slimchance
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
|
Post by slimchance on Jan 2, 2006 15:20:57 GMT -5
Hey Gang- New here. Great forum. You guys really know your stuff. I feel like I've wandered into a strange country with its own language, so you'll forgive my ignorance. I need help diagnosing a noisy pickup configuration. I'll admit I haven't followed all the rules, but I just can't believe how noisy this guitar has gotten with a simple PUP swap.
I have a Squier Strat that I've been trying to upgrade piece by piece. I've swapped a number of PUPs in and out of this thing without too much trouble, but this time I have a problem with noise and I can't determine the issue. First, let me say that I'm not trying to create a noiseless guitar. I haven't bothered to get a reverse polarity array, because I've never had RP in there and it hasn't been terribly noisy, so it hasn't really been an issue for me... I don't have a lot to spend, so I just use the parts I can get my hands on.
Anyway, StewMac overwound Golden Age HB at the bridge, with a Duncan Performer Snarks in the middle and a mystery PUP at the neck. The Duncan is the new PUP. It is the same polarity as the neck PUP. The HB is split to combine an RP coil with the Duncan PUP. So this guitar is noisy in all five switch positions, even the HB alone and the split HB RP coil with the Duncan, where we should have hum-cancelling.
At first I thought I had a bad ground hum, because the noise was noticably abated when I touched the bridge or the output jack, but I went in and cleaned up the ground circuit and resoldered everything. Just as noisy as ever!!! I just can't figure out how this guitar got so much noisier with this new PUP. The one I took out was the same polarity as its replacement, so I didn't expect this problem. The Duncan is "hot", where the old PUP wasn't. Is it possible that the introduction of a hotter PUP has introduced this much more noise? Any insights will be greatly appreciated.
By the way, I understand that I really should select my PUPs with more care, but I just don't have the cash to go PUP shopping and I'm trying to make do with what I have. thanks.
|
|
|
Post by Mini-Strat_Maine on Jan 2, 2006 16:39:15 GMT -5
Welcome to GN. The place to start might be to ask how much shielding the Squier has, either stock or that you've added, and if you have a star ground in it, or maybe still a ground loop of some kind. (See .) You could also run the checklists on the page for your whole system and for your Strat. That should start narrowing it down. -- Doug C.
|
|
slimchance
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
|
Post by slimchance on Jan 2, 2006 18:09:34 GMT -5
Doug- Thanks for the input. I checked out the troubleshooting tips at GN that you supplied. There are a couple of possible fixes there that I will try. I'm just mystified by the increase in noise with this new PUP. All grounding and sheilding issues would have been present prior to this installation, so they don't seem likely to have caused the new noise factor. All I can think is that the hotter PUP is somehow aggravating grounding/shielding inadequacies that were already there, but simply not as bad with the lower output PUP.
Where are you in Maine? I was born in Bath, lived in Bangor (Old Town) as a teen. Miss me some fried clams!!!!
|
|
|
Post by Mini-Strat_Maine on Jan 2, 2006 19:21:34 GMT -5
All I can think is that the hotter PUP is somehow aggravating grounding/shielding inadequacies that were already there, but simply not as bad with the lower output PUP. I wouldn't be surprised, but I'll let some of the other guys chime in on that. Yeah, we've got those. I'm on the Midcoast. I spent from mid-April to October commuting to Bath last year, when my employer needed somebody on kinda short notice. It was a little over twenty miles from home, so it wasn't bad. Got to know my way around the "City of Ships" a little better.
|
|
slimchance
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
|
Post by slimchance on Jan 16, 2006 15:37:38 GMT -5
'84 SQUIER STRAT FINALLY PROPERLY WIRED- UPDATE- So I got another single-coil PUP, a stock Mexican Standard Strat neck PUP, donated by the guitar player in my band, who just upgraded his PUPs and had these to spare. This new PUP was the right polarity for hum-cancelling, so I slapped it in the neck position. I also bothered to swap leads on the humbucker to put it in phase with the middle PUP, and then had to swap leads on the new neck PUP, too, to put it in phase with the Duncan PUP in the middle. I did no additional shielding. At long last, after 15 years of tearing this guitar apart and half-baking these various mystery PUP configurations, I have this thing sounding great!!! I couldn't believe my ears. In the end, it was just good old fashioned 60 cycle hum, from the incompatible polarities and the hotter output.
Okay, thanks for listening.....Now for some fried clams....
Slim
|
|
|
Post by Mini-Strat_Maine on Jan 16, 2006 16:25:29 GMT -5
'84 SQUIER STRAT FINALLY PROPERLY WIRED- UPDATE- At long last, after 15 years of tearing this guitar apart and half-baking these various mystery PUP configurations, I have this thing sounding great!!! I couldn't believe my ears. In the end, it was just good old fashioned 60 cycle hum, from the incompatible polarities and the hotter output. Okay, thanks for listening.....Now for some fried clams.... Yaaaaaay! Cool! Take yourself out for a congratulatory lunch. Glad to hear that it's finally up to your standards. Well done.
|
|
|
Post by UnklMickey on Jan 17, 2006 12:04:47 GMT -5
...So I got another single-coil PUP, a stock Mexican Standard Strat neck PUP, donated by the guitar player in my band, who just upgraded his PUPs and had these to spare. ... Does anyone have a bridge pickup for a Mexican Srat?I gouged the coil on mine . and need one if anyone has one.Thanks maybe you guys should get together? unk
|
|