There's something strange going on

[BMD]

My electric guitar makes a buzzing sound. The only way to stop it is if I touch the guitar lead where it plugs into the guitar. Which is inconvenient.

 

Any ideas? Apologies if this has been asked before.

 

By the way, I know nothing about electronics. Is there a simple fix? Like buying another guitar, maybe?

[desertbluesman]

It sounds like a ground problem. Somewhere in the wiring.

[Larryz]

+1 BMD, on a grounding problem but before you take it in try a different guitar into your amp and a different guitar cord and even a different amp (you can borrow them if you need to).  Sometimes it's the guitar, sometimes it's the cord, sometimes it's the amp.  It may be as simple as bending the guitar jack, buying a new jack, a loose solder joint at the jack, bridge or on the pots, a new selector switch...a tech can save you from having to buy a new guitar although there is no cure for that LoL! 😎

[BMD]

Thanks, guys. I've contacted a local guitar tech and he's of your opinion

[Caevan O’Shite]

3 hours ago, BMD said:

My electric guitar makes a buzzing sound. The only way to stop it is if I touch the guitar lead where it plugs into the guitar.

Thanks, guys. I've contacted a local guitar tech and he's of your opinion

Yeah, probably a missing or broken string/bridge ground connection, given your description.
     
 

[CEB]

Ground wire to the bridge broke. 

[Sharkman]

8 hours ago, BMD said:

Thanks, guys. I've contacted a local guitar tech and he's of your opinion

We're a helpful bunch.

[KuruPrionz]

I think testing the amp and the cord as well is good advice. 

I've also found that sometimes plugging the amp into a different socket can make a difference.

I had a hum appear one day when I was plugged in and playing at a shared wall. When I moved everything to one of the outside walls the hum stopped. 

 

The ground wire from either the tail piece or the bridge may have come loose or broken off either at the point of contact on the bridge/tailpiece or inside the control area where it should be soldered to a ground point, usually the back of pot (the component that a knob turns. 

Sometimes the ground will be at the jack, if you tightened the jack that wire could have gotten pulled free. 

 

Should be an easy fix!!! FWIW, one of the reasons I switched to active pickups is that they don't require the ground wire to be quiet. 

I'd been shocked a couple of times but one evening I watched our lead singer catch a big blue spark near his mouth and we could all smell burnt mustache. 

I had to sing for a set because it nearly knocked him out. 

[Caevan O’Shite]

7 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Sometimes the ground will be at the jack, if you tightened the jack that wire could have gotten pulled free. 

THESE are EXCELLENT tools for tightening loose jacks without causing problems like loose/broken wire connections!! Outstanding- exactly the perfect tool for the job, it holds the jack in place while tightening the external hex-nut, without taking anything apart; I love mine and have used it more often than I expected- once each on my own guitars, and on other peoples' instruments, as well. Get one in 'standard', and one in metric. HIGHLY recommended.

Bullet Guitar Jack Tightener

        

       
           
           

[CEB]

That looks handy.

[KuruPrionz]

That's a great tool. 

If I'm keeping the guitar, the jack is replaced with a Switchcraft and installed with the included lock washer. 

Pretty rare anything comes loose. 

 

I've bought a few inexpensive imported guitars that no longer worked at very low prices. Almost all of them had a wire broken off at the jack, the thin wire that is in common use these days won't take much torque to snap. Those I just get back up and running and flip for a few bucks. Making the world a better place one guitar at a time... 

[Larryz]

+1 Kuru, on thin wire ground problems on imported guitars even expensive ones.  My tech almost had me send back a new pickup as he couldn't find anything wrong in the wiring.  I reminded him of the thin ground wire we found during an earlier mod and everything worked great.  2nd time around there was nothing wrong with the new pickup which was proven with a swap.  Then we found the culprit was the thin ground wire on the pots had broken off inside the housing and could not be seen.  Chopped off an inch and re-soldered and everything worked again! I can't see why foreign companies try to save money using cheap thin ground wire?  +1,000 on using Switchcraft parts... 😎

[KuruPrionz]

8 minutes ago, Larryz said:

+1 Kuru, on thin wire ground problems on imported guitars even expensive ones.  My tech almost had me send back a new pickup as he couldn't find anything wrong in the wiring.  I reminded him of the thin ground wire we found during an earlier mod and everything worked great.  2nd time around there was nothing wrong with the new pickup which was proven with a swap.  Then we found the culprit was the thin ground wire on the pots had broken off inside the housing and could not be seen.  Chopped off an inch and re-soldered and everything worked again! I can't see why foreign companies try to save money using cheap thin ground wire?  +1,000 on using Switchcraft parts... 😎

When you are competing for nickels and dimes on every guitar, it's a race to the bottom. 

The jacks, pots and switches are mostly cheap crap that lasts long enough to sell the guitar and then buyer beware. 

I don't have time to bring newer instruments up to snuff, it's just not worth the trouble to me. 

 

Most of the time I just use the neck pickup turned all the way up anyway. I'm going to be working on a bogeyed old Melody Maker in early 2023 and I'm thinking I'll just put a neck pickup wired straight to the output jack and call it good. 😇

 

[Larryz]

Good luck Kuru with the project on the Melody Maker!  +1 on the neck pup.  I use it more than the bridge pup but everybody seems to like the bridge pup on single pup guitars these days... Keep us posted! 😎👍

[KuruPrionz]

18 hours ago, Larryz said:

Good luck Kuru with the project on the Melody Maker!  +1 on the neck pup.  I use it more than the bridge pup but everybody seems to like the bridge pup on single pup guitars these days... Keep us posted! 😎👍

Thanks Larryz, currently in the middle of dressing gigantic frets. I'll need to make a pick guard as well. 

This is an early 60's single cutaway Melody Maker. At some point, somebody decided to make it more of a "Strat" and put in 3 DiMarzio Strat pickups on a thick, gold colored plexiglass pick guard.

 

It looks like they might have used a butter knife to carve out a place for the middle pickup AND they decided to use a standard Strat 5 way switch so there is a hole in the back of the guitar that was covered with a hideous little gold cover plate, probably made from a scrap from the pick guard. I sold the pickups, didn't want anything to do with them. Kept the pick guard for reference but it's going to need a new one. 

 

It's been refinished in a natural color and it's just a single piece of Honduras Mahogany for the body and one piece for the neck plus a Brazilian rosewood fretboard so it's kind of a gorgeous abomination. The neck is fat, I love that. Easy access to all the frets, I love that. VERY light, I LOVE that!!!!

 

So it will probably become a go-to, I used to play a Gretsch Roc-Jet with Supertrons and I've always loved the sound of those pickups so it should be a sweet guitar.