installed evo pickup, now get bad hum

[apb1215]

i just installed an evolution bridge humbucker into my ibanez gsa60. installing pickups is completely new to me, but i'm pretty sure i wired it correctly. when i was all finished, i fired it up and tested it out, and the first thing i noticed was a horrible defeaning humming noise. once i turned the volume knob almost all the way down and lowered the gain on my amp, i was able to play with only a moderate hum, and i definitely noticed the improvement the pickup gave me. the stock pickups in the gsa60 are pretty bad, and the evolution sounds much thicker and louder.

i think the problem may just be my amp. i only have a small, 10-watt marshall practice amp. i was never able to get either of the single coil pickups (my guitar is S-S-H) to play without hum while using distortion, but i could with the humbucker. and now that i have the evolution, it should be louder and more powerful with more output, right? so perhaps my crappy amp just cannot handle the output of the new more powerful pickup.

does this sound like a problem with wiring or just an inadequate amp? could improper wiring cause a hum? can anyone give me some advice? thanks.

[sirbrandon101]

Is everything grounded?

[mi2tom]

I wonder.... I've heard quite a few people installing evos got humming

[j.arledge]

check your gounds , your chord and if your near an electrical source such as a computer monitor TV or any flourecent lighting .

the grounds are your most likely source for hum but it can be the others . remeber you need a ground from all the pots , the switch and the pickup , and have them running to a common ground with the bridge .

[apb1215]

my guitar is in my room, along with my tv and my computer, but it's on the other side of the room, and it was never a problem w/ the old pickup.

the ground is the most likely place i somehow messed up. the evo came with a red, white, green, black, and bare wire, while my old pickup had only red, white, and black. i directly replaced the red and the white, which went to two different connections on the 5-way switcher, and grounded the other three to the volume knob, where all the other cables are grounded to. the instruction manual said definitely the black and bare wires should be grounded but was vague about the green, it seems to be used for other configurations, and maybe instead of grounding it i should have just put tape over it...not sure...

[j.arledge]

ok that is what you did wrong . take the black wire and solder it to the white wire . Only the bare and green wires are grounded .

if you still have problems after wiring it up that way , shot me a PM .

[apb1215]

hey thanks, i wired it up the way you said, and the ridiculous hum is now gone. unfortunately it still hums, but it is now on the level of the two singles, which is probably just due to my amp, which i need to upgrade i guess.