Noisy Ric American Academy
Moderator: Brad Bechtel
- Brad Richard
- Posts: 278
- Joined: 3 Dec 2018 8:07 pm
- Location: Chisago City, Minnesota
Noisy Ric American Academy
I bought an American Academy recently and love it. Great sound EXCEPT it's a bit noisy. I'm sure it's a bad ground (if I touch the horseshoe pup it's quiet), but I'm not sure how to fix it and I don't want to screw it up. Can someone wise me up, please. Thanks!
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- Joined: 17 Dec 2020 10:20 am
- Location: Maryland, USA
Wiring diagram
Take the cover off and look for a loose or disconnected wire. Here’s a wiring diagram I used for my Model B
Here’s what mine looked like after redoing the wiring
Here’s what mine looked like after redoing the wiring
- Jack Hanson
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- Location: San Luis Valley, USA
- Brad Richard
- Posts: 278
- Joined: 3 Dec 2018 8:07 pm
- Location: Chisago City, Minnesota
- Rick Aiello
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- Location: Berryville, VA USA
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- Brad Richard
- Posts: 278
- Joined: 3 Dec 2018 8:07 pm
- Location: Chisago City, Minnesota
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- Posts: 20
- Joined: 17 Dec 2020 10:20 am
- Location: Maryland, USA
Grounding
These are all Bakelite, even the bridge. You cannot run ground to the bridge or tail piece as you would on a modern instrument. The wiring diagram (above) shows that the pots have a lug connected to the ground of the output jack, along with one of the wires from the pickup. It’s a very simple circuit and produces a very quiet result.
- Bill Sinclair
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- Rick Aiello
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- Location: Berryville, VA USA
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- Brad Richard
- Posts: 278
- Joined: 3 Dec 2018 8:07 pm
- Location: Chisago City, Minnesota
Thanks for all the help, guys. Gives me some good direction to get started. I'll fool around with it and see what I can do. Worst case is I just have a noisy steel (which I can live with). Maybe the easiest solution is to just keep my right hand butted up against the pup to ground it, but still be able to mute.
- Brad Richard
- Posts: 278
- Joined: 3 Dec 2018 8:07 pm
- Location: Chisago City, Minnesota
- Jack Hanson
- Posts: 5024
- Joined: 19 Jun 2012 3:42 pm
- Location: San Luis Valley, USA