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I just finished this tele.

The pickups are cheapo Chinese ones I had laying around. The pots are CTS, 3 way switch from StewMac. Copper foil tape (from StewMac) shielding the pickup and control cavities.

Traditional wiring, grounds soldered to the back of the volume pot, including one from the bridge plate.

There is a LOT of hum from the individual pickups and it does not change if I touch the strings, bridge plate, pickup housing or poles/magnets, or the volume or tone controls.

There is NO hum when both pickups are engaged. Maybe one of them is reverse wound and they are humbucking when both on?

I've posted the video here (YouTube link).
Two questions:
1) does the amount of hum seem normal for a cheap single coil? My strat with Dimarrzios in it doesn't hum NEARLY as much with the same set up.

2) any idea why touching anything metal on the guitar has NO effect on the hum? I'm I would expect me to be less when I ground myself to it.


http://youtu.be/etwNcDbfErM

Thanks for the input. I'd love to get it to be quieter. Maybe this is the best I can expect with these pickups.

I used some China cheapos and discovered the bridge pu was reverse wound.
Had a terrible hum.
I swapped the wires and all was ok.
Those pu's sound bad-ass.
Send me the link if you still have it.
The cheapo China pu's I bought sounded really good. I wonder if they are the same as mine.
Dan

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Sounds like a pickup might be in backwards. The bridge and strings on a tele are connected to ground by the screws going into the base plate of the pickup, so it's pretty hard to wire it in backwards. It's usually shielded wire too, so it's obvious which is the ground. Maybe just disconnect the neck pickup and see if the bridge one still buzzes when the neck one is completely out of the circuit.
Not sure why touching the strings doesn't affect the noise though. That would suggest the bridge pickup to me. Maybe you have a hair of stray wire somewhere out off sight, like at the jack socket?

They are single coils.... which hum. Period. They are NOT humbucking, OK? Also, they are cheap Chinese crap. Sometimes the reason these things don't work is obvious, even if you don't like me pointing it out.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks for the responses and Chris Pile, I pointed out that they were cheap Chinese crap in the original post. I'm well aware.

I'm asking for thoughts about why there is so much hum individually but none when both are on. This leads me to think that one is would reverse of the other and they are acting as a humbucker when BOTH are on.

I'm also asking for thoughts about why touching the strings (or anything metal) doesn't change the amount of hum.

Quiet in the center makes sense if they're reverse wound (which it seems they are). The absence of any difference at all when you touch the strings however, is indeed not normal.

Do you have a multimeter? Checking continuity from the ground at the jack to the strings wouldbe my first step. Depending on what you see there, we could perhaps guide you through some other things to check if this doesn't explain it.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Hey, my cheap china crap don't hum, in fact, they sound incredibly good.
However, I probably got the good ones that were in the bottom of the bucket.
I bought some other china pu's that are now rusting somewhere in the bottom of my pond.

Try swapping the pickup leads.

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David,
Thanks for the response. I do have a multimeter but don't really know how to use it. I'll search YouTube. There seems to be instructions for EVERYTHING there.

I checked continuity.

When I am touching the jack I get continuity (the beep sound) when I touch the other probe to the strings, the bridge plate, the metal knobs, the metal hub of the three way switch, and the neck pickup cover.

I DON'T get a beep when I touch the pole pieces of the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup has a brass plate underneath that the mounting screws thread into. I DO get the beep sound when I touch the screw heads of the bridge pickup mounting screws.

What should I check next?

I think the pickups sound great, I just wish there was less hum/buzz when each single cool pickup was used alone.

And thanks again for your help. That's a great thing about this community.

Try just disconnecting the neck pickup and see how the bridge on behaves on its own. I don't see how you could accidentally reverse wire a tele bridge pickup. But a neck pickup, maybe.
You can buy cloth tape with shielding tape on the back, so you can shield the coils without altering the appearance. I hear you lose a little treble when you do that. Not sure what difference it would make. And you can shield the body cavities as well. But I think the neck pickup is in backwards and that's why touching the strings doesn't stop the hum.

Do you also get continuity from the "live" part of the socket to the strings?