Grounding Problem?

So my guitar seems noisier since I got my pedal. for those who donot know Betsy she is a Gibson 25/50 Ann. LP. I got an Invader in the neck and a Dimebucker at the bridge. Now since I got my pedal (Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion) I've noticed that there is a fair amount more noise. Now Betsy has coil tapping for both her pups. There is an audible noise difference between the coil tap positions of course since it is going to single coil action. So I know that ain't it. The noise is there no matter the position. It is there in any combo of the pickups and coil tap. Now I know I can expect some noise with the pedal but here's the kicker the noise is only there when the guitar strings are not vibrating. When I strum a chord or pick a note the noise seems to stop. Also when i touch the coil tap switch, the metal around the pup selector switch, the metal end of any of the instrument cables, or any of the metal parts of any of the input jacks the noise stops and she is as quiet as can be. :confused: This leads me to believe i have a grounding problem. Which irritates the crap out of me because as some know I took Betsy to a tech to get her sorted out. :mad: What do you guys think? I've looked inside and everything looks right. Maybe there's something I'm not seeing.

Take off the back cover and look at the control pots. If there are wires soldered to the shells of the pots, you need to go to >GuitarNuts< and check out their wiring & shielding >Modifications< section, particularly the article called >Quieting The Beast"<.


The noise problem was there before you got the pedal. The pedal just makes it more obvious.

It's pretty much a garauntee that it's a grounding problem though right, not outside interference? Can't I just hook a wire from point a to a grounding location? I'm sorry LATS but I don't know how to take a wiring diagram for a strat and turn it into a diagram for an LP with coil tap. :( She's very important to me and when she sounds sick it makes me sick. I'm gonna open her up and see whats going on because truthfully since the tech dug around in her i haven't looked at what he did.

It may be an impedance problem combined with the extra gain from the distortion pedal bringing up the noise floor. I had a couple of boss pedals that were just too noisy to be used in combination with each other. They were fine on there own and all the grounding was sound as a pound. GE7 with a MZ2, bad combination !

Made me swear quite a lot !

Would that work with me touching the various points and the noise disappearing? That was my first clue that it would be a grounding problem.

Ok yeah all of it is wired to the pots damn it. :mad: I guess it's time to find a new tech.

Humm it is probably a grounding issue in that case.

Have you tried running everything off one grounded power strip ?

Well it was just my amp and the pedal but the pedal was running off a 9v battery and wasn't plugged into the strip. I'm gonna attempt a rerewiring in the near future but for now I'll use noise suppresion stuff and get by with that.

Originally Posted by: magicninjaOk yeah all of it is wired to the pots damn it. :mad: I guess it's time to find a new tech.

There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity. What this guy doesn't know, he can probably learn. Give him the link to GuitarNuts and have him take a look around. It ain't all gospel, but it sure beats what the manufacturers stick us with.

As a 'for instance', the AC isolation capacitor they recommend as protection against shock hazard can cause grounding noise problems, so I prefer to use a tester to check the outlet before I plug in, and I keep my gear well maintained.

Originally Posted by: LordathestringsThere's a difference between ignorance and stupidity. What this guy doesn't know, he can probably learn. Give him the link to GuitarNuts and have him take a look around. It ain't all gospel, but it sure beats what the manufacturers stick us with.

As a 'for instance', the AC isolation capacitor they recommend as protection against shock hazard can cause grounding noise problems, so I prefer to use a tester to check the outlet before I plug in, and I keep my gear well maintained.

The AC isolation capacitor you speak of LATS is part of the 'shielding' mod that should eliminate noise, i carried out this mod on my replica strat when i changed the pups, got all the nessesary gear off my dad who's an electrican, carried out the mod to the letter and guess what.........it didn't work! hit my pedals and.........NOISE! d'ya reckon i should junk the capacitor and find a better earth? any ideas appreciated :)

Sorry for hijackin your thread Ninja, this issue is really buggin me :mad:

I shield my control cavities with copper tape, and I'm very careful to have just 1 ground point, at the shell of the jack. Installing a capacitor between this single ground point and the jack shell can allow some noise to happen. It can also save your life if your gear puts a high voltage on the chassis. Its up to you to decide which path you wanna walk.