The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey, Members

New guy on the forum, got deteriorating pickup hum condition ...that wont quit, on my Fender Artist S-10 (student), increasingly more microphonic, as I gig. Almost to the point where I cant play it, and its my only steel. Need tech with a solution or replacement.

Here's my adventure thus far:
Bench test tested good.
Tried the old string to ground trick (in and out of the guitar). No Luck
checked solder points Good no breaks or cracks I can see. Hmmm...
Talked to Jerry at True Tone not a Sho bud style pickup so no replacement will not fit and cannot rewind. Bummer...
Chatted with Billy and Wanda at Cooper Guitar Shop,where I purchased it, recommended George L pickup replacement wont fit.
Maybe a re potting will help? I'm not so sure. They only ran a production of the Artist series for a short period, making it more oddly difficult. I'd re wind it myself but don't have access to one.
Any help or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Or is Time for an upgrade?

Going with what you said, it seems the PUP is indeed faulty.

Now , on the other side of the coin is this, sure there may not be an exact fit replacement but that should not deter you from installing a new pup. You may have to drill a couple of new holes and re-mount the replacement pup but it can be done, I know this 1st hand with an Artist S10. You should be able to mount pretty much any 10 string pup to the Steel, but do go with one that is the same format, wide mount ( tabs on the sides) or standard mount, screws thru the pup.


But before you do, if you have the ability to grab a pup, any pup, even an old electric guitar pup. Hold it OVER the strings ( upside down) approx 1/8 inch from the strings just ahead of the installed PUP, plug it into an amp and see if it hums , make sure it is silent . Then "quick wire " it to the where the stock PUP is wired and check it again for hum in the same manner. Prove that the hum is coming from the PUP and not some other crazy source.

good luck !

t

Thanks Tony for responding.
Much appreciated!

I've done that test, and also un-soldered the PUP and reconnected the PUP assembly outside the guitar and plugged it directly to the amp. Also trying different cables and amps for good measure still humm. It typically behaves like what any single coil dose when you move it around, like on a fender strat in the rhythm, lead or middle selector position switch. Certain positions hum slightly but when you find the sweet spot they don't, or when your really close to the amp (like up against the speaker baffle) it creates signal interference, or like sharing the same power on a circuit that a neon bar light is. All experiences I been through
The steels humm is constant and slightly less when your angled or distanced from the amp. I also went through all of the potentialities of power interference in my pedal chain. I also use a Goodrich 400 optical light volume pedal, thought it was that at 1st but, its totally silent with any other instrument. I even checked the steels input jack ring for any cracks or deterioration under a high powered lens that might possibly cause a bad connection humm. Like most sho bud steels (like mine) they tend to get the foam pad block eventually to reduce mechanical undercarriage noise, due to the PUP microphonic gain overtime. After all this variable run down, Ive concluded the PUP is bad.
I guess i'm ready for replacement recommendations or a bobbin PUP rewind.

Think I'd replace pu with a GL humbucker, replace the jack with a new one and router the pu slot where it fits on the neck. Stew-Mac has the jacks and a used pu can easily be found on the forum. Good luck buddy.

As a last ditch effort anyone able to rewind the stock PUP? I'd like to keep the guitar single coil before I take a router to the PUP seat. :/

Jerry Wallace (Truetone pickups) will sometimes rewind Sho-Bud pickups (doesn't the Fender Artist have Bud pickups?), and sometimes he doesn't.
Jason Lollar does, but he's pricier.
You HAVE eliminated cables as a cause, right?

Yes, Lane thanks
Been up and down the troubleshooting list.
Jerry said he couldn't help due to the pickup sizing. Fender Artist is all sho bud except the pickup. Which gives it a unique sound, I've heard it referred as 'kinda like a telecaster on a steel guitar sound'. Also the string spacing on the Fender Artist is tighter then a sho bud. So I'm sure that also plays into the problem as well.

I think my plan will ultimately be..(if PUP can been fixed with a rewind) Posting it for sale. Then go for a sho bud super pro. That's all i'd ever need. My Artist is a student so its only 3x1 basic. Really limits my chord index.

Check with Jerry Sentell in Sacramento. He can in all likelihood rewind your pickup:

http://sentellpickups.net/rewind.html

Awesome Jack!
Thanks,
just emailed them. Lollar and Lindy Fralin.

Hopefully I can get this done.

Also check with Jerry Sentell at Sentell pickups. he's done Fender and Rick steel pickups for me. Super fast, less expensive and stellar work.

Thanks Jack & Jim !
Just got in touch with Jerry @ Sentell Pickups, very quick to respond and to offer a solution. Sending PUP out tomorrow. Keep you all in the loop when I get it

Really appreciate the response from S.G.F community on this post.

Thanks from the new guy.

Responce from Sentell Pickups,

Said the pickup is rewound (just a small hole was made to fix it) and ready to go. They told me the output (was) or is 11.2k basically a Gibson firebird equivalent. FYI For you Fender Artist Series owners.

Pickup installed, and replaced the output jack with some gold sounds great
I have a lot more volume then before, and much brighter.
When I played my amps I always had to go past 6 on the knob to keep up with stage volume. On the Roland jazz chorus I've been playing currently, I was on 3 at the studio and was plenty loud.

Noticed its a lot more even sounding overall on the strings then before. I felt like before it was less uniformed.
NO more FEEDBACK either. Which happened before when I really had to crank up the amp.

MOST OF ALL..its QUIET
Much thanks to Jerry Sentell!!