Grounding problem?

[rovin cowboy]

When I plug into my Fender Deluxe amp, I get a substantial amount of buzzing when I am not touching the strings or something metal on my guitar. I don't think it's a problem with my guitars, all three of them have this problem. Actually it happens with my POD as well, when I'm listening through headphones. So is this a problem with the power in my home and if so, how do I fix it?

[Gabriel E.]

This is normal. As long as the hum goes away when you touch the guitar strings, it's cool. All guitars do this.

[rovin cowboy]

Really? I play using open tunings and oftentimes my hands are not touching the strings at all, so the noise is a problem! Is there a noise gate pedal or something that could reduce the noise?

[Gabriel E.]

Well you have a couple of options:

 

-You could outfit your axe with a set of EMG active pickups which do not have this issue. They are self-contained and aren't grounded.

 

-You could make sure that some part of your body is touching something metal at all times - i.e. the guitar's bridge, tuners, etc. Or run a wire from the guitar's bridge to a bracelet or something of the sort. This is the best option IMHO.

 

-You could try a noise gate but to have it set to reduce the noise when not touching the strings could mess with the sound when you are. A noise gate isn't normally something you want to put between a guitar and an amp.

[RDuke]

That sounds very much like a ground loop. I won't even attempt to explain what that is. Do a Google search on ground loops if you want to know more. I have it with my recording components and use an EB Tech Hum Eliminator, which does the trick. I don't know if such a thing exists for a guitar/amp. First thing to try though is to plug everything into a single strip...so you're only using a single ground connection. That works for some folks. If it doesn't, you might try Radio Shack and ask about hum elimination, isolation transformers, and such.