I am struggling with hum on my archtop that has a Kent Armstrong HJGS-1 floating pickup. If we touch the outside plastic covering of the pickup or to the ground lug on the pickup, the hum reduces dramatically so it seems like a grounding issue.

What I've tried:

• I replaced all of the wires in the guitar but no change.
• I pulled the pickup off the guitar and soldiered new 4" wires directly to a jack, the hum is still evident.
• We've tried multiple amps. We've moved the guitar around the house. We've compared the hum with another guitar on the same amp with the same 1/4" cable. No hum.

I've done a ton of reading on the subject but I'm stumped.

Questions:

1. Is it possible that the pickup is indeed generating the hum? Maybe there is some grounding issue internal to the pickup?

2. Any addition ways we can test the pickup to make it is the problem? It shows something like 7.9k ohms and I've figured out the polarity using the metal whack test but otherwise i'm not sure what to try.

3. [Maybe I should move this to another question] I'm about to do the 2nd rewiring this time with 18 gauge, stranded, shielded wire. Is that the right stuff? How do I incorporate the shielding into the guitar wiring. Do I tie the negative and shield together at each side of the connection? For example on the pickup, there is a positive and negative lug. What do I do with the ground? How about at the volume pot and then at the jack?

Thanks for any help.

I am struggling with hum on my archtop that has a Kent Armstrong HJGS-1 floating pickup. If we touch the outside plastic covering of the pickup or to the ground lug on the pickup, the hum reduces dramatically so it seems like a grounding issue.

What I've tried:

• I replaced all of the wires in the guitar but no change.
• I pulled the pickup off the guitar and soldiered new 4" wires directly to a jack, the hum is still evident.
• We've tried multiple amps. We've moved the guitar around the house. We've compared the hum with another guitar on the same amp with the same 1/4" cable. No hum.

I've done a ton of reading on the subject but I'm stumped.

Questions:

1. Is it possible that the pickup is indeed generating the hum? Maybe there is some grounding issue internal to the pickup?

2. Any addition ways we can test the pickup to make it is the problem? It shows something like 7.9k ohms and I've figured out the polarity using the metal whack test but otherwise i'm not sure what to try.

Thanks for any help.

I am struggling with hum on my archtop that has a Kent Armstrong HJGS-1 floating pickup. If we touch the outside plastic covering of the pickup or to the ground lug on the pickup, the hum reduces dramatically so it seems like a grounding issue.

What I've tried:

• I replaced all of the wires in the guitar but no change.
• I pulled the pickup off the guitar and soldiered new 4" wires directly to a jack, the hum is still evident.
• We've tried multiple amps. We've moved the guitar around the house. We've compared the hum with another guitar on the same amp with the same 1/4" cable. No hum.

I've done a ton of reading on the subject but I'm stumped.

Questions:

1. Is it possible that the pickup is indeed generating the hum? Maybe there is some grounding issue internal to the pickup?

2. Any addition ways we can test the pickup to make it is the problem? It shows something like 7.9k ohms and I've figured out the polarity using the metal whack test but otherwise i'm not sure what to try.

3. [Maybe I should move this to another question] I'm about to do the 2nd rewiring this time with 22 gauge, stranded, shielded wire. Is that the right stuff? How do I incorporate the shielding into the guitar wiring. Do I tie the negative and shield together at each side of the connection? For example on the pickup, there is a positive and negative lug. What do I do with the ground? How about at the volume pot and then at the jack?

Thanks for any help.

I am struggling with hum on my archtop that has a Kent Armstrong HJGS-1 floating pickup. If we touch the outside plastic covering of the pickup or to the ground lug on the pickup, the hum reduces dramatically so it seems like a grounding issue.

What I've tried:

• I replaced all of the wires in the guitar but no change.
• I pulled the pickup off the guitar and soldiered new 4" wires directly to a jack, the hum is still evident.
• We've tried multiple amps. We've moved the guitar around the house. We've compared the hum with another guitar on the same amp with the same 1/4" cable. No hum.

I've done a ton of reading on the subject but I'm stumped.

Questions:

1. Is it possible that the pickup is indeed generating the hum? Maybe there is some grounding issue internal to the pickup?

2. Any addition ways we can test the pickup to make it is the problem? It shows something like 7.9k ohms and I've figured out the polarity using the metal whack test but otherwise i'm not sure what to try.

3. [Maybe I should move this to another question] I'm about to do the 2nd rewiring this time with 18 gauge, stranded, shielded wire. Is that the right stuff? How do I incorporate the shielding into the guitar wiring. Do I tie the negative and shield together at each side of the connection? For example on the pickup, there is a positive and negative lug. What do I do with the ground? How about at the volume pot and then at the jack?

Thanks for any help.