Viper Line buzz question

kentrookie Posted 2025-11-14 2:58 PM (#561222) Subject: Viper Line buzz question Joined: December 2008 Posts: 253 Location: Seattle Yikes Both my Viper (2 pickup) guitars are having substantial line Buzz. Not a volumn pot scratch noise but a hum that is variable with the volume knobs. Sounds like grounding but I can not ID externally where it might be. Is this common? Are there known fix's for +/- 50 year old Ovation Electric 1271's. S# E11339 & E17549 Edited by kentrookie 2025-11-14 2:59 PM numbfingers Posted 2025-11-23 12:49 PM (#561231 - in reply to #561222) Subject: Re: Viper Line buzz question Joined: January 2006 Posts: 1130 Location: NW Washington State I haven't played my Viper lately, but I think its single coil pickups are a little noisier than Strat single coils. Did the hum just appear on both of your Vipers, or has it always been there? A set of humbuckers from a Preacher or UKII will fit if you can find them, but changes the sound. Gibson sized mini humbuckers are a little smaller than the Ovation pickups- you could make an adapter to use the three existing holes in the pickguard. I think I shielded the pickup cavity on mine with copper foil, but that won't stop 60 hz hum picked up by the single coils. You might check with a meter to make sure the chrome surround on the pickups is grounded. There's probably a ground wire on the backplate of the pickups to take care of that. -Steve W. Edited by numbfingers 2025-11-23 12:53 PM