How do i lose hum without losing the single coils?

[ScienceOne]

Alright, Ive got an old strat with an original pickup in the neck position, a pickup from a 69 Hendrix model in teh middle, and a Dimarzio hot rails in the bridge. How do i keep all this freaking hum from showing up in my recordings? How do they do it professionally?? When its in the middle/bridge position there is no hum, but in all the other 4 positions there is a ton, especially in the neck position which is the one i use the most. Grounding, shielding, taping a wire to my stomach from the bridge??

 

[savageblues]

First of all, I dont know shiite...but from what I hear there are lots of potential sources. A lot may be related to the gain devices you are using. Thats where I have found most of my hum problems.

There are other sources like dimmers, flourescents, computers, recorders, that are difficult to tame. I doubt there is much you are going to be able to do about single coil hum unless you can position yourself away from 'stuff' to minimize it.

Borrow someones humbucker guitar and see if its any better...

In a professional studio I would surmise there is usually enough room for the guitarist to move freely about, and the room is relatively void.

As far as I recall my strat's cavity is not shielded. It has Lace Sensors. Need I say more? Proper shielding and wiring in your guitar MIGHT help, but in all likelihood its adequate already (did you put the pu's in?).

Good luck!

 

[jimistone]

i have had good luck recording a strat with single coils. i suggest that you put as much distance from the guitar to the amp (and recorder) as possible...this will cut some of the hum. after you have the distance turn the amp up so you can hear plenty of hum and while standing in one polace turn around in a complete circle while listening to the hum. you will find a position where the hum almost dissappears. usually you can swing 180 degrees and hit another silent spot.

once you find the sweet spot (humwise) you are left with the hum you will have to live with in this particular room. the hum is usually low enough that you can run through a noise gate and set the threshold just above the level of the hum and kill it...but not loose any of the guitars note decay

that (right or wrong) is how i record a strat with single coil pickups.

actually on those old vintage recordings that we all love so, the hum is part of the guitar sound. listen to hendrix and SRV recording and you will hear the hum.

 

[gbondo9]

ideas

-Everything everybody else said is a good place to start. Cables, distance, signal chain, effects, electryicity, amp (mine is notoriously bad at picking up the local pop station...but I think that might be a grounding issue), etc
-you can shield your electronics. Using copper (foil?) or I think they also make a copper spray. The idea is that it might be your wiring to/from the pickup that's picking up the noise. So you cover the inside of the guitar with copper.
-Stacked pickups. Single coil size/shape.


Hope this helps.
Todd

 

[GONZO-X]

http://www.billlawrence.com/

http://www.billlawrence.com/

 

[Clive Hugh]

The problem of hum with single coils is common and seems to be a manufacturing issue, it's cheaper not to shield, but now many of the manufacturers are starting to do so, it's fairly easy to do yourself, try this site:
wwwguitarnuts.com
They have a well written article on shielding that is easy to follow.
Alternately use a DI box, I have a Behringer DI 100 which removes the hum, it's amazing what it does.
I have an old bass that has been thru a building fire and the electronics got cooked, I replaced the pots etc but left the pickups.
But they too were cooked and the resultant hum made it impossible to record with.
The DI 100 removes it all and it is cheap.
Clive

 

[ScienceOne]

Well i was planning on sheilding cause i know that was part of it. I had already found the best way to stand in teh room to minimize noise (southeast), but i havent tried running through a DI before the amp, or using my gate. I have to be near the amp so i can get some feedback though. And i know regular 60 cycle hum, its bad, but this was much worse, i can live with SRV/hendrix levels of hum, but not with the raging tractor trailer rig hum i was getting when i went to my distorted channel. THanks a ton guys.!