From: META000 <META@UNB.CA>
Subject: Re: 60 cycle single pickup hum
Organization: The University of New Brunswick
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 23:00:42 GMT

In article <13217@fennig> fennig@fennig (Kurt Fennig) writes:
>kew@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (steve.w.askew) writes:
>: In article <13199@fennig>, fennig@fennig (Kurt Fennig) writes:
>: > I just bought a '57 Fender Stratocaster reissue.  Naturally, it has 3 single
>: > coil pickups which produce a 60 cycle hum when the pickup's are individually
>: > selected.  Does anyone know any electronic wiring modifications to reduce the
>: > hum?
>: > Thanks- Kurt
>:
>:  If the guitar has a three way P.U. selector you can put the
>:  switch in between the detents and and get two pickups together.
>:  I thought all reissue Fender Strats came with a five way switch
>:  installed, and a three switch was included. Or visa versa? Fender
>:  may have discontinued this practice.
>:
>:  This problem has plagued Fender lovers from day 1. People have tried
>:  metal tape,extra ground wires. You can buy aftermarket single coil
>:  pickups from a number of suppliers that claim their pickups are
>:  not noisy. Fender sells several diff Lace Sensor pickup. The Lace
>:  work pretty well. The Lace has about 80% of that "Fender Single coil
>:  sound" and is very quiet.
>:
>:  I have two Strats. One is traditional single coil, one is Lace. I
>:  use the traditional for Blues/Rockabilly/Country. I use the Lace
>:  for Rock. In other words, the more dirt I use the more likely I am
>:  to use the Lace pickups. As far as tone, well I like the traditional
>:  single coil. Plus you cant get that real "Snarky" Strat sound with
>:  Lace Sensors.(see first paragragh). You can get two pickups together
>:  but the middle one is not reverse wound .
>:
>:
>:  Steve
>:  Doin That Blues ThAng!
>
>
>I talked to a guitarist/salesman/axeman at the local music shop over
>the weekend, and he said I could shield the cavity of my guitar with
>copper foil (which they sell for $11 with 1 sticky side) and then
>solder the copper edges together.  He said this would reduce above
>60% of the hum.
>The strat of mine has a 5-way switch but I prefer the kick-butt tone
>of the single coil pickups in 1-3-5 position.  I'm aware of the Lace
>pickups but I think if I was to modify the strat, I would lose that
>'SNARKY' tone you refer to...  Besides, the strat has vintage reissue
>pickups with the stagered pole pieces...
>I've got a Washburn 29 fret guitar, so I play most rock with it, but
>I sure get that 60 cycle hum if I add any amount of distortion to the
>Fender.
>Does anyone know of anyone who has tried copper foiling the guitar
>cavity to reduce the hum?
>
>Kurt
>"Please don't hurt me!"
>
>
>
>.
>.
1) If your pickups are sitting outside of the foil (which they
typically are), all the foil in the world won't eliminate hum,
although all that shielding will do a nice jobof keeping radio
stations away from the leads inside the guitar (so you still have
some very good reasons to use foil).  If you can't find foil, such
as that described above, most auto machine shops or auto partsplaces
will carry brass shim that substitutes nicely.  The 2 mil shim is
easily solderedtogether, bent into shape to fit cavities, and easily
cut with scissors.  Watch out for the edges though, they are SHARP!

2) Many electronics supply houses sell conductive paint which can
also be used to shield cavities and other places.  The stuff dries
pretty fast, but isn't that cheap.  It also stinks, and you can't
solder anything to it like you can with shim.  Still, you won't cut
yourself on it and it provides continuous shielding.

3) The mythology surrounding the humbucking settings on the 5-way
switch concerns those occasions in which the combination of the way
the centre and other pickups are wired (and magnetically oriented)
yields a combination that is exactly identical to a humbucker
configuration.  Peavey used this in their 3-pickup models for a
number of years (and may still do so).  You can wire the middle
pickup out of phase with the othersand get hum-rejection, but the
tone may be quite different than the usual tone.

4) The "snarky" sound is a combination of several factors such as
the location ofthe pickups and the actual tonal response of the
pickups, plus their phase relationship.  Bear in mind that the
snarky sound is a result of the particular combination of signal
levels too.  This suggests two things to dicker with to get maximum
snark.  i) adjust the pickup height.  Generally, raising the middle
pickup will give more bottom end, and lowering it will diminish the
bottom end.  ii) take out that useless extra tone control and
replace it with a separate volume control for the middle pickup.
I've had this in my guitar for a half-dozen years or so, and I love
it.  It allowsyou to balance out the pickups to get different kinds
of tones.  Highly recommended.

Mark