The Steel Guitar Forum

I am on a limited budget and wanted to learn some lap steel so I ordered the 8 string SX. It has a very low/slight hum. I did not want to send it back and I can take it to a repair shop but has anyone here fixed a problem like this? If so, how?

Everything else about it seems fine for the money

All Single coils hum when your hands aren't on them.

Solution:
http://www.ehx.com/products/hum-debugger

hmmm played a strat for years with texas specials in it , never had hum. But you are correct .thank you for the tip and help

Doug Henderson wrote:hmmm played a strat for years with texas specials in it , never had hum. But you are correct .thank you for the tip and help

Yeah some players ground it to their bridge to reduce the hum.

Or simply place your palm to reduce the hum.

I prefer the Hum debugger pedal. It is perfect for single coil hum. Tried one out at a gig and will definitely get one soon. Makes everything sound like a pristine album recording.

I could be wrong and I don't know anything about Texas Specials but I think the middle pickup on a stat is reverse wound from the outside pickups, giving it a humbucking effect. That's not to say there isn't something wrong with your SX. Does it quiet down some when you touch the strings? If not, you may want to make sure the bridge is grounded.

I've got one of those EHX hum debuggers that Stefan suggested and it works well in the normal position. I don't generally use it except on quiet gigs or if the house has neon signs that they won't let you unplug.

no palming it does nothing but if i get to playing out or extra funds I may try the de-Hummer. Ummm how do I make sure the bridge is grounded?

Take a piece of wire and touch one end to the jack cover or the case of one of the pots and touch the other end to the bridge and see if that stops the
hum. If it does, then you now what you have to do.

Harry

In some cases, unshielded wiring can cause a hum too. I recently had a pickup whose wires were too short, so I added a small piece of wire to the hot lead. Hummed like crazy until I realized the problem and changed it to all shielded wire.

I just bought one of these. In the control cavity there was a lot of excess unshielded wire and of course no shielding for the cavity itself. I haven't fully checked on the quality of the bridge ground, although there is definitely a ground wire coming from the bridge. I think a rewiring job with shielded wires and maybe some copper tape should yield an improvement. Basically there is a pretty bad buzz when you aren't touching the guitar, but its otherwise mostly fine while playing.

Brad Davis wrote:I just bought one of these. In the control cavity there was a lot of excess unshielded wire and of course no shielding for the cavity itself. I haven't fully checked on the quality of the bridge ground, although there is definitely a ground wire coming from the bridge. I think a rewiring job with shielded wires and maybe some copper tape should yield an improvement. Basically there is a pretty bad buzz when you aren't touching the guitar, but its otherwise mostly fine while playing.

Mine didn't have that problem. ALl I did was raise the pickup.