Nasty buzzing humming on my comanche.

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Winona
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2012 7:34 pm

Nasty buzzing humming on my comanche.

Post by Winona »

Recently i started to get a nast buzzing when my guitar is on, It goes away when i touch anything metal on the guitar. How do I go about fixing this. I have no experience working with guitar wiring but i would like to learn.


Where do I start?
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Craig
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Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:52 am
Location: Either Coto De Caza, CA or Paso Robles, CA

Re: Nasty buzzing humming on my comanche.

Post by Craig »

Winona wrote:Recently i started to get a nast buzzing when my guitar is on, It goes away when i touch anything metal on the guitar. How do I go about fixing this. I have no experience working with guitar wiring but i would like to learn.


Where do I start?
I will assume your Comanche has a DF trem bridge.

On the back of the guitar, you should see a trem spring plastic cover. Remove the small screws and the cover.
Look inside and you should check to see if there is a ground wire attached to the trem springs claw. Here's a
picture:

Image

The wire should be soldered somewhere on the metal claw. If you don't see a wire anywhere in the cavity or see that it's
already attached, you will need to look under the pickguard. Loosen the strings, so that you can gently lift the pickguard
away from the guitar, and then turn it over to look at the underside. The black wires are all ground wires and they should
look like this:

Image

Look for the black wire soldered to the top of the pot labeled "Ground wire from tremolo claw - solder to pot". There should be a total
of 5 black ground wires soldered to that pot. If any of them are loose, they need to be re-soldered. If all the ground wires are attached,
then it's possible that one or more have a cold solder joint and will need to be re-soldered by heating up existing solder and add additional
solder to each one, making sure there is good contact of the wire to the pot they are attached to.

If you are not comfortable with using a soldering iron, I do suggest you take the guitar to a tech for this type of repair.

Hope this helps.

:ugeek:
--Craig [co-webmaster of guitarsbyleo.com, since Oct. 16, 2000]
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louis cyfer
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:58 pm

Re: Nasty buzzing humming on my comanche.

Post by louis cyfer »

does the buzz go away when you touch the strings or the bridge? if yes, then craig's suggestion are pointless. the noise come from you in form of rfi. when you touch metal, you get grounded, thus eliminating the rf interference.. if the noise stays when you touch the strings or the bridge, but goes away touching other metal parts, then what craig suggested is valid. when you said anything metal, i assumed you mean the bridge as well.
NickHorne
Posts: 785
Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 11:44 am
Location: England

Re: Nasty buzzing humming on my comanche.

Post by NickHorne »

Could you give us a couple more clues?

Does this happen in all positions of the 5-way switch?

If you get a bit of wire (any old wire) and connect the metal of the guitar's jack socket to the bridge (just touch the wire on, but holding it through the plastic, not by the metal), does the buzz go away?

Has this happened since moving house, or any rewiring in your home?
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Craig
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Posts: 11349
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:52 am
Location: Either Coto De Caza, CA or Paso Robles, CA

Re: Nasty buzzing humming on my comanche.

Post by Craig »

Winona wrote:Recently i started to get a nast buzzing when my guitar is on, It goes away when i touch anything metal on the guitar. How do I go about fixing this. I have no experience working with guitar wiring but i would like to learn.


Where do I start?
Were any of the suggestions posted, helpful? Please keep us informed as to
what you tried and if you were able to resolve the problem.

:ugeek:
--Craig [co-webmaster of guitarsbyleo.com, since Oct. 16, 2000]
Welcome! Read This First
Got a G&L question? Check out the: G&L Knowledgebase
Current G&L Specifications and Options