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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 11:39 AM

    I've been having hum issues with my electric guitar and bass, which got noticeably worse when I start using a distortion pedal.

    I tried shielding them with copper tape. That removed some of the hum from the bass, but made no difference to the guitar.

    #guitar #bass #noise #diy

    A bass guitar's body which has been opened up. The cavity and underside of the pickguard have been covered with copper tape.
    An audio spectrogram, the first sound has has much more noise than the second sound.
    A blue electric guitar's body which has been opened up. The cavities have been covered with copper tape, the pickguard already has a metal shield.
    Two audio spectrograms, which look very similar. Each has 5 sections, one for each of the pickup settings on a guitar. It starts with the bridge humbucker.
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Replies

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 12:11 PM

    @PatrickOBeirne The grounding was all fine beforehand, and I confirmed the new shielding was grounded with a multimeter.

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 1:40 PM

    @essjayjay I've got ground connectivity from my strings through to the amp. Plugging directly into the amp isn't any better.

    I've even tried taking it to the opposite end of the house with everything on battery, using a multi-effects pedal into headphones.

    My presumption is that there's EMF interference throughout my house, I haven't been able to figure out what's causing it yet.

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  • Sue Briccay :flag_asexual:essjayjay@tech.lgbt
    Jun 23, 2026, 7:10 PM

    @JesALady

    That sounds plausible.
    In that case, the point of interference must be downstream from the guitar / bass with the humdinger pickup.

    Presumably you previously had no problem until it recently started?

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 7:12 PM

    @essjayjay I only really noticed it when I got a distortion pedal, but I think it's always been there.

    I've only started playing bass&guitar earlier this year, so hard to tell if anything has changed.

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 7:41 PM

    @essjayjay The hum is still there, but quieter. The distortion pedal is amplifying it much more than other sound.

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  • Sue Briccay :flag_asexual:essjayjay@tech.lgbt
    Jun 23, 2026, 7:49 PM

    @JesALady

    That tracks. Distortion pedals will do that.

    What instrument is the humbucker pickup on?
    Is it a Precision bass (Fender Approximation Bass 😉 ) split-coil type of thing?

    If so, do you know anybody locally who has a Les Paul / SG style guitar with actual humbuckers that could be used to test in place of your instruments, in order to eliminate them (or not) as the source of the hum?

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 7:58 PM

    @essjayjay The humbucker is on the JS400 guitar, and oddly the neck+middle single coil position is quieter than the humbucker. The precision split-coil pickup on the Squier Bass is a lot quieter than the jazz coil.

    Offhand, I don't know anyone locally with an electric guitar.

    I did try with my phone as the audio source, and there was no hum. So it looks like the coils/electronics are picking up something they shouldn't be.

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  • Sue Briccay :flag_asexual:essjayjay@tech.lgbt
    Jun 23, 2026, 8:19 PM

    @JesALady

    Yes.
    Single coil pickups will always pick 50 cycle mains hum to some degree. Fluorescent tube lighting + single coil pickups are a nightmare.

    Very strange that the guitar with the humbucker is affected too.
    Unless the single coils are still picking up mains hum even when switched out. :blobcatthinking:

    I have a 2 humbucker electric, 335 style, but I'm in county Cork ...

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 8:27 PM

    @essjayjay No fluorescents in the house, and I've tried turning off most things in the house to figure out where the interference is coming from.

    At this point I'm suspecting that it's either the solar inverter, or coming from a neighbour's.

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 23, 2026, 10:48 PM

    @essjayjay I brought the guitar+pedals out the back on battery, and there was still the hum just as loud. Doing some rough triangulation based on differences in guitar orientation, I think the noise source is from a neighbour.

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  • JesJesALady@mastodon.ie
    Jun 25, 2026, 11:36 AM

    @essjayjay I've used a few different ones and of shorter lengths, no difference.

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  • Sue Briccay :flag_asexual:essjayjay@tech.lgbt
    Jun 24, 2026, 9:44 AM

    @JesALady

    I'm pretty sure you will find that it's just plain old 50 cycles mains hum.

    Your distortion pedal is amplifying it, because that's basically (in simple terms) how they work.

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