Buzzy Shishkov (UPDATE: Solved!)

[hamerhead]

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!

[Dave Scepter]

What I've done is "with the guitar plugged in" locate a known good ground source on your guitar... then connect 1 lead of a jumper test lead to it then "with the other lead" touch other "known" ground-ed solder joints to see if goes away

[Dutchman]

When facing this kind of a loop issue I create a star ground center and then 1 item at a time connect to the star ground center, pot's every thing gets grounded to the 1 spot, you cannot create a loop doing this and it usually flushes out the culprit making the noise!

[JGravelin]

4 hours ago, Dutchman said:

When facing this kind of a loop issue I create a star ground center and then 1 item at a time connect to the star ground center, pot's every thing gets grounded to the 1 spot, you cannot create a loop doing this and it usually flushes out the culprit making the noise!

Solid advice 100%. Do keep us posted on this HH: we're all rootin' for you.

 

[hamerhead]

I was *this* close to getting at it this weekend. Soon, though. Soon.

[hamerhead]

OK, after putting it off for as long as I could, the pickups came back out and the buzz remained. Disconnected the switch and buzz is gone. Currently wired Van Halen-style - bridge pickup/volume pot/jack - with no noise, so at least those 3 pieces are now ruled out as the cause.

I currently lack the proper tool to remove the switch nut (on this one I'm not going to risk it with a screwdriver....), but a replacement appears to be in order. Kinda bummed about that. I've had cheapy switches make scratchy noises before, but never something like this with a higher-quality part. And the tight quarters makes it hard to get a good look at what's going on in there. Maybe once it's out I'll find something wonky.

Dammit.

[ArnieZ]

That’s what you get when you move the switch to the upper horn😈

arniez

[hamerhead]

Believe me, the thought of 'if I'd just left it where Mike had it' has entered my mind several times. But noooooo.....

[tomteriffic]

On 6/6/2021 at 12:52 PM, 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. 

Ya beat me to it! 🤣

[ptm1diver]

Just sell it for parts.  You could maybe get$350.  😎

[tommy p]

I see some name jokes have already been posted, but Buzzy Shishkov sounds like the perfect name for a defensive lineman from the 1973 Chicago Bears to me.

[bubs_42]

On 7/7/2021 at 1:09 PM, hamerhead said:

Believe me, the thought of 'if I'd just left it where Mike had it' has entered my mind several times. But noooooo.....

I think you’ve punished yourself enough. LOL 

[hamerhead]

Season Finale: It's the Switch.

Finally 6 months later, Sheeesh.... got around to changing out the switch and the guitar is now dead quiet on the bridge humbucker and has the typical single-coil noise you'd expect from the neck P90. Never had one go bad before, and hope to never have another (especially in this guitar!)

Thanks for all the input, guys!

[Steve Haynie]

I am glad you got the problem solved.  Season finale, indeed!