Ground/shielding issue

[gregouille23]

Hi there,

I scored a lovely Ray34ca and i am in love. After countless times, I finally found a Stingray that suits me. I always enjoyed the sound of a stingray, but could never bond with one somehow...

It is all working out... except the noise. Whenever I touch the strings it goes away but when I don't, there is this kind of moderate, but extrenely annoying (especially with my tinnitus ) high pitched noise that is driving me insane since I noticed it

I am pretty sure this is a grounding issue. So I took the opportunity of a pickup swap to shield the whole cavity and run wire from jack ground to the copper foil. I thought it would take care of the issue but it is still the same. Now I am wondering if I should also ground the back of the pots. I did so in my build Pbass but I am not sure if I should do the same here.

Maybe I did something wrong/stupid, this is always a possibility Any feedback is welcome!

 

[gregouille23]

I forgot, here is a pic

 

[Marty Forrer]

Did you do the pickup cavity, and if so, did you connect it to the control cavity?

 

[Marty Forrer]

I would also connect the pickguard to the cavity, just relying on the possibility of them touching is not good enough. Also, the joins in the tape should have a spot of solder to connect them. Just relying on physical contact is not good enough.

 

[gregouille23]

Did you do the pickup cavity, and if so, did you connect it to the control cavity?

I did do the pickup cavity, however I am not sure how to connect it to the control cavity as there is no pickguard going from the cavity to the control (unlike a Pbass for instance)

 

[gregouille23]

Ok. I have connected the cavities via a copper foil going in the tunnel between cavites. Still i hear this noise, noticeably more when boosting the treble. Could it be related to the SBMM pre amp? I have an Aguilar OBP1 lying around so I could try replacing it. But I have nothing against the stock preamp though, so does it make any sense?

 

[gregouille23]

Update: I noticed that the noise goes away when the treble knob of the 2 band onboard preamp is at 0. I could not find online whether the pre is boost/cut or boost only. If it is boost only, it would probably point to an issue with the preamp. I may replace it with the OBP-1 to rule this out...

 

[Marty Forrer]

Boosting treble will always increase the possibility of noise.

 

[gregouille23]

Final update: I replaced the preamp and HA! The preamp was indeed the guilty one. No noise anymore! This Sterling Ray34ca with Aguilar MM pickup and OBP-1 preamp is now the best Stingray I've ever had and played. I finally feel home on a Stingray, love it!!!