Electrical question and interference puzzler.

[Silverlode]

In my basement studio I have canned lights in the ceilings on cheap dimmers that make my guitar buzz like hell. If I turn off every dimmer in the house it gets a LOT better, but it's still there.

When I face East or West, the guitar buzzes, when I face North or South it's greatly diminished or gone.

What's going on here?

[philbo]

It is likely that you have unshielded power wire in your ceiling, called Romex. This will radiate electromagnetic fields into your room that is picked up by your guitar pickups.

Dimmers are notorious noise makers.

Options, in no particular order:
0) Replace the dimmers with a special type, called a 'zero-crossing' dimmer. These generate MUCH less electromagnetic noise.
1) Shield the guitar wiring cavity with copper foil tape, connected to the guitar ground. (May help, and is certainly worth doing in any event)
2) If you have single-coil (like strat) pickups, the noise pickup will be worse. Consider adding wiring to your guitar that will connect 2 of the pickups out-of-phase, which creates a sort of humbucker setup. Or maybe switch to a guitar with humbuckers.
3) Try flipping off various circuit breakers one at a time while listening for the hum. You might be able to narrow it down to one or two circuits, and then either have an electrician verify the safety ground and neutral lines are properly terminated, and perhaps put metallic sheathing over these load circuits, or maybe just turn those breakers off while recording guitar.
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[Old-Draftsman]

Could it be a (crt) computer monitor?

I had that (buzz) noise trouble until I replaced my crt monitors. (with lcds)

[Ethan Winer]

> I have canned lights in the ceilings on cheap dimmers that make my guitar buzz like hell. If I turn off every dimmer in the house it gets a LOT better, but it's still there. <

See this:

www.ethanwiner.com/dimmers.html

> When I face East or West, the guitar buzzes, when I face North or South it's greatly diminished or gone. <

That's probably interference from a nearby TV set, computer monitor, flourescent light, or something similar. Or if you have nearby neighbors it might be something like that from them.

You: "Doctor, doctor, it buzzes when I face that way."
Doctor: "So don't face that way!"



--Ethan