Hi all,

I am just starting out. Was playing a loaned acoustic for sometime, and decided to buy a not-so-costly electric guitar pack from Behringer. I'd seen the reviews and they were mostly good, but there is a problem:

There is a humming sound when I plug the guitar into the amp (without the guitar plugged in - the amp sound is clean). The humming reduces a bit when i touch the strings or the tremolo, but doesnt go away. It is a rather cheap set and single coil pickup and so, I understand that there is probably going to be some humm, but it is really loud even at 5-6 master volume level.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I read at a few places that this may be a ground problem, if so, any tips on how to check and fix a ground problem?

Thanks a lot.

It's an earthing (ground) problem, generally guitars are earthed at the bridge, hence when you touch it, your fingers earth the instrument. So what are you putting through the AMP, is it an electro acoustic, or have you purchased a pic up, or something else. If the guitar came with the pack, send it back to the shop

Some guitars are not earthed in this way, so you would need to get a Luther to do it, I recently purchased an Archtop guitar which had the same problem, it cost me £40.00 which the supplier paid for, a Luther run an earth cable to the bridge, I still get a little hum, but it's quite normal, the more drive in the tone the louder the hum.

If it's not under warrenty and you have no money, the only thing you can do is to play with the eq/drive and find the frequency of the hum, but you may not like the guitar tone as a result of it.

EDIT* I assume this is what you purchased
http://www.sounds4uentertainment.co.uk/behringer-black-v-tone-guitar-pack-1571-p.asp

The guitar should be earthed, take it back to the shop you purchased it from

Hi Dennis,

Thanks for you reply, I thought I posted a reply, but I guess something went wrong.

Yes, it is that behringer guitar pack. Its not under warranty as I loaned it from a friend who doesnt need it anymore. I spoke to a local music store - and he said if I wanted I could try and open it up and see if the connections are fine.

As of now, the humm becomes a problem at med-high drive and with any distortion effects. Since I am only starting out now - I guess I will bear with a little noise and think abt opening it some time later (when I also hv money to buy a better one - in case I happen to break something).

Thanks a lot. (If you can share any experience with opening the guitar and it relative ease/difficulty for a newbie, let me know).

Just open it up and check the earth cable, if you go online you will be able to find a wireing diagram, I think the guitar is based on a fender stratocaster

Thanks Denis,

I guess I will just try and learn to play for a while.
I will try opening it up some free Sunday - and post the results.

Thanks a lot