[shunned]

Anyone know how to reduce/remove the hum from a tele?

[Curlyben]

A friend of mine had a similar problem with a Gibson, he resolved it by lowering the pickups.
Now problem is I have no idea how to go about this, but it may point you in the right direction.

[magprob]

Adjusting screws are right next to pick up... at least they are on my Stratocaster. Should be the same for a Telecaster. The only time I ever had humming or buzzing with my Fenders, and I have owned many, it was the amp making the unwanted noise.

[Thomas1970]

Hi Shunned,
Lowering the pickups probably will correct this, but be aware that much of this will be due to taking the strings further out of the direct electromagnetic field generated by the pickups. This will inevitably result in a much weaker signal, and will greatly reduce your volume, depending on how far you lower them, as well as affect your tone to a greater or lesser degree.
Adjustment for the neck pickup should be as Magprob indicated, though I'm not quite sure as to the bridge pickup.
Some noise is generally, inevitably inherent to the very design of single coil pickups, but the amount can vary greatly with quality, and possibly whether it is a sealed pickup or not, such as those produced by EMG. I agree with Magprob, that the problem often lies in the amp, or in poorly shielded cables. As well, the more effects you use, the higher signal to noise ratio you are likely to achieve.
One other option is to use a noise supression unit. I own a Boss NS-2 noise supressor, and I consider this to be by far the best and most versatile pedal of its kind on the market. Likely the best noise supression outside of a rack unit. I own two electrics right now. A Dean Custom 450S, and a B.C. Rich N.J. Series Mockingbird. I routinely use a distortion pedal, backed with an overdrive to further increase the gain, adding various other effects on top of this. Basically, I frequently boost the signal into the upper stratosphere, and this pedal has never failed to eliminate both buzz and hum, as well as any unwanted feedback.
Overall, over the years, I've owned more guitars, as well as other instruments, than I can, or probably care to recall. :)

[shunned]

I record direct, but it may be the cable. But I was thinking, I paid good dough for this tele, shouldn't it have no hum to start? I mean, should I replace the puckups, shield it, or something? I have to remove the pickguard to lower the pickups, and I do have them pretty high.
Thanks! :)

[shunned]

I record direct, but it may be the cable. But I was thinking, I paid good dough for this tele, shouldn't it have no hum to start? I mean, should I replace the puckups, shield it, or something? I have to remove the pickguard to lower the pickups, and I do have them pretty high.
Thanks! :)

I like hockey, but I MEANT pickups!

[magprob]

At one time, all at the same time, I owned a 62 Tele, a 68 Tele and a Black 72custom Tele. GOD why did I sell them? Excuse me... I have to go kick myself in the butt right now! Any way, none of them had excess buzz or any noise. The only time I ever saw a Tele make too much noise was because some DIM WIT switched the bridge pickup to a Humbucker-and HUMMMMM it did! Has anyone "customized" your Tele?

[shunned]

No, it's stock from around 95 I think. I can't increase the high end becuzz of buzz.

[Stratmando]

I would suspect ground wire under bridge. Can be verified by continuity test between bridge and output ground. In the 70's I used to Customize Stratocasters, Router out body and install Dual Humbuckers, Pre-Amp, Active Tone control and Compressor.
Super Powerful and clean, I thought I was to be top custom Guitar Builder? Modifier.
My friends that played these would not tell anyone, Because then they would not be the only one having the "Baddest" I was not a marketer, still don't know how to sell.
I used Op Amps, Amplify difference of 2 signals but nothing common between both.
Eleminates Hum. Plus you can get Million to 1 gain, and they could be used as filters.
Wonder what they use now, 30 years later.

[Graflex Disaste]

I'm having similar issues. I just replaced the pickups on my Mexican Tele with American Alnico pickups. I also performed a 4-way switch modification. I ran a ground wire from the hood of the neck pickup to the volume knob but did not do this for the bridge pickup. The guitar sounds great now but it hums like crazy. If I touch the metal volume or tone knob with my finger the hum goes away. I am guessing this is a ground issue? Anyone know what this might be?

[bc68251]

I had HORRIBLE hum right out of the box on my '52 re-issue, and this is what I did to resolve it: I ran a single wire from every groundable component on the guitar (neck pickup ground, bridge pickup ground, the metal bridge itself, volume pot case, tone pot case, and finally - the source of actual ground - the input jack) and wire-nutted them together. I lined each pickup cavity with aluminum tape, and ran two wires from the aluminum tape to that same wire nut (used a wide flat head scree to cram the wire against the tape). Since there is only one source of ground (the wire nut location) there are no ground loops. It reduced the hum by about 80%, very noticeable. I suspect the amp and cables are the remaining issue.

[Stratmando]

Input jacks and cords should always be checked/replaced.