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Author
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Topic: single coil pick-up hum eliminator
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Jack Shrader Sr
Member From: Columbus In. U.S.A.
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posted 12 October 2006 12:16 PM
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I just got a new Mullen d-10 RP and it has single coil PU on it ..I have check my house wiring and it is ok . It don't make any difference where I set the amp in front at the side as for away as 10 ft. I know single coil pu are known for the hum. I want to know if the-EBTECH _-ZZound by Morley will work on a steel to stop the hum and if so will it change the tone.. any help will be appreciated. thanks Jack |
David Doggett
Member From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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posted 12 October 2006 02:06 PM
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The Ebtech Hum Eliminator will eliminate ground loop hum caused by multiple pieces of equipment in the signal path, but not single coil hum. There have been many posts on this problem in the past. There are some things in nearby wiring, such as fluorescent or neon lights, and stage-light dimmers, which will make the single-coil hum louder, but there is no real fix. EQ adjustments can make it less, but will also affect tone. It also helps to get the pickup as close to the strings as practical, about the width of a quarter. That maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio. Picking hard also helps, for the same reason. But the only complete solution is to get some kind of humbucker dual coil pickup.------------------
Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards |
Lee Baucum
Member From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) - The Final Frontier
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posted 12 October 2006 04:26 PM
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Jack - If you decide to change to humbucking pickups, the folks at Mullen recommend the George L Model 10-1 pickup. I just installed a 12-1 in my U-12 Mullen and am very happy with it. ------------------
Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande Mullen U-12, Excel 8-string Frypan, Evans FET-500, Fender Steel King |
Jack Shrader Sr
Member From: Columbus In. U.S.A.
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posted 12 October 2006 05:47 PM
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thanks David and Lee I don't have any fluorescent lighte but I do have a dimmer about 5 ft. from my amp,and 2 more in the next room I did not know they would cause the hum..I think I will just order the 10-1 for the E9th do I want the same one for theC6th neck.. thanks again Jack |
Delvin Morgan
Member From: Lindstrom, Minnesota, USA
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posted 12 October 2006 06:34 PM
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I have a 12-1 in my Williams, and it sounds teriffic. Of course the NV112 doesn't hurt either. |
David Doggett
Member From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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posted 12 October 2006 09:17 PM
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Jack, I don't know if the kinds of dimmers you find in homes causes a problem. It's the stage-light dimmers that several people on the Forum have blamed for pickup hum problems. For whatever reason, some locations have way more hum problems than others. When you get in one of those locations, sometimes just moving your guitar, or even turning it to a different angle helps a little. For best results in all locations, get a humbucker. |
Tony Prior
Member From: Charlotte NC
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posted 13 October 2006 01:18 AM
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Sadly, the real HUM eliminator for a Single Coil is a Humbucker...IF you are in a room with a dimmer, turn it all the way ON or all the way OFF and see if it helps.
Single Coils sound awesome ( can we all spell TELECASTER together)..but when it comes to zero noise..we must spell HUMBUCKER.
I spent a month dealing with this same issue in the clubs early this year...ended up removing the True Tones and going back to the GL's. When you end up spending all your time trying to get rid of HUM instead of practicing, it's time to cave and take the other road. ------------------
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TPrior
TPrior Steel Guitar Homesite
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Fred Bova
Member From: Montrose, California, USA
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posted 14 October 2006 12:15 AM
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There is another way, I have used this in Recording Studios when a guitar player has had problems using single coil pickups on a vintage guitar. You need to add a "Dummy" coil in parallel with the pickup, then turn this Dummy coil until the Hum cancels. You can add a trim pot in series with the Dummy coil to tweek it to get the best effect, but I have very seldom had to do this. I used to have one of these coils setup with a Y cable so a guitar player could plug his guitar into the the Y and we would tape the Dummy coil to the guitar or onto his Guitar strap, so that as he turned the Dummy coil turned on the same axis also. The volume control on the guitar could be tweeked slightly to get the best humbucking effect. I used a coil from an old junk box Gibson P-90 pickup. NOTE, NO Magnet, screws, or frame, just the coil.
The new "Noiseless" single coil pickups do this by Stacking the Dummy coil UNDER the Magnet. It gets the Hum, but not the signal from the strings, and is wired out of phase as to cancel the hum. Humbucking if you will. It does change the sound of the pickup slightly as the Dummy coil does affect the loading of the pickup, but it does get rid of the hum. Changing the Pickup Coil Tap will affect the humbucking balance of the Dummy coil also, so keep this in mind. You could retain the original sound of the pickup by adding the Dummy Coil AFTER a Matchbox style buffer. In fact, this would be the Ideal place to mount the Dummy coil, INSIDE a Matchbox style box. You could always place the Matchbox/Dummy Coil in the same place, on the same leg, and you could privide a small screwdriver "Hum Bal" trim on the box, to fine adjust for slight change in positioning. You could even have pre set switch settings for your diff pickup taps. I am going to build up a few Matchbox sytle pre's soon, and I will build one with a Dummy coil inside to see how well it works in the real world. Jon Surr Guitars now offers a pretty version of what I used to do for Strats. They make a retrofit Spring Cover Plate that has a Dummy coil built into it and trims to tweek Hum Bal. I have read that it works fairly well, as it is very close to the pickups, but it is a bit pricey. Anyway, I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out. |
Bob Martin
Member From: Madison Tn
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posted 15 October 2006 10:34 PM
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Hi Fred, that is very interesting information I had never heard about that method of cancelling hum in single coil pickups. I notice you did say that it did change the tone on the pu in some manner can you elaborate on that a little more? Does it make it so muddy that eq won't bring it back to the original single coil sound or does adding the treble just add back in the noise? Or does it make it some what fatter. I guess what I'm asking is that if I used that fix on my Tele in the studio can it be eq'd to get my original tele sound back? Of course it won't help me any if it changes the tone to a humbucker tone and I can't eq it out. Also can you get a web address of the pickup already made with the dummy load in it that you said was rather expensive? thanks.Bob |
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