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50Hz Hum & RFI Buzz - Quick and Dirty Screening

jaymenonjaymenon Frets: 820
edited July 2020 in Guitar

If you own / play a guitar that is not screened, or you want to find out what effect comprehensive screening would have on your own instrument (and decide whether it’s worth the time effort and expense) here is a quick and dirty way to find out...

Parts:

1. 1/4” metal bodied jack coupler

2. Short patch cable 

3. Longer Guitar cable

Connect them in series

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/XJhrl79.jpg)


Now the earth is of course connected to the metal body of the coupler (and indeed the jack connector bodies too).

Strap the coupler to bare skin on your leg - Velcro ties work well.

Chain: Guitar - patch cable - coupler - longer cable - amplifier

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/zQBFZDL.jpg)

(apologies for my ugly legs)

Now when you take your hands off the strings/metal parts your instrument will not buzz any more. And if you're noodling at home / recording, this works fabulously...

With single coil pickups you’ll still have 50Hz hum - it's a good way to see the difference between 50Hz Hum and Inductive RFI Buzz...

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