Incessant Buzzing from EMG Hz 707 Pickups

by Moses
(Pittsburgh, PA, USA)

I have an electric guitar that I was unhappy with the way the pickups sounded. I bought some different pickups (EMG Hz 707's) and when I installed them, I liked the sound but there was also this non-stop buzz. When I kick on the distortion it sounds almost like microphone feedback.

Because I also installed a push-pull pot at the same time for coil tapping (which works fine, btw), I figured maybe my soldering wasn't the best so I redid it again but the buzz was still there. I resoldered again, bypassing ALL the other components - one pickup straight to the output jack and grounding wires. The buzz is still there!

There is one grounding wire at the bridge and one at the output jack on this guitar (Schecter A-7). Any ideas where this buzz is coming from and how I can eliminate it?

ANSWER

Hi, Moses--

I am in NO WAY an electronics expert. I do know that many people complain about the passive EMG Hz 707's being very noisy.

The only thing I can really think of is try a different pickup and see if the buzz goes away. It seems like you have eliminated most of the possible causes. May be it is just the pickups.

Lynne