Hum source

[river251]

Hello, this is my first post here. I hope this is an acceptable place to ask this.
I have a Peterson solid state guitar amp that was just gone over by my tech. I have an archtop guitar with a humbucker pickup and tone / volume controls mounted under the pick guard. When I plug the guitar into the amp with a guitar cable there is a 60 HZ hum. When I touch the strings the hum changes. When I adjust the volume or tone, the hum changes getting louder or softer. I'm trying to understand hum and I've looked at lots of YouTube videos about hum but they haven't been very helpful. It doesn't seem like it could be a ground loop because there's only one guitar plugged into one amp plugged into one socket but I don't understand electricity much so I just really can't say. I have researched isolation transformers, noise reducers and noise Gates, USBS, and I don't have any idea what to do. I saw videos on guitar wiring problems that can produce hum but I have no idea how to test to see whether the noise is coming from the guitar, the amp, the cord, etc.
Any pointers about where to start or what to test or try would be super appreciated. Thank you.

 

[sam_adams]

Here's a couple of links on DIY shielding of guitars:

Tech Talk: How to shield your guitar

A step-by-step guide on how to shield your electric guitar to make it noise-free – especially if you use single-coil pickups.

guitar.com

Shielded Guitar Cavity - Is it Really Necessary? - Humbucker Soup

If you live in an area with a lot of electromagnetic interference, you are going to love today's article on the subject of a shielded guitar cavity. What we're going to do is talk about shielding the control cavity for maximum protection from interference.

humbuckersoup.com

Example copper tape with conductive adhesive:

https://www.amazon.com/Copper-Conductive-Adhesive-1inch-12yards/dp/B018RDZ3HG

 

[river251]

Here's a couple of links on DIY shielding of guitars:

Tech Talk: How to shield your guitar

A step-by-step guide on how to shield your electric guitar to make it noise-free – especially if you use single-coil pickups.

guitar.com

Shielded Guitar Cavity - Is it Really Necessary? - Humbucker Soup

If you live in an area with a lot of electromagnetic interference, you are going to love today's article on the subject of a shielded guitar cavity. What we're going to do is talk about shielding the control cavity for maximum protection from interference.

humbuckersoup.com

Example copper tape with conductive adhesive:

https://www.amazon.com/Copper-Conductive-Adhesive-1inch-12yards/dp/B018RDZ3HG

Thanks very much for the reply. That is why I mentioned that this is an archtop guitar and that the controls are mounted beneath the ebony pickguard. There is no control cavity, and no place to put shielding around the controls. Hopefully there will be other ideas involving the amp or cord or guitar or room or I don't know what. Thank you very much again.

 

[Blumlein 88]

If you turn down the volume on the guitar does hum go down too? If so that confirms it is the guitar.

Have you tried it in a different location, different part of your house, and does it hum about the same?

 

[DonH56]

Use humbucker pickups? It seems to be the guitar since it changes with volume.

I suggest taking the whole shebang to your tech to help debug. This is likely a fairly easy problem for him to fix but likely to be a large effort on your part.

 

[sam_adams]

Thanks very much for the reply. That is why I mentioned that this is an archtop guitar and that the controls are mounted beneath the ebony pickguard. There is no control cavity, and no place to put shielding around the controls. Hopefully there will be other ideas involving the amp or cord or guitar or room or I don't know what. Thank you very much again.

The first reply in this thread may give you some ideas.