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Topic: Hum on steel pickup |
David Cook
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 2 May 2008 8:09 am |
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| I have a Shobud Maverick that I have converted to lap steel. The original pickup sounds great but it hums with my Twin. It has two wires from the pickup whereas my doubleneck Shobud has 3 wires and doesn't hum near as bad. Is there something I can do.? Thanks |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 4 May 2008 3:22 pm
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You can reduce hum be ensuring first that all environmental issues are under control; no dimmers, no fluorescent lights ( those new low-wattage "curly" bulbs cause all sorts of problems). amp not too close to steel, and check your power source to ensure 1) correct polarity, and 2) proper grounding; you can pick up a pocket circuit tester for $7 at Home Depot. Then make sure solder connections are tight and output jack is clean.
If all those things are OK, plug in the guitar, turn up the amp and tap on the pickup. If you get a fairly loud response the pickup is microphonic and a rewind (and potting in wax) may help quite a bit.
In my case, the environment and power source are fine but I have one very microphonic pickup (I have two on my Fender 400). I use a hum eliminator, which is your other option. All single-coil pickups are more susceptible to hum than humbuckers, but there are always ways of getting it to a workable level. Your other guitar either has a simply-wired humbucker or has an extra ground wire, which is another thing that sometimes helps...but would be beyond the scope of this post as it would involve connecting a ground wire to the output jack, changer and possibly other parts as well.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
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Posted 5 May 2008 4:54 am
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My lap steel pickup (single coil) also hums like crazy in my house, but not at our drummer's house. I've tried shielding the pickup cavity and pickguard and eliminating enviornmental issues -- no dice.
Here's why I mention it: when I flip the steel up to Spanish guitar position, the hum disappears. I tried this experiment with my P-90 equipped guitar - it's quiet in its normal playing position, but when I Lay it down lap steel-style, it hums. Seems like there is something about the way pickup coils are wound that make them more susceptible to hum when parallel to the floor.
The answer? Not sure -- either get a humbucker or work the volume knob when you aren't playing. Neither solution is ideal, but that's the nature of the beast, unless you want to experiment with a dummy coil.
_________________
Peter
---------
www.splinterville.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@splinterville6278/videos |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 5 May 2008 10:09 am
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You should try the things Jim suggests - hopefully that will take care of it. Eliminate all the things but the pickup itself.
But with that said - geometry can be a big issue in electromagnetic interference coupling. I can almost always reorient myself to get my single-coil Tele/Strat hum to a reasonable level, but not always so with a single coil PSG pickup.
On guitar, one doesn't have the full 3-dimensional degrees of freedom. But there is still quite a bit of freedom of movement, especially with an small electric like a Tele or Strat which can be tucked in close to the body and reoriented many different ways. On PSG, the vertical orientation is fixed. What's worse, on a small stage, I often have absolutely no flexibility about where and how to set up - we're squeezed in and there's only one place to put the steel. Unless I know it's gonna be OK, I just use one of my humbucker-equipped guitars - my preference right now is Lawrence or Tonealigner pickups. |
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