Single Coil Hum vs Grounding

Jonesy9

Evening all,
I have a quandary with regards to the buzz that i'm hearing from my Strat. More specifically whether or not it's just coil hum or a grounding issue.

When plugged into either or my amps, my Strat (only my strat, my HH VS6 doesn't exhibit this) has a faint(ish) hum to it. When the volume is increased the hum is more noticeable. When in overdrive it's more noticeable still.
When i touch any metal on the guitar it goes a little fainter, and there is the tiniest of noises as i touch the metal. Sort of like a pop, but not really quite as it's so faint.

The first part of the paragraph led me to believe it's just coil hum, but the fact that it goes a bit fainter leads me to believe a grounding issue somewhere. Or maybe the grounding is OK and it's just shielding.

I believe i've narrowed whatever it is down to the guitar, as it's consistent across 2 amps, across multiple sockets in multiple rooms of the house. Multiple cables, with and without a looper pedal running on battery in the chain.
And as i say, my VS6 which is a double humbucker doesn't have the issue.

I therefore took to inspecting the electronics, and as far as I can tell, checking with a tiny tug, all are soldered on securely (the back one is securely soldered to the bridge plate too.

Does anyone experience the same symptoms with their Strats along with the hum?
I can put up with the noise, not a problem at all as it's very faint. I just don't want to be playing the guitar if there's constant electricity running through me as the ground

ICBM

It’s lack of shielding, if it’s the buzz - rather than hum - which goes away when you touch the metal. Hum is noise from the single coil pickups.

Don't worry, it’s not dangerous.

Jonesy9

Thank god. I can put up with lack of shielding. I felt like a got a slight shock off of the bridge the other day. But i had a pedal plugged in with an AC adapter, and i wonder if that was causing it. So it made me worry about the grounding.
I can deal with the noise if it's just the shielding. 

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

It’s lack of shielding

All of those runs of single conductor, plastic-insulated cable are exposed to the risk of RF interference.

By comparison, some of the cable runs in your double humbucker guitar will shield the signal carrying conductors with a foil or metal braid. 

The self-adhesive foil on the underside of the scratchplate is not as effective as the metal plate that was fitted to vintage Fender electric guitars.

robgilmo

My Aria Strat has foil over the whole pick guard and it is totally quiet, not a peep out of it.

Jonesy9

Doing some research into shielding and looking at MiM pickups, mine look different. Do these look like Fender MiMs to people, or Squier

Jonesy9

More research makes me even more unsure. My pickups look like a lot from Google images where people on other forums say that they're standard MIM Fender ones. But then there's a few comments here and there to say that they'd indicate that it's actually a Squier.

CasperCaster

Those pickups are definitely the pickups from a MIM Fender Standard Strat - the dual ceramic magnets glued either side of the plated steel slugs is characteristic of those pickups, plus the yellow wire on the hotter bridge pickup. 

Jonesy9

Phew. Thanks again all. I feel like a right whinge bag. Glad  not being slowly electrocuted by a Squier in disguise lol

ICBM

The wiring in that is an utter mess by the way. You could probably reduce the noise noticeably just by tightly twisting the pickup wires - you can do that even without unsoldering them, if that's something you can't do, just remove each pickup from the pickguard and rotate it - and the jack wires.

It should look like this - sorry for the poor quality picture, it's actually hard to find one of it done really right!

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/kpIAAOSwvktaXPj6/s-l300.jpg

This will make a difference because by keeping the hot wires very close to the grounds and wrapped around each other, you actually create a bit of shielding.

It's really remarkable how careless the wiring in most Fender-type guitars is, even the high-end ones.

Jonesy9

Ouch, that wiring does put mine to shame.
I've got a replacement nut on order and some makeshift files, so once that arrives and i've filed it down ready to attempt to fit a nut for the first time, with the strings off, i'll remove the pickguard again and have a proper go at twisting the pickups to try to help shield some of the wiring like in the picture.

Thanks again! It's a huge help!