New pickups installed in guitar; mains hum in all positions?
I have three guitars: two Stratocasters and one Ibanez S. Their pickup configurations are SSS, HSH, and HH respectively. For the first Stratocaster, I decided to pick up some Dimarzio Injector pickups (noiseless stacked single coils) and had a local shop install them.
Something I notice is that I get hum still. Previously I only got hum in positions 1, 3, and 5, but this time I have hum in all positions. I don't have hum in the Ibanez in any position, but I do have hum in the second Strat in position 3. I'm assuming this isn't an amp or pedal issue and is strictly in the first guitar.
I notice that the hum is exacerbated with gain pedals (I have a fuzz and OD, the hum is more pronounced with both, especially turned up higher) but it's still evident when clean. Touching a metal part of the guitar (eg. tuning pegs, floating bridge) or even a metal part of my pedal board (eg. a switch), it goes away.
I'm not experienced with doing electrical work in guitars nor do I know much about how the wiring is done. I was told they were installed in parallel for positions 2 and 4. I do get hum in all positions, though.
Could they have been installed incorrectly, or is this expected for higher gain pickups? I want to reiterate it does not happen with my Ibanez which has hotter pickups to begin with.
(1)1 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
Did they actually check it again in the shop? If you say it goes when touching something this seems like very much a grounding issue. If you didn't hear it in the shop, was it noisy? In bigger shops there are other people chatting, playing, .. and you might miss on a a hum you hear in a dead silent environment. They should open it, and check if the wiring is correct if it is the only one in your setup that's not working, it can only be the guitar..
One thing you could try, is open up the back of the guitar, and see if there are any BLACK cords, that are loose. There should be one going to your output jack, and one should go somewhere metallic on your guitar. You can see where the ground is, in this photo of a pickguard: www.bluestarmusic.com/DiMarzio-Paul-Gilbert-InjectorArea-67-Prewired-Strat-Replacement-Pickguard-White_p_2448.html
The one on the potentiometer (the lower part of the tone/volume knob), and the one on the output jack are the ones where it matters, you can see the output jack goes to the green box, from there the black goes on top of the potentiometer, to the other ones and also to the 5-way-switch. If one of them is a bit wonky, or even hangs loose then the soldering wasn't done correctly. You could even fix this with tape, but again, if you paid for it, I would demand they look at the wiring again.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2026 All Rights reserved.