I'm at the end of my duo sonic build project.
I have shielded the cavity extensively with copper and made sure it connects with the shielding and components on the scratch plate. There is a grounding wire going through a worm hole where it rests underneath the metal bridge.
The neck pick up is reverse wound.
So it should be nice and quiet, right?
The thing is, its very noisy. More than what i would consider 'acceptable guitar noise'. Its actually noisier than my other duo sonic which has no shielding inside at all.
but interestingly, when i select the middle position (both pick ups on) its lovely and quiet.
Can anyone help me with this? any suggestions at all would be appreciated.
thank you
Sorry to hear about your noise issue... unfortunately, I doubt there will be a great deal you can do about it.
Firstly, you are right, the reverse winding on the pickup should make it dead quiet.... but only when it is working on a switch position with BOTH pickups on.. so yours is doing exactly what it should do there.
Secondly, its a 60 cycle hum... and its there to stay unfortunately. Shielding and correct earth should quieten it down a notch... but the hum will always be there, its the nature of the beast.
It shouldnt be louder than any other guitar. (providing you have the exact same pickups installed on both, if your new pickup is more powerful, that could be your issue).
You can get noise cancelling single coils these days, they have a backwound coil that acts sort of like a humbucker. I havent heard them myself, but the theory is fine... problem is, you will lose some of your "single coil" sound.
There is a chance that its something in the wiring... unsolder your active wire...and wire the pickup directly to the output...see if that makes the sound better or worse. If its better, you may have a bad grounding somewhere.. If its worse.. you may just have a noisy pickup.
i just seen this now......
if it's 60Hz hum there is many devices in the market that can solve the problem like
http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-HD400-2-Channel-Hum-Destroyer/dp/B000KUD2G4
i did not try it but you can read the reviews about it
