bucking the buzz - bud single coil

Ray Carlton · From: Victoria, Australia

i have an early maverick and when the vol pedal is fully depressed i got a reasonably annoying hum -

i shield my single coil guitars but looking at that big bud single i cant see a way of doing it - i have already earthed the pickup to the bridge its still there -

thanks in advance

J Fletcher · From: London,Ont,Canada

Hi Ray
Sounds like typical single coil hum, from your description. Are the pickup leads shielded?...Jerry

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Your pickup is likely microphonic. During this hum--pedal down, if you can hear mechnical noise and tap on the legs and hear it through the amp, your pickup is becoming microphonic. Sheild away, it will do you no good until you rewind your pickup. Many people blame it on being a "single coil". It's not because its a "single coil". Many of these single coils are quiet as a dead church mouse, and some do just fine even in a studio situation.

I must have a pair of bad single coils--darned things won't hum. Evil Twisted

J Fletcher · From: London,Ont,Canada

James, my experience is that single coils hum more than humbuckers, and that is probably why humbuckers were invented. My E66 humbucker doesn't hum nearly as much as my Emmons single coils,and the single coils in the tapped position don't hum as much as the full coil position. Some situations, locations are worse than others. Studios should be quieter than stages, as they aren't dealing with hum inducing lighting boards,and whatever else is dirtying up the AC, and generating fields. Studios should be designed to minimize or eliminate any stray hum inducing fields.
I'm far from an expert, but the fact that so many pickup designers make humbucking pickups, as well as single coil,tells me something...Jerry

Ulric Utsi-Åhlin · From: Sweden

A guitar pickin´ friend of a guitar pickin´ friend(!)
of mine has a no-worries attitude t´wards PU hum in
live situations,he says: "...it´s not MY problem,
it´s for the mixer guy to fix..."McUtsi

James Morehead · From: Prague, Oklahoma, USA - R.I.P.

Hey Mr. Fletcher, I appreciate your comments and experience. I'm just saying that any pickup can become microphonic, and a properly wound single coil should not give him the symptons he describes.

I don't feel it's "typical" as you mentioned just because it's a single coil. I think single coils get a bad rap. I play at the typical "critter clubs" with my freshly rewound singlecoils in my '70 Professional, and they are always quiet. But I do not use any effects pedals and wall-warts. I go from my guitar to my shobud volume pot pedal(Allen Bradley 500K pot) to my Fender twin or Fender Vibrosonic which are recently rebuilt and dead quiet.

Now if I were to use a noisey amp and I used a few stomp boxes and wall warts and such, a humbucker will help keep your guitar from contributing to any issues. But so will a properly maintained single coil. A humbucker will be a little better, as they are designed toward that issue. How much better? That's for you to decide. I like the sweetness of the singlecoil and the crispness and string seperation.

Last night I decided to take my Boss RV-3 to add a little delay. It sounded great, but a couple hours later, I got a weird hum creeping into my sound. Sure enough, the led lite was flickering as the battery was almost dead. I removed it from my signal path, and my sound was back to perfect clean.

Humbuckers are great pickups, and singlecoils are too.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

I've played single-coil guitars since I bought my first Miller in about 1969. I've never experienced a "hum" problem. Must be that my brain waves are humbucking! And, the way I set my amp, I never push the pedal to the metal, even for long sustain situations.

Paul Sutherland · From: Placerville, California

My 1983 Emmons has the original single coils. It does not have any noticable hum, even when the Telecaster right next to me on stage has major hum problem. One place the band plays regularly there are many neon signs surrounding the stage. The Tele buzzes like crazy and my steel in silent. I've never had a problem with the pick-ups on my Emmons. We did some recording last summer and the studio engineer never complained about my steel humming. I just hope it lasts.

Forum Index > Electronics		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: