Members elsupermanny14 Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 My main guitar is a MIM Strat loaded up with a George Lynch Screamin Demon humbucker in the bridge, and two Torres engineering "Rock" pickups in the neck and middle (which are pretty sick I might add!). As usual I don't get any hum with the bridge humbucker, or the 2nd and 4th position. But, the nick pickup and the middle pickup have hum. I'll admit the hum isn't anywhere near as bad as it used to be especially since the pickups have been copper shielded but I'd like to know if it's possible to get rid of the hum completely? I've read a lot about this and people often say that it's the nature of the beast when it comes to single coils but I also read an article on GuitarNuts.com that talks about shielding the entire body cavity and pickguard with aluminum. The article seems to claim that this along with some upgraded pots should make a completely quiet Strat regardless of the single coils/ I wanted to ask if anyone has any tips or information that would help me get rid of the hum in my Strat? I love the guitar, sound, and versatility and I'd like to be able to record with it and run my amps without getting any hum. I'd also like to ask if anyone knows about the article on GuitarNuts? If I were to buy new quality wiring (like StewMac) for example and shielded the hell out of the entire guitar would it finally be completely quiet? I wanna thank you guys for any replies ahead of time. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metalheadUK Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 I really do think it is the nature of the beast..if it was really a case of shielding then everyone would do it and noiseless pickup sales would plummet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members purple-haze Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 I don't understand the problem with a little hum :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeppelin Rules Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 Just turn the volume off on the guitar when you're not playing. Other than a noise suppression pedal there isn't really anything you can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members flyby Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 ..but a good shielding will help quite abit and the effects of are more noticeable w/SCs than HBs ..but there is no completely eliminate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rich Posted September 18, 2007 Members Share Posted September 18, 2007 I play singlecoils and turn the volume off when I'm not playing. Either way, a little hum is worth it for the tone I get from my strats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Harry-L Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 TAKE THE PAIN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zerimas Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 What about adding a dummy coil that is just RWRP to the pickup? Doesn't Suhr do something like this with a special back plate that picks up the "hum" but its 180 degrees out of phase with the "hum" that is being picked up by the pickups thus canceling it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Aging in Rhythm Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 My main guitar is a MIM Strat loaded up with a George Lynch Screamin Demon humbucker in the bridge, and two Torres engineering "Rock" pickups in the neck and middle (which are pretty sick I might add!). As usual I don't get any hum with the bridge humbucker, or the 2nd and 4th position. But, the nick pickup and the middle pickup have hum. I'll admit the hum isn't anywhere near as bad as it used to be especially since the pickups have been copper shielded but I'd like to know if it's possible to get rid of the hum completely?I've read a lot about this and people often say that it's the nature of the beast when it comes to single coils but I also read an article on GuitarNuts.com that talks about shielding the entire body cavity and pickguard with aluminum. The article seems to claim that this along with some upgraded pots should make a completely quiet Strat regardless of the single coils/ I wanted to ask if anyone has any tips or information that would help me get rid of the hum in my Strat? I love the guitar, sound, and versatility and I'd like to be able to record with it and run my amps without getting any hum. I'd also like to ask if anyone knows about the article on GuitarNuts? If I were to buy new quality wiring (like StewMac) for example and shielded the hell out of the entire guitar would it finally be completely quiet? I wanna thank you guys for any replies ahead of time. Thanks! Woah, you're from Burlingame? I live in Millbrae! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xStonr Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 Shield it and just accept that fact that those hot overwound p/u's will make some noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Procreatur Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 learn to love the humbucker pickup! or suffer through it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tone Deaf Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 You don't! Sonny, in my day, we hummed to school up hill both ways in the snow and rain, and we liked it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fine_Young_Fool Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 humbucker= bucks hum single coil= not humbucker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 What about adding a dummy coil that is just RWRP to the pickup? Doesn't Suhr do something like this with a special back plate that picks up the "hum" but its 180 degrees out of phase with the "hum" that is being picked up by the pickups thus canceling it out? Yeah, that backplate costs a buttload of cash too. Supposedly they work pretty well. I did try to do an external pickup out of phase thing like you suggested, but it didn't do anything. I imagine that if it worked there would have been little boxes for sale for years now to cancel hum. I just went through this and researched and shielded and all kinds of crap that didn't help. I did the Guitanuts thing and didn't notice a difference at all to be honest. But my hum is so bad that you could hear it while I was playing so I guess that I just had industrial strength hum. It had nothing to do with my gain as he stated on his website. I'd get a decent deflection on my preamp meter and it would be hum city; shielded or not. I ended up going with a set of Bill Lawrence pickups and am quite happy and 100% hum free now. There is some difference, but not as much as I was afraid of. The neck pickup sounds real similar (most important pickup for me), I still have the 2 and 4 positions sounding similar as well, but the 3 and the bridge pickups sound different, not sure if I am completely in love with the difference yet. I do think that the bridge has a more usable tone now. I never really used it before to begin with. The Fender SCN's are also supposed to sound really nice though at $199 they aren't the cheapest thing out there. I did post a link to a place that sells them for less in the Hot Deals thread the other day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members docjeffrey Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 How is the wiring? When I bought a Custom Shop Strat, I was concerned because there was very little shielding (period correct specs)--one tiny piece on the back of the pickguard. But that guitar is exceptionally quiet for having 3 SC's. The wiring is incredibly neat and cut perfectly to the proper length by John English (God rest his soul). I think that this goes a long way towards reducing hum. That seems to be true of amps too--neatly handwired amps are pretty quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members globalm Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 Maybe I'm just incredibly lucky but the part-o-casters I have made have all been hum-free, even with fairly hot singles. Two things I always do are shield the cavities with aluminium (or aluminum if you're in the USA) foil and twist the pickup leads together all the way down their run. So far - no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ballhawk Posted September 19, 2007 Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 I know about the article on guitarnuts. I've "quieted the beast" on many strats. Sometimes they become totally silent and sometimes not. Remember that the shielding does more than block 60 cycle hum. It also blocks other sources of interference that, in rare instance, even make humbuckers pick up noise. I think it's worth doing but there's no guarantee of 100% quiet. Another alternative is to buy noiseless single coils (which technically are not singles but stacked doubles) like the bill lawrence or gfs lil killer pups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elsupermanny14 Posted September 19, 2007 Author Members Share Posted September 19, 2007 I know about the article on guitarnuts. I've "quieted the beast" on many strats.Sometimes they become totally silent and sometimes not. Remember that the shielding does more than block 60 cycle hum. It also blocks other sources of interference that, in rare instance, even make humbuckers pick up noise. I think it's worth doing but there's no guarantee of 100% quiet.Another alternative is to buy noiseless single coils (which technically are not singles but stacked doubles) like the bill lawrence or gfs lil killer pups. Would you recommend shielding the body cavities with aluminum foil or using the hum canceling paint that stew mac offers on his website? As for the pickguard would you recommend aluminum or copper shielding? is there a difference in aluminum versus copper? Are there any other parts of the guitar that I need to shield as well? for example the area under the input jack plate? or the mounting area where the tremolo springs are at? Thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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