Gibson Les Pauls-How common is excessive hum/buzz?

Sparky

I'm sure this has been a topic before so forgive me for asking....

So NGD No.2 arrived yesterday-a rather nice 2017 LP Tribute in faded honey burst (pics to follow). It feels great to play but I immediately noticed that there is rather a lot of hum/buzz when not touching anything metal on it. If you touch the strings/pups/tail/saddle most of it immediately goes away until it's not being touched again. Admittedly my Katana is set on 'Brown' with some blues driver effect as well so it's fairly dirty but compared to my PRS SE Custom 24 on the same settings, the noise is considerable.

Most of what I can find out leads me to believe this is extremely common and most just live with it-even R8 and R9 owners. Either that or people go down the shielding route.

So my question is-is this really that common? For me it's probably something I can live with and learn excessive use of the volume knobs to cut it out, but I would be grateful of others thoughts.

Cheers

sweepy

Is that the tribute with P90's ?

DulcetJones

Sounds like the strings aren't grounded properly or at all, I've got a 2015 tribute, and like all twin humbucker Gibsons I've owned it's super quiet.  You can probably get more detailed info from some of the other  more knowledgeable members here.  Oddly, I also have a  Katana amp, and the "brown" setting on it is noisy as well.  I use a stomp box for distortion anyway and all the other effects are/settings are quiet.

Sparky

sweepy said:

Is that the tribute with P90's ?

Nope, it's the humbucker version with 490T/R's.

Ravenous

When you touch the strings, the noise goes.  That means your bridge & strings are properly grounded so no need to worry about that.

It's probably a noisy RF environment around you.  Can you switch off monitors, fluorescent lights and other stuff in the area?

Does it happen when you're not holding the guitar - when it's put down and you're not near it?

As far as I can tell these sorts of noise are RF being picked up by your own body and then by the pickups or some other wiring.  As soon as you touch the strings you're earthing yourself and the noise you're picking up is being taken off to earth.

Sparky

Ravenous said:

When you touch the strings, the noise goes.  That means your bridge & strings are properly grounded so no need to worry about that.

It's probably a noisy RF environment around you.  Can you switch off monitors, fluorescent lights and other stuff in the area?

Does it happen when you're not holding the guitar - when it's put down and you're not near it?

As far as I can tell these sorts of noise are RF being picked up by your own body and then by the pickups or some other wiring.  As soon as you touch the strings you're earthing yourself and the noise you're picking up is being taken off to earth.

Great point. I've not tried turning stuff off and I have a lot of electrical items on or in standby where I play. I'll try 'going dark' tonight and report back. BUT-why doesn't my PRS suffer the same if this is true?Thanks

Musicman20

Ravenous said:

When you touch the strings, the noise goes.  That means your bridge & strings are properly grounded so no need to worry about that.

It's probably a noisy RF environment around you.  Can you switch off monitors, fluorescent lights and other stuff in the area?

Does it happen when you're not holding the guitar - when it's put down and you're not near it?

As far as I can tell these sorts of noise are RF being picked up by your own body and then by the pickups or some other wiring.  As soon as you touch the strings you're earthing yourself and the noise you're picking up is being taken off to earth.

Exactly this. My 2017 SG Standard and LP Tribute make the same noise until I touch the strings etc. I live in an old large house that has been converted into apartments, so I expect it. Sometimes it is nowhere near as noticeable.

Don't worry.

mbe

Try checking the wiring in the control cavity,  because my brand new 2004 DC Special LP with P90s had a stray wire unsoldered.

The neck made a crackling noise with a static type of buzz and when touching the strings it went away. The dealer offered to send it back but I delved into the wiring and found the culprit. I soldered the wire to ground and all was good.

Ravenous

As you have another guitar that's OK, it's probably some shielding problem (or just a lack of shielding).  The other guitar is just better shielded, including from the RF your body picks up.

@mbe makes a good suggestion too, perhaps internal shielding isn't earthed properly.  It could be something like that.

Sparky

Turning off all electrical appliances made absolutely no difference. Looking inside my PRS, there is some shielding paint and whilst there is a hum there, it is just audible. The LP on the other hand is between 6-8db louder on exactly the same settings. I might just live with it until its outside of it's warranty and then have a luthier shield it for me.

sw67

had the same issue as well as cutting out with a midtown - Gibson fixed it and also shielded the cavity under warranty

Sparky

sw67 said:

had the same issue as well as cutting out with a midtown - Gibson fixed it and also shielded the cavity under warranty

That's impressive. Did it fix the issue? Did you go to them direct with the problem or through a dealer?

sw67

Sparky said:

sw67 said:

had the same issue as well as cutting out with a midtown - Gibson fixed it and also shielded the cavity under warranty

That's impressive. Did it fix the issue? Did you go to them direct with the problem or through a dealer?

Sparky said:

sw67 said:

had the same issue as well as cutting out with a midtown - Gibson fixed it and also shielded the cavity under warranty

That's impressive. Did it fix the issue? Did you go to them direct with the problem or through a dealer?

Yes - all fixed. Was done via GUITARGUITAR. The shop had it first and said no fault found but i managed to catch the issue on video and the shop sent it on to gibson

rlw

Twin P90s and a Cornish cottage don't mix if that helps

Rox

rlw said:

Twin P90s and a Cornish cottage don't mix if that helps

Is that the name of one of his posh pedalboards?

Evilmags

Had the same noise difference with a Gibson and a PRS, except the PRS was bought to replace the Gibson. Pickups were also microphone.  I'd go to the shop with both guitars and show them the difference. 

Xsmnmy

Ravenous said:

When you touch the strings, the noise goes.  That means your bridge & strings are properly grounded...

Um - I feel a bit silly saying this, but surely that means the bridge and strings are NOT properly earthed? It stops when you touch the strings because you provide the earth connection yourself. I have a '54 LP style kit gtr and it was buzzing like crazy recently because the earth connection to the bridge bushing had broken. I pulled out the bushing and re-attached the wire, and the buzzing was much reduced. I did some research as initially I'd forgotten how I'd done it in the first place, and was suprised that quite a lot of Gibsons from all periods don't have an earth connection to the bridge/tail/strings.

TheBigDipper

smnmy said:

Ravenous said:

When you touch the strings, the noise goes.  That means your bridge & strings are properly grounded...

Um - I feel a bit silly saying this, but surely that means the bridge and strings are NOT properly earthed? It stops when you touch the strings because you provide the earth connection yourself. I have a '54 LP style kit gtr and it was buzzing like crazy recently because the earth connection to the bridge bushing had broken. I pulled out the bushing and re-attached the wire, and the buzzing was much reduced. I did some research as initially I'd forgotten how I'd done it in the first place, and was suprised that quite a lot of Gibsons from all periods don't have an earth connection to the bridge/tail/strings.

Someone else said this earlier, I think... Humbucker pickups buck hum caused by the mains supply but are just as prone to RF over the airwaves as anything else. The RF passes through your body (which is unearthed) and into the pickup. When you earth yourself by touching a string, bridge, etc., the noise reduces because you're no longer allowing the RF to pass through you. It doesn't go away completely because RF still gets through from other directions.

rlw

Rox said:

rlw said:

Twin P90s and a Cornish cottage don't mix if that helps

Is that the name of one of his posh pedalboards?

More to that than meets the eye, but no