How to fix a BAD ground loop on whamola

[Michael L.]

So I just built myself a whamola, and after spending the last 10 hours carefully cutting 3/16" steel with my dremel, I realized the entire thing is going to be a giant ground loop. I used a cheap, $8 single coil pickup from Ebay, and the entire instrument is made of steel (minus a little piece of plexiglass).

As soon as I plugged it in to an amp I got some bad buzzing.

Is there anything I can do to fix this without spending a bunch of money or am I just going to have to suck it up?

 

[CanadaMan]

Why not just use wood though? It's so much lighter and cheaper...

 

[Michael L.]

Umm... because I already built it?

Metal is a good option because:
1) Doesn't flex
2) Cheap for me (I spent $5 on all of it)
3) Easier to work with than wood

Weight isn't a huge concern because you never really need to pick up a whamola when you are playing it.

I guess to rephrase my question:
Is there any way to get rid of the buzzing sound on an all-metal whamola?

 

[Michael L.]

Edit** I forgot that I put some rubber spacers under the pickup to level it, since I have it flush mounted in the body. Could these be part of the problem?

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Bottom line is you really need to have a connection between your electronics ground and your bridge. No different then any passive bass. Could it be you have an issue with your wiring in general?
Also make sure none of your electronics and wiring aren't touching any of the metal body too like the pots.
Good luck,
Dirk