True tone pick up noise

Nick Waugh · From: United Kingdom

Hi All

I replaced my George L's pick up with a True tone 3 months ago. The tone is much warmer and rounder, which is what I was hoping for. however, the noise is unworkable. In the studio engineers tell me the it is unworkable and have to roll off most of the bass and middle to reduce the loud hum. The reason went for the true tone is because so many of you recommend them. I have tried everything to reduce the hum. I had an electrician check it with a meter and said that it is not an earth problem, but due to the powerful magnets contained in the pick up. has anyone got any ideas on how I reduce the hum, as I really don't want to go back to using the George L's unless I have to.

Best wishes

Nick

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Yeah, it is a single coil...
Fluorescent lights or lights with dimmers nearby? Shut them off.

Power transformer on a pole just outside, or other dirty power source nearby?
Try moving the steel, and turning it - sometimes you can find a spot where the hum is cancelled.

I finally dumped the Trutone and went to a Telonics, single coil presence in a humbucker...and nice full, crisp low end.
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George Macdonald · From: Vancouver Island BC Canada

The True tone in my Carter 12 string has NO HUM, unless I use a Black Box with it. I can use either a Sarno Freeloader, or a Goodrich Matchbox with no problem. At home I use two MB200 amp heads into two cabs, still no hum with volume pedal all the way to the floor. My friend has a 12 string Carter with a True tone and his has no hum either. I also have Telonics humbuckers I can use.

Dustin Rigsby · From: Parts Unknown, Ohio

+1 on the Telonics
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Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Trutones are generally fine....unless they are not....
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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

AlumiTone pickups are double coil with a single coil sound.

David Higginbotham · From: Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA

I would suggest try an Emmons S/C and you will have all of the tone with an acceptable amount of hum. That has been my experience.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

What kinda volume pedal? I had a stereo Goodrich that introduced hum. Engineers complained, and I'd switch to my ancient Shobud pedal. Hum gone.

Dick Wood · From: Springtown Texas, USA

I loved my true tone pickups at home but the hum was loader than the notes at numerous clubs I worked around the D/FW area so I had to yank it out.
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Nick Waugh · From: United Kingdom

Thanks guys for you contributions. It looks like I am going to have to stick the George L's back for a while until I can afford to try out a Telonics or Alumitone pick up. It's difficult in the UK, as these things cost more and you can't try before you buy.

David Nugent · From: Gum Spring, Va.

Just a thought! If you have not already done so, you may want to check the clearance between the strings and pickup. The width of two U.S. quarters (or the equivalent)is a good starting point.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

That would be 3.5 mm
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More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Ian Rae · From: Redditch, England

Thanks for the translation, Lane. We have no idea how thick a quarter is. What is it in inches btw? - some of us are old enough to remember those.
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Homebuilt keyless U12 7x5, Excel keyless U12 8x8, Williams keyless U12 7x8, Telonics rack and 15" cabs

Larry Bressington · From: Nebraska

Despite of What Brand it is, if it's a single coil it's most likely going to buzz... I just went back to George l for the same reason, I can't stand the buzz and studios are loaded with noise.
A Georgie can be sweetened up with all the juices, it's in your Eq styling... Use a 10pence piece for string height.
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Dan Beller-McKenna · From: Durham, New Hampshire, USA

I have Truetones in all three of my steels. Generally not any problems, but I have run into a few rooms where something sets the hum going like crazy. (As does the humidifier in my study now that I moved it to the same side of the room as my steel; it gets turned off while I'm playing.) Last year i Picked up an Electroharmonix hum debugger and it works amazingly well. It has a permanent place in my pac-a-seat.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Two quarters comes to about â…›" (a seventh, if you want more precision, but not a measurement found on my rulers)
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

the problem with single coils is that they are..well single coils.

There is no sense in comparing different brands or different Steels which have SC's...If a room is bad, it's bad...IF someone says they have an axe with no hum the only reference is to bring THAT axe with the SC on it to the same room.Now lets see what happens.

Sadly I had True Tones on a newly acquired Carter and had to remove them as one of our monthly gigs the Steel was unplayable. I did the next best thing that weekend, I dragged my Emmons with SC's on it to the gig the following night ( 2 nighter) Now I had two Steels that were unusable.

My previous working Steels had HBuckers on them,so back I went.

I did have a long conversation with Jerry Wallace about this and his opinion was to do just that,put H Buckers on the Steel as there are some rooms that just won't cooperate.Some are better than others and a few are way worse than others. The good news is most rooms that have some power issues do not render the Steel with SC's useless. I have only run into ONE, ever..but it was ONE that won the war !
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David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Round these parts, there's still a strong pioneer "can-do" kind of spirit of rugged individualism - meaning probably 3/4 of the bar owners wired their own dives, and more often than not just pretended they didn't. Which is O.K. with the inspectors, because more often than not they and the owners were poaching possum together and "dating"* each other's sisters in high school.

Hint: When adding up the characteristics which make for the good, safe, hum-free kinds of commercial wiring jobs, "rugged individualism" is kinda knocking around the lower part of the list. Fortunately, guitars that hum have been obsolete for 40 years or so (Alembic? dummy coils... Bill Lawrence - separate coils from different pickups matched to "buck" hum, the Gibson L6S?)

However, just because poorly-designed, noisy inferior guitars are obsolete, doesn't seem to mean their pesky owners will go away. Everybody's just waiting for the deaf old geezers to die off, then everything will be perfect.**

Clyde Mattocks · From: Kinston, North Carolina, USA

An Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger will save you in these situations I don't leave home without mine. It will introduce a slight random chorus-like effect in the higher notes, but is way better than the hum.
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