Puzzled...Guitar Hum

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:43 am

I've managed to set up strat style guitars to be very quiet in the past.

Shielded cable with close cropped shielding between pickups and switches/pots... shield the interior cavity...extra wire between bridge and earth to ensure strings run to earth. This thing even has grounded copper foil around the pickup coils.... a negative for tone.

I've checked this mo fo with a meter and everything shows continuity. The amp is dead quiet. Turn the guitar down and the amp doesn't hum or hiss. So my cable and main ground must be good.

But even with strings off, with a mesh shield placed over the pickups and grounded at the bridge, the guitar is noisy as hell. I turn off the lights, the monitor ....no change. I'm totally at a loss. Any suggestions to try?

It's not aliens....I'm sure. There's got to be a practical solution.....I didn't want humbuckers .....Grrrrrrrrrr

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Mikka on 2005-04-12 07:27 ]</font>

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:03 am

I know, plenty has been posted on this topic. Hendrix etc Maybe I'll just have to try stacking some single coils wired humbucking.........and grumble. Humbuckers probably are the solution until I move to a quiter part of the universe.

Post by **garyb** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:17 pm

seymour duncan makes a "stacked strat" pickup which is humbucking and sounds reasonably like a single coil....

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:55 pm

Thanks Gary...

pseudojazzer · Post by **pseudojazzer** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 5:30 am

sounds like you've done everything properly - the only other thing would be to re-solder the electrics? its a hassle and i'm sorry i can't think of anything else - but if you are gonna get new pickups check out kent armstrong cool rails and/or hot rails - humbuckers the size of single coils with great sounds and no need for any routing!
hope that is in someway useful.
cheers
tom

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 5:44 am

Thanks Tom. I never really liked rails. Maybe it's my playing style. Plus it's just occured to me that these Duncan Designed pickups are probably high output.....over strong magnets. They're picking up everything. I'll bet with low output pickups my problem would be much less.

Others seem to have similar probs in bedroom studios. Mine is probably worse because of some local industry.

I went through my local guitar repairers pickup junk bin. There are a few odds and sods....stacked coils etc In typical fashion I'll probably piss off everybody around me by seeking bargains, then go wind my own.

Onwards and cheers

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Mikka on 2005-04-13 07:11 ]</font>