Kinmans are only dead silent when I'm touching metal on the guitar

iaresee

iaresee

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I'd ask this on the Kinman forums but their site seems to have gone poof.

I'm runing Kinman's in my Telecaster build. Overall they sound fantastic but the silent operation thing isn't quite working. They're quieter but not silent...except when I touch any metalic part of the guitar: knobs, control plate, strings, bridge, bridge plate, even the cover of the neck pickup. Then they are dead silent.

So I've clearly screwed up something in the wiring but I've got over it a dozen times and I can't for the life of me figure out what I missed. The bridge is connected to the ground plane via the back of a pot. The input jack's ground is solid.

I did not shield the cavities of the guitar -- maybe that's it?

Any thoughts on where I went wrong?
 
It definitely sounds like a bad ground. I had a similar issue on a Les Paul. The ground wire under the saddle post was not making contact with the post. If you have an Ohm meter, check to see that there is no or very little resistance between the ground on the jack and all the metal parts on the guitar. You can use the continuity setting on the meter for this (see article in second post).

Here's a great guide for wiring a Tele. https://sixstringsupplies.co.uk/pages/telecaster-wiring. I would check the ground under the bridge, as shown in this pic. from the site.

1671379052274.png
 
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Yeah usually a grounding issue, but it can go both ways. If the guitar ground is weak the noise can sometimes be grounded out through us. Sometimes, however, we are the source of the noise and touching the guitar grounds us out. Our body can act as an EMI antenna.

The issue can also sometimes be downstream as well. If the ground connection in the guitar cable or next device in the chain is weak you can have issues as well. The guitar needs to be well grounded all the way to the power outlet.
 
Admin M@ said:
I had a set of Kinmans that weren't silent. There was something wrong with them. I installed a replacement and the problem went away.
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Hmm. I'll revisit my grounding first. Sure hope it isn't this. They seem to be not on the internet right now.
 
Sounds to me like your guitar could use some shielding. When you touch the metal parts that are grounded, you become part of the shielding, and any hum/noise you pick up (you are an antenna) is drained away to ground and not transmitted into the wiring....

I put copper foil in the pickup cavities with a wire to ground, and will also do the control compartment. It helps, if you have a noisy environment....
20221215_224946.jpg
 
I've had two sets of Kinmans, both strat and tele, and they were dead silent without shielding. Still have the strat set, great pickups.
 
Are other guitars with humbuckers dead silent pugged in to the exact same rig in the exact same spot?
If they are it is the grounding of the strings and bridge plate . Forget the screening it is NOT the issue if other guitars are silent in the same situation.
Joe Bfstplk said:
Sounds to me like your guitar could use some shielding. When you touch the metal parts that are grounded, you become part of the shielding, and any hum/noise you pick up (you are an antenna) is drained away to ground and not transmitted into the wiring....

I put copper foil in the pickup cavities with a wire to ground, and will also do the control compartment. It helps, if you have a noisy environment....
20221215_224946.jpg
Click to expand...
If your guitar only goes quiet when you touch it it is the ground. If you have a screening issue touching the strings doesn't make the noise go away. This is why if you use quality parts and the electricity supply is clean screening the cavities makes no difference (unless your are sat next to a strip light).
 
Any unshielded wires, components, or connections in the guitar can pick up electrical noise. Shielding tape or paint in all of the cavities is usually the easiest way to deal with it.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Are other guitars with humbuckers dead silent pugged in to the exact same rig in the exact same spot?
If they are it is the grounding of the strings and bridge plate . Forget the screening it is NOT the issue if other guitars are silent in the same situation.

If your guitar only goes quiet when you touch it it is the ground. If you have a screening issue touching the strings doesn't make the noise go away. This is why if you use quality parts and the electricity supply is clean screening the cavities makes no difference (unless your are sat next to a strip light).@andy
Click to expand...

Andy Eagle said:
Are other guitars with humbuckers dead silent pugged in to the exact same rig in the exact same spot?
If they are it is the grounding of the strings and bridge plate . Forget the screening it is NOT the issue if other guitars are silent in the same situation.

If your guitar only goes quiet when you touch it it is the ground. If you have a screening issue touching the strings doesn't make the noise go away. This is why if you use quality parts and the electricity supply is clean screening the cavities makes no difference (unless your are sat next to a strip light).
Click to expand...
@Andy Eagle What is your preferred method of grounding the bridge plate on a Tele?
 
Frodebro said:
Any unshielded wires, components, or connections in the guitar can pick up electrical noise. Shielding tape or paint in all of the cavities is usually the easiest way to deal with it.
Click to expand...
Not the issue here . IF touching the bridge makes the noise go it IS the ground.
 
scottp said:
@Andy Eagle What is your preferred method of grounding the bridge plate on a Tele?
Click to expand...
Depends on the pickups. On a vintage pickup with a grounded plate underneath the pickup screws are more than enough. BUT when you go non traditional you will need to add a wire from the back of the volume pot to under the bridge. Make sure the wire has all the cover removed on all of the part that is trapped between the bridge and the body. This will be fine.
 
Remember to note the difference between a ground problem and a screening problem.
IF the noise goes away when you touch the bridge/strings it IS a ground problem. Touching the bridge does not miraculously add shielding to the cavity and block interference !
What it does do is add an alternative ground .

If you have a hum that doesn't change when you touch the strings and the volume of it changes as you rotate the guitar through 360 degrees in the room or just move around in the room you could have a screening problem. BUT this is often caused by a poorly grounded mains supply and proximity to incompatible devices. Screening will help here but it is a LAST resort because it interferes with the sound of your pickups in a detrimental way the more you do it. All single coil guitars hum, more in certain circumstances but you can work around it. If your humbucker equipped guitar hums you should first investigate the quality of the components and the wiring for good practice and a screened output cable before you decide to add screening.
 
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As noted on the Kinman site, it is important to note the difference between hum and noise. Kinmans are not noiseless pickups, they are hum-free pickups. Humbucker pickups also are hum-free, but no conventional magnetic pickup is noiseless. Calling a magnetic pickup "noiseless" is a misnomer. You have to shield the guitar to minimize noise. Noise comes for RF that is pretty much anywhere there is electricity, so you will always get some noise. The goal is to minimize it. I have several Kinman sets and they are all pretty quiet, but the quietest "single coil" pickups I have ever used were Bill Lawrence pickups.
 
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