The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi All,

I'm just beginning my steel journey after 40 years as a 6-stringer. I acquired a used Discovery to learn on, and while the tone of the Mullen single coil is gorgeous, the hum in my house is ridiculous. I tried everything that I could think of (moving the guitar around, checking ground of pickup connection, trying a ground lift on the amp, turning off every light in the house) and I think it's just a noisy house. I get noise on my single coil 6-strings too, but not as loud as the steel of course because that magnet is huge. Basically, I'm resigned to getting a humbucker.

I contacted Mullen about the BL710, which they give as an option on the website for the Discovery when ordered new, but they said that they don't stock because they aren't popular.

I'm looking for a recommendation for a nice warm, but articulate sound. I don't know how else to describe it. I think that the stock single coil is perfect other than the noise.

All the best,

Josh

My dear, late, friend Stu loved Steeltronics Z pickups in pretty much everything. They are single coil but for reasons that Scott Swartz could explain but I can't, they are considerably more hum resistant than standard SC's.
This is the Discovery that I had just installed a Z in for him, as I had on his Mullen G2. He passed away before he got to play it.

Full disclosure: I switched from a Telonics humbucker in my Williams to a Steeltronics Z and I loved it. But it was not as totally hum canceling as the Telonics and it did not react quite the same with some of my noisier FX boxes. I ended up going back to the HB.

Big fan of the modern Lawrence 705 in my Royal precision. If you have a more contemporary Mullen, you can get one from Mullen with a quick disconnect for easy install

I was just rehearsing last night with the band going through my 65 black face Deluxe tilted back and low to the ground, and really digging how full and clear the tone was

If you get a humbucker Lawrence/Wilde 710 with a split for a single coil you have the option of using the single coil if the environment allows.

Hi Joshua, I changed the Mullen single coil pickup{can't stand hum either, lol} in my Discovery to BL 705 and love it. The single coil sounded good although I sometimes found the high end thin & the midrange{lows} chunky{grainy}. To my ears, the humbucker is more balanced. I've also done a few sessions with it with no complaints.

Been happy with the L710 I put in mine.

Thank you all for the input! I'll reach back to Mullen and ask them for their take on the 705 vs 710. It sounds like they both would fill the bill!