Electronics issue???

axisus

I've never had this before - I bought some strat pickups plus pots etc all wired up from someone on the forum. I went to install and everything was going fine, they worked on the scratchplate outside the guitar, but every time I put the scratchplate in position I would get a lot of 'noise', then when I pushed it down - silence (just to explain, I had it plugged into an amp at the time as part of the process of working out what the problem was). I had triple checked all the wiring and components and all seemed OK. Finally I twigged that it was the switch coming into contact with the cavity shielding somewhere at the point where I got it in place. As my quick fix test I wrapped some kitchen paper around the switch and it behaved fine. I've never in my life had an issue with that before, but I guess it is what you would expect with the switch touching the shielding?

mart

If the shielding is properly grounded, and the switch touches the shielding, then you’d get no sound at all. 

So I would guess that you’ve diagnosed things correctly, but your shielding is not adequately grounded.

ICBM

If it was just microscopically touching the shielding, you would get noise as it moved around, then as it was pushed down, a good firm contact and silence.

Personally I would remove the kitchen roll *now* before it starts to fray and bits of it get into the switch contacts, which could damage them. To solve the problem, simply put a piece of insulating tape over the shielding directly under the switch.

axisus

ICBM said:

If it was just microscopically touching the shielding, you would get noise as it moved around, then as it was pushed down, a good firm contact and silence.

Yes, that was the case. I'll be taking it apart in a day or so when new pickup covers arrive. Just glad to have found the problem!

Ta for the tape advice.

prowla

Also check the wires are connected to the jack socket correctly.