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Humbucker & Single Coil

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(@jamminejohn)
Eminent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 28
Topic starter  

Do guitars that have a humbucker and a single coil in them hum a lot when both are on ?
I'm interested in a Bluesboy type Tele and am concerned about hum.
I'd like to do a Tele with a P90 & a Humbucker.

JJ


   
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(@dogbite)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 6348
 

not to confuse, pickups do not necessarily generate hum. it certain conditions, yes. but consider other sources of hum pollution. the electronic environment you play in; florescent lights, dimmers, etc. and some effect gizmos generate hum.
I had a Tele Custom. humbucker/single coil . I never had noise problems. well, only in one place. in my room with the light dimmers set halfway. I could hear a buzz coming from the amp. but at rehearsals and gigs it was all good.
another source is grounding (earthing). notice when you lay your hands across the strings everything is quiet?

you shouldn't have to worry to the point of not getting the guitar you want.
every issue can be dealt with.
hope this helps

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=644552
http://www.soundclick.com/couleerockinvaders


   
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(@ricochet)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 7833
 

Fluorescent lights are big hum inducers.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."


   
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(@gnease)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5038
 

first of all, P90 + humbucker is one of my fave combos on a guitar, and I've converted a couple guitars to exactly that pup config. (not that it means much to you :wink: ). your susceptibility to hum will depend upon the interference conditions around your guitar, as the guys above have noted above. others things that factor include the amount of gain you use in playing and style. if you are a metal player, you will more likely use high gain and every little bit of picked up noise and interference will be exaggerated (amplified) greatly. if you are a clean or only slightly distorted player, the hum and noise picked up is less likely to be noticed. as you are looking at a Bluesboy guitar (G&L maybe? -- v good guitars), I'm assuming high gain is probably not your thing, and so the P90 shouldn't cause much in the way of issues ... but you may notice some hum in a reasonably quiet room when either the P90 is on alone or combined with the "full" humbucker -- all normal. when playing with others, I've rarely been too bothered by hum from my SC guitars, even though it is there. during playing, it's masked. when we stop, I simply roll down the volume on the guitar or volume pedal.

(FWIW: rules of thumb for hummingness: odd number of coils activated = more susceptibility to hum; even number of coils in the correct config may be hum canceling if coils are reverse-wound with respect to each other - reversing the magnet won't affect hum rejection, but does affect signal phase => timbre. humbucker = two coils)

-=tension & release=-


   
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(@jamminejohn)
Eminent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 28
Topic starter  

I play Tele's.
Country,blues,RnR,pop. Tweed amps.Analog Delay,Phasor,OD. Used sparingly.

My "other" guitars are a "little" Tele with slightly overwound vintage pups,RWRP,4 way.
G&L ASAT Classic Custom.Big ,slightly overwound MFD,RWRP, & Tele size MFD(hot),4 way.
Logan Tele with SD Vintage P90,RWRP, in neck & SD Broadcaster in Bridge.

My guitars hum cancel in the middle position.
I've never had a guitar with a humbucker & a single coil in it.
I want to put a Seth Lover in the neck & a Vintage P90 in the bridge.
When they are both on they will not fully cancel hum.

I've heard that the hum is less than what it is with just the single coil on.
If that's true then I can live with that.

JJ


   
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(@gnease)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5038
 

I've heard that the hum is less than what it is with just the single coil on.
If that's true then I can live with that.

not necessarily true. depends upon the relative pup impedances. if the humbucker loads the SC enough to lower it's output level (volume), then both the signal and hum from the P90 will be lowered, by the same amount. that might seem like less hum. but there is no cancellation as when a Tele bridge and neck are both on (and designed to cancel).

-=tension & release=-


   
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(@jamminejohn)
Eminent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 28
Topic starter  

The hummer,a SD Seth Lover is 7.2k & the sc,a SD vintage P90 soapbar is 8.22k.

JJ


   
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(@jamminejohn)
Eminent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 28
Topic starter  

Pulled the trigger yesterday.
I went with a Seth Lover in the neck & a P-Rail in the vintage bridge.
I'm going to use the parallel humbucker in it and the P90.
The parallel humbucker is the combination of the single coil rail & the actual P90.
Unballanced,with complex tones.
I'm jazzed !

JJ


   
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(@gnease)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5038
 

good choice! been thinking about ordering a P-rail for one of mine. let us know how it works out.

BTW -- the resistance specs provided with most pups only hint at their overall impedance characteristics, which also will include parasitic capacitance and inductance, all as a function of frequency. the inductances at 60 Hz (50 Hz) and 120 Hz (100 Hz) are a good part of "the rest of the impedance story" for powerline and trad linear power supply (transformer) magnetic field susceptibility. there is a correlation with resistance, but it's not close enough to make good predictions. so typically we go the empirical route ...

-=tension & release=-


   
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(@aleholder)
Trusted Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 52
 

My "other" guitars are a "little" Tele with slightly overwound vintage pups...

Forgive my ignorance but what is a "little" Tele? Is it physically smaller or another brand?


   
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(@jamminejohn)
Eminent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 28
Topic starter  

My "other" guitars are a "little" Tele with slightly overwound vintage pups...

Forgive my ignorance but what is a "little" Tele? Is it physically smaller or another brand?

Yes,it is physically smaller http://www.usacustomguitars.com/dst.html

JJ


   
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(@aleholder)
Trusted Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 52
 

Yes,it is physically smaller http://www.usacustomguitars.com/dst.html

Wow. That's awesome. I love Tele's. :D I don't play mine as much as I should, but I still love it.
Thanks for answering.


   
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(@corbind)
Noble Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 1735
 

Fluorescent lights are big hum inducers.

+1 on that. Man, that sounds horrible when it occurs. :cry:

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."


   
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(@hyperborea)
Prominent Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 827
 

good choice! been thinking about ordering a P-rail for one of mine. let us know how it works out.

I put a pair of cream p-rails in my lemon drop top Les Paul clone. They sound good with the humbucker and P-90 tones being pretty convincing and the single coil sound less so though still a decent sound. Installation was mostly easy though I had two issues with them. First, the mounting "ears" on the pickups stuck out wider than the "ears" on the SD pickups that were originally in the guitar (SH-1n and SH-4) and the P-Rails were rubbing the side of the pickup cavity. I took a rotary tool and trimmed ~1/16" from each side. Also, the wire on the neck P-Rail was just a smidgen short - it hooked up fine but there wasn't as much slack as I would have liked and was there with the existing pickups.

I used this SD wiring diagram as the starting point. I modified it to invert the pickup selection so that the base setting (both switches down) is the parallel setting (supposedly more PAF-like). I also used push-push pots rather than push-pull - those are much easier to operate especially with the bell knobs.

I have both the pot and 3-way switch cavities fully shielded and in HB mode there is zero noise even near the computer. With both pickups on in single coil mode there is a little noise and with one pickup in single coil mode there is a little more noise but still pretty low. I might shield the pickup cavity to cut some of that (paint them and run a single ground wire to the shield ground point in the pot cavity).

Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson


   
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(@jamminejohn)
Eminent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 28
Topic starter  

Very cool !

I'm doin' a tele with a Seth Lover neck pup & a P-Rail.
#1-Seth
2-Seth & parallel humbucker
3-Seth & P-90
4-P-90
5-series humbucker

JJ


   
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