[WarriorOfMetal]

so here's the deal...

i have this USA B.C. Rich Gunslinger that sounds AMAZING, and has Joe Barden pickups in it. i noticed a couple days ago that the bridge pickup seemed to be microphonic...if you tapped on the body of the guitar, or on the pickup itself, it was quite loud, but i didn't notice it so much with the neck pickup.

today i plugged the guitar in again, and tapped on the body and pickup, on both the neck and bridge positions. i also blew on the pickups. every little bit of handling noise was evident, but when i tried speaking at the pickups, there was nothing. the strange thing is, i've never noticed any real squealing issues with this guitar when playing it live. i did re-wire it since the last time i played out with it, after i installed the neck pickup (it originally was a single-pickup guitar).

now here's where it really gets interesting....i tried the exact same test on my RG7620 with a DiMarzio Air Norton 7 and D-Sonic 7 in it, and had pretty much the same results....handling noise was quite audible, as was blowing on the pickups, but nothing when i talked into the pickups, and once again i've never noticed any squealing issues playing this guitar in high-volume situations.

so can pots or any electronic parts other than the pickups be microphonic? or is this just normal and nothing to worry about?

[JJ Rodriguez]

Well, it depends on the noise. When blowing on the pickups, are you muting the strings? You could be causing the strings to vibrate some which would make some noise. Try taking the strings off to do more testing. Also, make sure the guitar is shielded internally, you can get shielding paint or tape to put in the pickup/control cavities to make sure you're not getting any interferance.

[WarriorOfMetal]

yes, i'm muting the strings. the B.C. Rich is pretty well shielded...i would imagine the ibanez is as well.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by WarriorOfMetal

so here's the deal...

i have this USA B.C. Rich Gunslinger that sounds AMAZING, and has Joe Barden pickups in it. i noticed a couple days ago that the bridge pickup seemed to be microphonic...if you tapped on the body of the guitar, or on the pickup itself, it was quite loud, but i didn't notice it so much with the neck pickup.

today i plugged the guitar in again, and tapped on the body and pickup, on both the neck and bridge positions. i also blew on the pickups. every little bit of handling noise was evident, but when i tried speaking at the pickups, there was nothing. the strange thing is, i've never noticed any real squealing issues with this guitar when playing it live. i did re-wire it since the last time i played out with it, after i installed the neck pickup (it originally was a single-pickup guitar).

now here's where it really gets interesting....i tried the exact same test on my RG7620 with a DiMarzio Air Norton 7 and D-Sonic 7 in it, and had pretty much the same results....handling noise was quite audible, as was blowing on the pickups, but nothing when i talked into the pickups, and once again i've never noticed any squealing issues playing this guitar in high-volume situations.

so can pots or any electronic parts other than the pickups be microphonic? or is this just normal and nothing to worry about?

That's actually pretty normal - I can't tell you why, exactly, save that its probably vibrational in nature, but your pickups are fine.