Ground noise issue-Drop Top HSS

[Armando]

Hello! For whatever reason my 2000 HDT has developed a ground/noise issue. The guitar has the switcharoo system. If I touch any metal(knobs, switches, jack) the noise disappears.

Where should I look first in troubleshooting? It’s not the cable or amp as I plugged in a different guitar and didn’t experience this.

Thanks in advance!

[Carl]

Hello! For whatever reason my 2000 HDT has developed a ground/noise issue. The guitar has the switcharoo system. If I touch any metal(knobs, switches, jack) the noise disappears.

Where should I look first in troubleshooting? It’s not the cable or amp as I plugged in a different guitar and didn’t experience this.

Thanks in advance!

Grounding issues can be a pain to diagnose. If I understand correctly, you have had the guitar for a while and the grounding issue is new? I would suggest some non-destructive investigation first. If something failed, it is usually the wear items that go first (input jack, pots, switches).

I would open up the compartment for the input jack and look for loose wires or broken solder joints. It may be tough to see, but sometimes the spring contacts in the jack also wear out and need to be replaced. If it is an open jack, you may be able to tighten it up again by bending the contacts slightly.

Next, I would open up the main compartment and look for similar problems (loose wires, broken solder joints). Once you have it open, you can experiment with jumpering the ground back to various points to see if you can make the problem go away. Good luck!