neck pickup squeals when i put my fingers near it

[crazyzeke]

I own one, but don’t use it anymore. It introduces weird sort of slapback delay artifacts, especially on the 2nd mode (more hum suppression mode). This may not be as obvious when playing clean, but once you add OD, you hear it. No clue how it works on 50hz power, but I don’t think it really is specific to that sort of hum. It seems to filter out generic EMI (e.g. dimmer switch noise, etc).

Oh wow, I hate latency so that totally rules it out. I'd love to put a single coil back into the bridge of the Jag (I still have the SJAG-3b from the original Duncan set in it's plastic box somewhere) but it's completely pointless if there will be those kinds of issues. Thanks for the share!

[Lobsterdeth]

hi sorry for the late update
i got the new pickups
i installed them, they no longer squeal if i put my fingers near them, so i guess the other pickups really did become microphonic beyond repair cause potting them did nothing



but the guitar still squeals like a banshee no matter which pickup position i choose



fender included this wiring diagram with the guitar, i figured it would work if i tried it, so i followed it to a t except i grounded all of the ground wires for the pickups on the pickup selector like andy_thps suggested, and i grounded the volume pot to the brass shield (which has a copper wire that connects it to the bridge thimble

still squeals like a banshee

i am at my wits end

[timtam]

The circuit you are using (with no rhythm circuit - as on page 1) is about as simple as you can get for a two pickup guitar. And you have effectively now ruled out the pickups as the primary source of the problem. I would next take the shields out of the equation, disconnecting them completely from the rest of the wiring (the pickups are already wired entirely to just the pickguard electronics right ?). That way you can test if it squeals when completely out of the guitar. I may have missed it, but I assume you have tested another guitar into the same rig ?

[Lobsterdeth]

The circuit you are using (with no rhythm circuit - as on page 1) is about as simple as you can get for a two pickup guitar. And you have effectively now ruled out the pickups as the primary source of the problem. I would next take the shields out of the equation, disconnecting them completely from the rest of the wiring (the pickups are already wired entirely to just the pickguard electronics right ?). That way you can test if it squeals when completely out of the guitar. I may have missed it, but I assume you have tested another guitar into the same rig ?

what would i ground it to if i remove the shielding though? the guitar doesn't have a ground lug/shielding paint
and yes the pickups' hot and ground are connected to the pickguard electronics (i.e. the toggle switch)
i have tested the only other guitar i have on this rig, it has humbuckers though, so there is no hum but also squealing, i expect hum from my jazzmaster but i don't get just hum i get the aforementioned squealing, and also a jazz bass with single coils and same thing, a bit of hum but no squealing
fwiw the jazzmaster also makes the most annoying noise when connected directly into my computer interface

[timtam]

There is something seriously weird going on here ... the fact that it's basically the same squealing problem with two different sets of pickups especially. The only way I can see to solve it is to reduce it to a minimal working state, and then work backwards by adding stuff back in until the problem arises again. That should tell you what's causing it.

In fact in such situations I often jump straight to wiring each pickup individually in turn to the output jack, just so you know that the pickups alone, connected to a basic rig (guitar->cable->amp->wall socket) work OK.

The next simplest possible circuit is just what's on the pickguard, disconnected from everything else (shields) except the pickups. Which is what I was suggesting.

If that doesn't squeal then you know that the basic circuit is OK (the guitar doesn't actually need the shields to operate as a guitar - the shields don't ground the guitar ... the guitar[cable] grounds the shields .. which can then be used to ground other components). If it does squeal, you know something in the circuit is wrong (or it's something external to the guitar).

There's a pile of basic multimeter tests I would be doing too. Do you have one ?

[GilmourD]

There is something seriously weird going on here ... the fact that it's basically the same squealing problem with two different sets of pickups especially. The only way I can see to solve it is to reduce it to a minimal working state, and then work backwards by adding stuff back in until the problem arises again. That should tell you what's causing it.

Are you a fellow technology guy by day, @timtam? Sounds like troubleshooting a PC that won't boot or keeps crashing. [shakes fists at RAM modules that don't perform to published spec]

In fact in such situations I often jump straight to wiring each pickup individually in turn to the output jack, just so you know that the pickups alone, connected to a basic rig (guitar->cable->amp->wall socket) work OK.

The next simplest possible circuit is just what's on the pickguard, disconnected from everything else (shields) except the pickups. Which is what I was suggesting.

If that doesn't squeal then you know that the basic circuit is OK (the guitar doesn't actually need the shields to operate as a guitar - the shields don't ground the guitar ... the guitar[cable] grounds the shields .. which can then be used to ground other components). If it does squeal, you know something in the circuit is wrong (or it's something external to the guitar).

There's a pile of basic multimeter tests I would be doing too. Do you have one ?

With squealing I often try to figure out if it's electrically induced or mechanically (vibration) induced. There was something in one of the previous videos that almost sounded like what happens when you plug a wah pedal in backwards (a la the Pink Floyd Echoes bird noises), which doesn't seem to be something standard guitar circuitry would cause... Making me wonder if it's elsewhere in the chain.

I would probably start with having the guitar assembled enough that it doesn't have to stay on the workbench area and all connections (including any shielding) are made. Then be as far away from the amp as your cable allows.