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Buzzy Shishkov (UPDATE: Solved!)


hamerhead

Question

My Shishkov has an electrical buzz that quiets down when touching the pickups but is pretty prominent with hands off, almost like a Strat under florescent lights (but not quite that bad). I thought it might be the single coil/P90 combo, but I switched the P90 to the neck and put a Gavelin Cowpie Custom humbucker in the bridge and buzz remains regardless if either or both pickups are selected. In the exact same conditions, my Les Paul is absolutely dead quiet.

It has to be a grounding issue, right? All solder joints appear to be solid. I even ran a temporary ground to the bridge (Sustain Block), but the buzz remains.

Could a failing/bad/defective pot be the culprit? A bad 3-way? As I said, all solder joints look spot-on, so I'm at a loss.

HELP!

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23 minutes ago, hamerhead said:

My Shishkov has an electrical buzz that quiets down when touching the pickups but is pretty prominent with hands off, almost like a Strat under florescent lights (but not quite that bad). I thought it might be the single coil/P90 combo, but I switched the P90 to the neck and put a Gavelin Cowpie Custom humbucker in the bridge and buzz remains regardless if either or both pickups are selected. In the exact same conditions, my Les Paul is absolutely dead quiet.

It has to be a grounding issue, right? All solder joints appear to be solid. I even ran a temporary ground to the bridge (Sustain Block), but the buzz remains.

Could a failing/bad/defective pot be the culprit? A bad 3-way? As I said, all solder joints look spot-on, so I'm at a loss.

HELP!

Send it to me and I’ll take care of it for you. I might be a little slow due to my schedule so figure I’ll have it for 6-12 months. And just for you, no charge.... 😜

But seriously, definitely sounds like a bad ground. Pots and switches are easy enough to replace. I’d check the output jack first if you haven’t already. Didn’t see that in your post. 

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1 hour ago, Steve Haynie said:

I thought you were going to tell us that Buzzy is the brother that Mike and Yuriy never want to talk about. 

"Buzzy Shishkov, former Gibson luthier, earned his moniker honestly.  He was eventually fired after his being responsible for a line of reverse explorers with moderne-style headstocks.  This guitar was so ugly that he was disowned by the other Shishkov brothers due to the shame he'd brought the clan master of luthiers.  

 

image.png



Today,  after finding sobriety and a new career, Buzzy works as an architect, designing high rise condos such as the one below:

239396_original.jpg

"

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Has the guitar always had the buzz or is it a new anomaly?  If new, have you done anything or changed anything else? It is definitely a ground issue, but where is the question....

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1 hour ago, bubs_42 said:

Did it start before or after you dropped it? 

Cruella Deville!

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I never dropped it, you tools. I dropped a small speaker bracket on it and dinged the edge. Thank you for the reminder. 🖕 (Finally! Got to use it properly)

Now - I did check the jack and it looks fine. And I don't recall a buzz being there when I first got it, although I expect some noise from single coils and may have attributed it to that. But now having the same buzz with a P90 AND a humbucker has me baffled. There's something else going on in there.

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4 hours ago, hamerhead said:

I never dropped it, you tools. I dropped a small speaker bracket on it and dinged the edge. Thank you for the reminder. 🖕 (Finally! Got to use it properly)

Now - I did check the jack and it looks fine. And I don't recall a buzz being there when I first got it, although I expect some noise from single coils and may have attributed it to that. But now having the same buzz with a P90 AND a humbucker has me baffled. There's something else going on in there.

Have you checked it for bees?

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@hamerhead Have you asked Mike about it? I know you don't want to send it thru the mail, but maybe he has some remote troubleshooting he could suggest.  Either way, I'm sure he'd want to address it rather than have you live with it.

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I thought about that, but since I swapped the pickups it's really no longer something Mike should have to deal with or I want to bother him about. I'm sure he would if I asked, but he's a busy guy!

With y'alls help, I'll get it sorted....eventually.....

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It's possible the ground in the switch is bad and that would be a cheap fix.

Have you tried swapping the P90 with the single coil and going S/H?

Does it buzz in the humbucker bridge position too? 

Not sure what brand of pickup the P90 is but I would take a meter and see what you get and compare it to the manufactures ratings.  

 

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All pickups are Gravelin (what else?!? B)) and all were built using standard humbucker-sized packages.  The buzz is the same in all three switch positions. I haven't tried the single/hum combination but I'm not sure it'll make any difference (being that a P90 is just a fat single coil).

I will take a closer look at the switch.

DSCN9073.JPG

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Has Josh weighed in on it?

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2 hours ago, cmatthes said:

Has Josh weighed in on it?

No I have not because it's clear that it's a ground issue of some sort and the hive mind sussed that out pretty quickly. Y'all are smart!

My DIY advice would be to remove the control cavity cover, plug the guitar in to an amp set to low volume, use a pencil  to wiggle the wires surrounding all solder connections first. Wiggle the pot solder connection point lugs too and listen for noise. Do check the switch. Use a multi-meter to check both the pots and continuity with soldered connections. Could be a bad switch. Could be a bad pot. Could be a wire somehow making contact with the cavity shielding. Could be a bad output jack. Could be the bridge ground not making solid contact. From my end under these circumstances, all I can do is speculate.

This is 100% an electronic issue of some sort. Same issue with a hb too? It's something in the wiring, the pots, the switch, the output jack, or the bridge ground wire. It could be a leaky cap but that would be a fluke and 1/1000000 odds on that. But hey, test that too since you're in there.

I do believe your guitar is still under warranty and if you contact the manufacturer I'm quite confident he'll help you work this out. I wish I had a solution that was easy and instant but sadly I do not.

 

 

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4 hours ago, scottcald said:

Don't plug it in? 🤣

Seriously though, open the control cavity, snap a pic and post it too.  

So...  rely solely on its acoustic voice.  Got it....

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It does sound pretty good not plugged in....especially when you can't hear me trying to play it.

Thanks, Josh! This weekend it's supposed to be too hot for a fat guy to be outside, so it'll get a thorough going over with the pencils and the probes and the meters and such. I hate dissecting this one but I hate even more to put it in the hands of UPS. I love this thing. Well, except for the buzzing part.....

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1 hour ago, Jack C said:

I have nothing productive to add but that’s a beautiful guitar. 

There most definitely is THAT...

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