caring 
I measured (don?t really know did the right thing, but...) resistance between pickups screws (about zero) and between pickup screw and volume pot metal part (about zero). Buzzing don?t disappear touching either tailpiece or bridge. I really don?t know anything about electronics so it?s maybe better take to someone who knows !
I measured (don?t really know did the right thing, but...) resistance between pickups screws (about zero) and between pickup screw and volume pot metal part (about zero). Buzzing don?t disappear touching either tailpiece or bridge. I really don?t know anything about electronics so it?s maybe better take to someone who knows !AlanN
Well-known member
Sorry, I misread completely - you don't have pickup covers! Silly AlanN.
If your multimeter stretches enough, plug your guitar in to your amp using a guitar lead with metal-cased jacks. Now measure the resistance between a pickup polepiece screw and the outside of the jack case, and let us know what that is. Make sure your multimeter is set to be as sensitive as possible.
Also measure the resistance from the jack output plate to the lead's jack case, and from the bridge to the lead's jack case for comparison.
If your multimeter stretches enough, plug your guitar in to your amp using a guitar lead with metal-cased jacks. Now measure the resistance between a pickup polepiece screw and the outside of the jack case, and let us know what that is. Make sure your multimeter is set to be as sensitive as possible.
Also measure the resistance from the jack output plate to the lead's jack case, and from the bridge to the lead's jack case for comparison.
Thanks for helping - again I measured resistance from here and there in guitar and found that strings (and bridge and tailpiece) were not "grounded" (don?t know if that is correct expression). But I wired tailpiece and volumeknob together with little wire and buzzing did disappear. I have wonderful sounding instrument here! Only cosmetic flaw is that little wire from tailpiece to volknob (about one inch) across the cover. I must ask tech is there other way, must be, solve the problem.
I measured resistance from here and there in guitar and found that strings (and bridge and tailpiece) were not "grounded" (don?t know if that is correct expression). But I wired tailpiece and volumeknob together with little wire and buzzing did disappear. I have wonderful sounding instrument here! Only cosmetic flaw is that little wire from tailpiece to volknob (about one inch) across the cover. I must ask tech is there other way, must be, solve the problem.AlanN
Well-known member
Superb, glad to hear it! Yep, you got it exactly right - the outside of the guitar lead is an earth or ground path.
You can solder a wire from the screws holding the tailpiece in place to a better grounding point - how you do it depends on what the inside of the guitar is like.
You can solder a wire from the screws holding the tailpiece in place to a better grounding point - how you do it depends on what the inside of the guitar is like.
