Excessive microphonics in a guitar & PUs

[JohnnyCreepy]

Better to start a thread about this as ”use less gain” isn’t a solution.

Long story short replaced crazy microphonic og pups in my main guitar with a wax potted ones. They were fine at first, but after problem came back. Whole guitar is piezo and no matter where I tap it’s heard through different amps. Bridge PU has partial cover and nec PU is uncovered. Selecting either one or both results on same piezolike behaviour. It’s playable, but I’d enjoy playing more without excessive piezo thing going on…

What are the main suspects you point out apart what I’ve already tried out?

So far I’ve tried:

• Took of control cavity shield plate - no help
• Redid gnd wiring - no help
• Replaced jack - no help
• Mounting screws and spring are insulated with shrink tube
• No continunity problems with DMM resistance measurement
• Installed new switches

Haven’t ruled out:

• Cleaning and replacing wiring completely with new PU wires
• Opened up PU selector switch to tighten contact leaves
• Making sure bridge PU isn’t too snuggly fitted into mountng ring (Doubt the effectiviness as same behaviour on neck PU too)
• Haven’t tightened flatmount through bridge (new one coming in on mail tomorrow
• Haven’t replaced vol or tone pots

Any guidance where to look and what to do next?

 

[BuddytheReow]

Would a noise gate be an appropriate band-aid?

 

[jimilee]

I’m not sure what piezo sounds like. Are they out of phase?

 

[JohnnyCreepy]

Would a noise gate be an appropriate band-aid?

Yes,,,If it has clean blend. Where do these noise gaters dwell?

I’m not sure what piezo sounds like. Are they out of phase?

Good! At first I thought you’re not helping, but on the other hand you really might have a point there. HB on neck and p90 (hb sized) on bridge, both originally bridge PUs. Selector switch leaves coil start hanging there on air. If I remember right, whole guitar didn’t act as condensator microphone before flipping the neck PU so I’ll try flipping it first.

 

[Fama]

I’m not sure what piezo sounds like. Are they out of phase?

FWIW "a piezo" is basically a contact mic. Acoustic (well, electro-acoustic I guess?) guitars often use them, and you can get bridges with built-in piezo mics so you can add it to a normal guitar. Might need a separate output or extra circuitry otherwise, though.

With a bunch of extra processing you can sort of get an acoustic-like sound, but obviously it won't sound exactly like an acoustic when it's miced.

In this case, however, it sounds like the whole guitar works as a contact mic, which obviously is not a good thing in most cases.