How players deal with humming strats??

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

I remember an interview with Chris Rea where he said that single coil hum has got worse over the years as there is more stuff around to interfere now in your average venue. He started playing with other guitars, at least some of the time, as a result.

'Chris Rea once said that the auditorium in the Kremlin is the best place in the world to play a Strat. Not a single hum, since the whole Kremlin IS a Faraday cage...'

wasn't really what I was looking for when I googled Mr Rea on this subject but interesting nonetheless. It may be that, from what @ICBM put, he was completely wrong about this and the Kremlin (did he really gig in the Kremlin?)was nice and quiet for other reasons.

Probably magnetically shielded as well, knowing the paranoia about listening devices in the Cold War. (And now, come to think of it…) The Russians wouldn't have found the cost of magnetic shielding an issue, if they did do it.

Being *inside* the Faraday cage along with whatever is producing the noise - mostly your own amps, PA equipment etc - doesn't help, anyway!

He is right that the single-coil noise problem has got a lot worse over the years - in particular, switch-mode power supplies and lighting dimmers (which produce buzzy-sounding interference but which is still magnetic in nature, just to confuse things) are now very common, when they weren't in the past.

ESBlonde

I suspect the home environment as a likely candidate for the cause. But sitting elsewhere might not be the best thing. I have foiled the inside of my strat but higher gain will always accent the signal noise, it's just easier to ignore it at (most) gig volumes.

Catthan

I'm sure I won't notice it at gigs, gain or no gain.

I never did in the past.

It's probably more that i got used to my silenced strat and any other bothers me at home.

The reason why home playing is so important at this stage is 'cause I'm transcribing parts for this new gig and I'm trying to match the tones as much as possible at home. So I'm trying to use the correct Pup switch position for each part, use the necessary amount of gain when it's called for etc. It's my way of "responsible" and thorough practicing (contrary to what I used to do in the past).

I am overthinking this and it bothers me less than it may seem from my writing. But I'm more curious than I am bothered tbh.

After all, it is what it is; SCs hum

OilCityPickups

Catthan said:

 ...After all, it is what it is; SCs hum

It's Leo's little tone pixies buzzing in pleasure! See, that makes it all better

xwolf5150

Having a noisegate immediately after the guitar will kill the hum but not the sustain. I was surprised at how subtle the pedal could be set. Love it.

ICBM

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Catthan said:

 ...After all, it is what it is; SCs hum

It's Leo's little tone pixies buzzing in pleasure! See, that makes it all better

I've said this before I know, but actually Leo was not a fan of hum. The Strat was the *last* guitar he designed (apart from one-pickup student models) with no form of on-board hum cancellation. This might come as a surprise to people who associate Fender with single coils, but in fact every Fender design from the 1957-version Precision Bass onwards had either split single pickups like the P-Bass, a pair of RWRP pickups, or outright humbuckers. Even the humble Duo-Sonic did.

OilCityPickups

ICBM said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Catthan said:

 ...After all, it is what it is; SCs hum

It's Leo's little tone pixies buzzing in pleasure! See, that makes it all better

I've said this before I know, but actually Leo was not a fan of hum. The Strat was the *last* guitar he designed (apart from one-pickup student models) with no form of on-board hum cancellation. This might come as a surprise to people who associate Fender with single coils, but in fact every Fender design from the 1957-version Precision Bass onwards had either split single pickups like the P-Bass, a pair of RWRP pickups, or outright humbuckers. Even the humble Duo-Sonic did.

Change the record geezer ... bout the tenth time you've said it to my reckoning
I believe there was a degree of paranoia in Fender's management that resulted in avoiding telling anyone they were hum cancelling ... lest Gibson would come and punt their butts ... is the oft quoted reason.
To be fair most modern Strat pickups are RWRP ... however you have to like the quack ... and I'm not a fan in my own playing.

ICBM

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Change the record geezer ... bout the tenth time you've said it to my reckoning

Third I think .

But not everyone reads everything I write…

I agree about the Gibson patent thing might be a reason - although it didn't seem to stop Gretsch and Guild - but it may just have been that from a marketing point of view it set them apart. Anyway, you can easily get the hum back if you want it on any of the RWRP models… just turn one pickup off .

For what it's worth I also dislike the 'quack', but I find it acceptable if the hum is a really big problem - which usually means I'm using enough gain that the 'quack' isn't very audible… not with the tone control rolled down a bit, anyway.

OilCityPickups

ICBM said:

But not everyone reads everything I write…

Bloody well should do .... nail their hands to their heads!

Don't forget Gretsch/Ray Butts had already patented a humbucker design before Gibson ... so I wouldn't be surprised they cocked two fingers at Gibson ... Leo was still a relative new kid on the block.

I occasionally use neck/middle with lots of gain (and a Tubescreamer) if I'm in a particularly noisy environment ... the mid boost of the TS helps take some of the 'cheese' out of the sound

koneguitarist

ICBM said:

I just ignore it. I actually like a bit - it's part of the character of the guitar, and unless it's really extreme it doesn't bother me. A RWRP middle pickup will give you two hum-free settings on the guitar, at least - I find that's enough even in the worst cases… it's not always (or even usually) the sound I want but it will do if there's just too much noise.

Copper foil won't really help with the hum. It will help with some buzz-type noise, but not single-coil hum pickup.

Exactly what I think, never really had a problem with guitar hum, but once had a huge problem with a bass. Turned out it was picking up interference from a cigarette machine. My tele was fine so was other guitarists strat.

ICBM

The big problem with basses is that you can't roll off the bottom end EQ or notch out the hum frequency like you can with guitar (or it simply not being in the natural frequency response of the guitar amp to some extent), because it's right in the sounding range of the instrument - between G and G# on the bottom string.

Luckily almost all basses have onboard hum cancellation of some sort - about the only professional quality one which doesn't is the Rickenbacker 4001/4003. Guess what I play . (And also the Fender '51 P-Bass reissue.) This was a real problem when I played a gig once where the house bass amp was on the same side of the stage as the PA power amp racks - I assume they put it there (and the guitar amps on the other side) exactly because most basses don't pick up hum! I converted my bass to RWRP straight afterwards. I now have a different one fitted with humbuckers.

ToneControl

remember the inverse square law?

In this case it means if you stand twice as far from some noise source (like a PC, phone, amp, etc). you get 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.25 as much noise

I think this is why my new large practice room has less hum, and why stages are easy. Near a PC and all the USB gear is a nightmare for single coils

thermionic

I can hear my Apple wireless mouse through my guitar, especially when I play it through a desktop Vox Tonelab. Hold it near the pickups and it's unmistakable. See also: TV remote controls (I assume that is due to the switched infra red LEDs).

In fact, I may make some recordings of various types of hum and buzz for further discussion...

Kebabkid

Hi T, what about something like the "Bukka Switch" that features on the Vintage Thomas Blug guitar? There's a push/push tone control and a dummy coil involved and from TB's online demos, it seems to work.

http://www.jhs.co.uk/reviews/PickupSept09_V6MRTBG.pdf

ChrisMusic

Thanks for that @Kebabkid, a simple and elegant solution, easily switched in or bypassed if you don't want it, and automatically switched out with the RWRP middle in use.  It sounds like there is a treble cut involved in his implementation, which is easy enough to modify to whatever you want.

I wonder how exact placement of the dummy affects hum cancelling or string pickup, and hence tone?

As I think has already been mentioned, there are so many potential and variable interference sources nowadays, from the local cab company (RFI) to venue lighting etc , that having the ability to "tame the beast" from careful screening to something like the "bukka switch" seems pretty sensible to me.

edit:  P.S. Good post @ToneControl.

t1000

check out this site http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

did wonders for my strat and pretty easy to do

I used aluminium tape cause im cheap worked well though.

57Deluxe

what are they humming?

Phil_aka_Pip

I had some horrible bass hum last weekend. Caused by, as it turned out, me putting the DI box on top of the amplifier instead of to the side of it. I think the mains transformer must have been just under the DI box. Doh!