Buzzy Hamer

[stobro]

My buzzy tale of woe involves my '96 Hamer Artist Custom. It's completely stock, nothing has been touched in the control cavity. When I play it, as long as I'm touching the strings, bridge, any grounded metal it's quiet. Hands off, there's a light buzz. If I touch the switch, there's a loud buzz. I cleaned the switch contacts with 600 grit sandpaper and a shot of contact cleaner. The switch functions fine, just as it always has, but the buzz remains.

I noticed that there is no ground wire connecting the switch body to any other grounded part in the control cavity. I assume the intent was to have the copper shielding paint contact the switch body and provide some kind of ground? Is it common practice to not have a ground wire to the metal of the open frame switch? Would adding one fix my problem? Enquiring minds want to know!

[stobro]

Well, I answered my own question. I spent a few minutes rooting around in my spare parts and found a switch I had salvaged from an old USA Peavey that still had a ground terminal/tab with wire attached. (I also found a spare right angle/low profile open frame switch just like the one in my Hamer, only this one had a solder tab for a ground connection built-in. For some reason, the switch in the Hamer does not have a ground solder tab built-in.)

I removed the switch from the Hamer, slipped the salvaged Peavey ground terminal part onto the threads and reinstalled the switch.

The attached ground wire with insulating sleeve was just long enough to reach the back of the tone pot, where I hooked it onto one of the existing ground wires and secured it with a bit of solder. It worked! The switch doesn't buzz when I touch it anymore.

And to think I came thisclose to cleaning out my basement junk collection a few weeks back.

[Jakeboy]

Yay! Peavey USA to the rescue!

[hamerhead]

On 12/11/2021 at 5:41 PM, stobro said:

And to think I came this close to cleaning out my basement junk collection a few weeks back.

Never do that. Ever.