Hey folks,
Apologies in advance for my novice understanding of most things electrical - noob alert! Also, this may be posted in the wrong forum so please feel free to move as necessary Admins!
Over the last couple of days, my guitar setup has developed a quite pronounced humming noise.
As this seemed to occur with either of my amps (a mesa boogie v:25 head and a Katana mk1 head) I'm not sure the problem is amp related. When I'm not touching the strings (or cable jack) the hum is there but it disappears whilst playing, or if I'm touching the cable jack on the guitar, so I believe it's some kind of ground loop issue.
The hum is more pronounced the higher the volume on the amp, likewise if gain is increased, and also if the tone and volume pots on the guitar are dialled up.
I have tried swapping cables to see if it's an issue with the cable shielding - but the new cables today produce the same result. As such I'm thinking it must be something to do with the instrument wiring/shielding...
Nothing else in my setup has changed - it's very simple as I'm only playing at home, usually direct into the amp, sometimes through a couple of pedals. The hum doesn't vary based on where I am in the room relative to amp(s) or cab, or which way the guitar is facing. The guitar has twin humbuckers and the same setup just a few days ago was effectively silent... I'm curious as to what may be causing this and hopefully being able to fix/mitigate but unsure how... any suggestions folks? Is it possible something within the instrument wiring has come loose through normal playing.. I haven't opened up the cavity yet and thought it best to tap into the collective wisdom here before I start clarting everything in sight with solder and copper foil
Grateful for any steer cheers!
Comments
It's nothing to do with a ground loop, that causes hum (not buzz) which doesn't change when you touch anything on the guitar.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
this only happened after we had renovated the kitchen and the sparky put extra wall sockets on the kitchen, turns out the new sockets in the kitchen are off the same circuit as one socket in the living room.