| Author |
Topic: Prediction:Incandescent bulb ban will mean more double coils |
Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 6:46 am |
|
Ever played your guitar with single coil pickups in a room with fluorescent lighting? At my house, fluorescent lighting 2 floors away makes hum unbearable.
Our boys in DC have made incandescent bulbs illegal in the future in the U.S. you know.
I love having lawmakers lookin' out for little ol' me. 
(edited a couple of times for spelling)
Last edited by Brian McGaughey on 26 Feb 2011 8:35 am; edited 2 times in total |
|
|
 |
Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 8:26 am
|
|
I have never noticed a big difference in electrical interference because of the type of light bulb. Dimmers on the same circuit can be an issue. I'll bet if you experiment by switching an incandescent bulb with a low energy one you will find that there are no problems. Plus you will save money on your electric bill !
_________________
Bob |
|
|
|
Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 8:34 am
|
|
Hey Bob, I switched to all threaded fluorescents to save energy/money but the hum was unbearable at my house. It has all new proper wiring and no dimmers. I tried everything I knew but ended up changing back to incandescents. I had a high rate of failure with the threaded fluorescents, too. About 1 in 10 had to be returned to the store.
Just my experience. |
|
|
|
Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 8:46 am
|
|
| I don't have any problems with the new lamps or even florescent lights in my recording studio (PC with Sonar). My steel has Lawrence 710's which are hum buckers, but I've got a Tele with the stock single coil pickups and a P bass copy with single coils and neither have a problem with the lighting. |
|
|
|
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 9:36 am
|
|
Yeah, this is a real dumb one. The government decreed that we would all switch, and installed ever-increasing standards that should eventually wipe out regular old bulbs by 2014. And without thinking through it, they also set price limits for the manufacturers - who were then forced to take a design that worked really, really well and run it through an economic model that necessitated using the absolute cheapest materials and manufacturing plants - China, in other words, maybe even Happy Eric's prison factories. It's not a Dem/Rep, left/right thing it's a dumbass/smart thing....
I have found that they usually last OK if they're vertically hanging, but turn them on their side like in a swing-arm lamp, forget it. I would happily spend six times as much on a bulb that lasted ten times longer and used 1/4 the electricity, but this one's a bust. |
|
|
|
Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 9:56 am
|
|
I've got 16 of them twisty CFL suckers in my house. Got them actually in my garage door opener and outside lights too. I've lost one of them in over 2 years. Have no idea about the hum but I'll try a set in my music room in those 2 lamps right next to my studio and see if they are noisy. All of my lamps are GE brand. The Phillips we have at work don't last more than a few months and the no name ones sold at Lowe's have a very short life also. The incandescents will always be available for purchase even though they are outlawed! If you Google the CFL's you will find lots of technical discussion about their noise properties.
Greg |
|
|
|
Ron Davis
From:
Lake Arrowhead, California... We're a mile high. ;)
|
|
|
|
John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 11:11 am
|
|
| Call the haz mat team if you break one of those curlycue bulbs! I have regular florescent lighting in my kitchen, and it doesn't bother me. But when I go into a big store, with rows and rows of florescents, I get nervous, and agitated! Don't know why! Something to do with flickering that most people don't notice, I guess. |
|
|
|
Randy Wade
From:
Batesville, Arkansas, USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 1:14 pm
|
|
| The incandescent bulb is going away whether we like it or not. I was at Wal-Mart today and spent some time looking at alternatives and I am not satisfied with what I found. I do not like the look or the light from those curly fluorescents and there doesn't seem to be much other option at this time. They need to come out with an energy efficient bulb that has a beautiful appearance and quality light and if it had all that and lasted longer to boot I wouldn't mind paying more. You will never save enough from lighting to amount to diddley squat because the bulk of energy use in the home is the water heater, clothes drier, and heat and air system. Even if you had no lights at all it wouldn't reduce your bill much. |
|
|
|
Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 1:30 pm
|
|
And, I switched from incandescent bulbs to those curly flourescent bulbs in all my lamps, and didn't notice a drop in my electric bill at all. Not even a dollar.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting. |
|
|
|
Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 2:24 pm
|
|
Keep the discussion technical boys!
If you want to complain about the government you need to go to another site.
I don't want to lock this one. |
|
|
|
Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 2:40 pm
|
|
I did get a bit political in my last line of the OP, sorry Joey.
I do raise a serious technical point though. For me at my house, if I use the curly fluorescent bulbs anywhere in my house, I can't use a single coil in my guitar.
It looks like not everyone has that same problem. |
|
|
|
Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 2:46 pm
|
|
No problem, it's a good question.
I stopped using single coils long ago because there's just too many sources of hum causing gadgets.
Of course my Telecaster has single coils, but I can easily move 45 degrees to cancel it. |
|
|
|
CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 3:11 pm
|
|
| good golly Molly, was'nt it better when we just had a radio, a couple of light bulbs, a chicken coop & a Stella geetar ? |
|
|
|
Randy Reeves
From:
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 4:46 pm
|
|
| Randy Wade wrote: |
| The incandescent bulb is going away whether we like it or not. I was at Wal-Mart today and spent some time looking at alternatives and I am not satisfied with what I found. I do not like the look or the light from those curly fluorescents and there doesn't seem to be much other option at this time. They need to come out with an energy efficient bulb that has a beautiful appearance and quality light and if it had all that and lasted longer to boot I wouldn't mind paying more. You will never save enough from lighting to amount to diddley squat because the bulk of energy use in the home is the water heater, clothes drier, and heat and air system. Even if you had no lights at all it wouldn't reduce your bill much. |
it is important to understand color temperature when choosing the new floro lights. I know many friends that purchase lights that said Daylight, thinking how nice it would be to have that kind of light in our kitchen or bedroom....wrong. the color temperature of daylight is 5000Kelvin and up. it is a very blue in color. it is a cold color. harsh indoors. looking into their window from mine it looked like a surgical room next door.
lights in the 3000K range appear yellow and warm. 4200K is considered neutral.
look for these numbers on the packaging. warm colors are best in homes. higher numbers work for shops and garages.
Phillips is working on an LED lightbulb. there is a world wide contest/challenge to produce a lamp that will replace the most common lamp used. the 60watt incandescent (tungsten filament. the LED replacement will last more than ten year.
in my former life I was a lighting designer in an art museum. we looked into the cost savings with LEDs. in short, lots of money up front, but the quality of light LEDs can emit is getting really really good.
I am not positive but the newer florescents have less mercury in them. the old style blalasts that had PCBs are long gone. |
|
|
|
Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 5:11 pm
|
|
I have mostly 3200K bulbs and they look identical to incandescents. The Daylight bulbs are great for detailed inspections.
The new LED bulbs coming soon have the LED shining on a phosphor that re-emits the light in a very warm color temp range if so desired. The current LED bulbs are pretty horrible in terms of color, brightness and evenness of light.
Greg |
|
|
|
Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 5:52 pm
|
|
| I disagree. I switched all of my bulbs to 10000 hour life soft white flourecents. They are soft on the eye and I see no difference in comparison to incandesence. I think they are great. No hum detected and I use single coils. My electric bills are down 30%. |
|
|
|
b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
|
|
|
|
Mike Neer
From:
NJ
|
Posted 26 Feb 2011 7:36 pm
|
|
| b0b wrote: |
| Now if I can just keep my cell phone from making noises through my amp... |
You can...shut it off!
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
|
|
|
Don Sulesky
From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
|
Posted 27 Feb 2011 4:49 am
|
|
When I was working years ago I was getting headaches.
I was told it was because Fluorecent lights pulse at 30 times a second. I'm no electrical tech so I can't verify this number.
I also had to have my glasses have a pink tint and a refective coating on them which stopped the headaches.
Don
_________________
Private one on one lessons available
Member: FSGC, PSGA, TSGA
Co-founder: Florida Steel Guitar Club
"Steel guitar is like playing chess in the dark with three players". Jeff Newman quote from 1997 seminar |
|
|
|
Geoff Cline
From:
Southwest France
|
Posted 27 Feb 2011 9:06 am
|
|
2 words--Power Conditioner. My Furman is the best purchase ever...lots of bars with dirty power and WAY too many neons and/or fluorescents; power conditioner made the problems go away.
Long live single coil pickups!! |
|
|
|
Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
|
Posted 27 Feb 2011 12:10 pm
|
|
So, if this conversation is really about substitutes for incandescent lighting and the potential impact on single-coil pickups then somebody needs to bring up the fact that the curly flourescent lamps are NOT the wave of the future as LED lamps are already on the market that use far less electricity, are completely dimmable and can be adjusted for color temperature. At the moment they are not being made in quantities sufficient to bring the cost down but it is only a matter of time until virtually all lighting is provided by this means.
That being said, while there is a difference in electro-magnetic radiation between various lighting devices it is not simply an issue of incendescent versus non-incandescent and discussion of what to do and why is one of the longest-running topics here on the forum. Lots of good advice and some complete rubbish can be found by searching the archives here. |
|
|
|
Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
|
Posted 27 Feb 2011 2:43 pm
|
|
Since my original whining post I've poked around the net a bit and discovered a few things.
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) all have varing levels of electromagnetic radiation depending on the manufacturer. I assume that's why some of you have not had the trouble.
Dave, I wasn't so much looking for a solution to hum from EM radiation from lighting as I was making the prediction that more players would use humbuckers in the future due to EM radiation from CFLs. Your point that there is another choice besides CFLs or incandescents is well taken.
I may want to retract my prediction in light ( ) of the LED lighting you mentioned. Indeed it emits no EMR, no UV, uses no mercury, is more effecient than CFLs and is easier to spell than fluorescent. They're expensive now but like you say, as production levels go up prices will come down. Looks like they last 10 times as long as incandescent bulbs, too. |
|
|
|
Bob Hoffnar
From:
Austin, Tx
|
Posted 27 Feb 2011 3:18 pm
|
|
The LED lighting systems I have run into on stage are fantastic. They don't bake you like those old cannons, don't take up much of any room and I have not had any problems relating to power with them. Plus they can do some amazing things that were not possible before.
The days of stage lighting heating up the steel neck and screwing up the tuning are just about over. Thanks to the government encouraging research and development I predict a resurgence of metal neck Bigsby's and wrap around Emmons PPs !
_________________
Bob |
|
|
|
Brian McGaughey
From:
Orcas Island, WA USA
|
Posted 28 Feb 2011 6:46 am
|
|
| Bob Hoffnar wrote: |
| Thanks to the government encouraging research and development I predict a resurgence of metal neck Bigsby's and wrap around Emmons PPs ! |
TOUCHE!  |
|
|
|
