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I have a very small hum, it's not that audible but it's there and if I crank up the volume it's there and very annoying. The funny part is this: if I put any flesh part of myself on the cord going from the guitar to the audio interface or touch the audio interface with my foot the hum goes away.

Right now I'm playing with one foot on the metal casing of the audio interface but I'm pretty sure I don't have to do that, but I don't really understand what the hum is coming from or how to get rid of it...

EDIT

Okay, after some digging around I figured out what it was, and it had to do with the wiring inside my acoustic guitar. As soon as I touch any of these parts inside the guitar this hum goes away but while fiddling around inside the guitar I managed to do something at least, temporarily. Because the hum went away and I played for a couple of minutes but then it came back.

I've ruled out noise from other source there's definitely something going on with the pickup so If anyone with some expertise on the subject cares to weigh in, I'm all ears.

It's an Guild acoustic guitar with steel strings using a Fishman acoustic guitar pickup.

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Sound like either a noisy cable or a grounding issue.. Is your interface grounded properly at the mains?

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  • I've had the issue with several different types of cables, grounding issue, don't know. How do I ground my audio interface properly? There's nothing funky going on, it's an Audio Kontrol 1 interface from Native Instruments connected through USB.
    – John Leidegren
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 10:34
  • OK. I just checked that the interface is powered by USB.. Are you using a laptop or a desktop? If you're using a laptop, check if running it from just battery (plugging out the power cord) helps..
    – notthetup
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 11:14
  • Connected to the backpanel of a desktop computer. We use CEE 7/7 plugs where I live, I can flip these, basically, pull out the chord, rotate 180 degrees and plug back into socket. You think that will help?
    – John Leidegren
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 11:38
  • I've done some more digging, it's only my acousting guitar that has this hum, and it has an internal microphone that produces this hum when set to max, although everything is silent. I can always eliminate the hum simply by putting any fleshy part of myself against any conducting material along the way. This is why it's so freaking annoying. I should have to do something like that. I don't have to be in contact with anything else as well. It' enough if I just put a finger on the metal casing without touching anything else and the hum goes away.
    – John Leidegren
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 11:52
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    Whatever fiddling you did was probably undone by the vibrations of playing the guitar. The trick now is to find the right fiddly bit and make it permanent.
    – horatio
    Commented May 24, 2011 at 15:17

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