Thanks so much. I have HSS and I think with the help you’ve laid out I just might be able to do this and make my wife and myself much happier. Everyone quit giving this poor man grief. He’s giving, literally, free info to help you get rid of hum and saving you $$$$. But, it’s your $$$$$ and your guitar. Thanks again
Thanks for the kind words and commenting. I get a lot of grief in various comments, People seem to be so entitled and arrogantly ignorant, and everyone is an authority. But I have been in business a loooong time. I have seen a lot of it. Unfortunately, society is generally worse these days......anyway.... You have a bigger job at hand with the HSS layout. Check the polarity of the middle pickup against the front. If they are the same that will help you. If not you will have to use a multi layer switch and possibly flip the hum-cancelling coil during switching. And the Hum-cancelling coil must be out of the circuit of the Humbucker. Good luck, and thanks again. and Merry Christmas!
I would've NEVER thought of that! As much as I like my Dimarzio Area '67's in my late 80's Fender American Standard Strat, I always thought there was something "missing", compared to the Fender CS '69 pickups that I previously had in there. Now, the Area pickups could be in doubt. Thank you for posting this! I'll give this a try down the road.
Thanks a lot!!! for this video! Why isn’t this more popular? I know Suhr uses a similar principle but I thought it was too complicated. Is there a way to get a wiring diagram? I would pay for it if possible. Please let me know. Thanks again!
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 I don't understand how this would be hum-cancelling for position 2 and 4. You guitar may of course not have a reversed-wound middel pickup but then you would have had "extra noise" in posiiton 2 and 4 before installing the dummy pickup. Arggghh ;-) I am missing something. How come you are able to achieve hum-cancelling in all 5 positions with just one dummy coil?
It only takes one coil to do the job. The guitar in question had all three pickup polarities the same. True vintage type. In positions 2 and 4 you have two coils the same polarity and the noise cancelling coil reverse polarity... this equals 66% hum-cancelling. In positions 1-3-5 it is roughly 100% hum-cancelling. You can also do this with reverse wound/reverse polarity middle pickups, but you would need a monster switch to connect the Hum canceling coil. Then the leads could be flipped to match whichever winding direction you needed. Hope that helps clear it up for you.
I am glad you enjoyed it. If you have not already, read through the comments. A lot of questions are answered there and a few pointers. Thanks for watching.
Love the tone I get from my standard strat with ‘54 custom shop pups. How much tone would I lose doing this? I know that’s perhaps very subjective. The noise does bother me at times though it is not consistent in the amount of noise.
Thanks for this, was very helpful. Most instructions online tell you to wire the dummy in series, that did not work for me. Once I wired in parallel, to ground and to common switch worked it worked great. Only thing that doesn’t cancel the hum fully is when I use my blender pot. I have a master tone and blender pot between neck and bridge pups. I also have RWRP middle so I put in a switch to kill the dummy coil. In position 1 and 5 with dummy on and not blending it’s very quiet, hum is cancelled. When I start to blend in either the neck or bridge I start to get some hum. I’m wondering if that is because of the two coils far apart both being active. Is there anything I can do? Change out the dummy for a higher resistance one ? Right now the dummy is slightly lower than the active pups.
Thanks for the very rare positive comment on this. I am short on time this morning, but I will get back to you very soon when I have time to devote to a proper reply.
After consideration, instead of a long detailed technical explanation here is the short version. With the hum-canceling coil connected to one pickup you are at nearly 100% hum cancelling. When you connect another identical pickup the percentage of hum cancelling goes to about 50%. Also the height of the dummy coil is not important it is not sensing the strings at all, as long as the magnets and polepieces have been removed. As for the blend pot, I have not had much luck with them, a switch seems more useful. Way back in the early 70's I rewired my strat (which only had a 3 pos switch at the time, and was designed for only one pickup at a time.) like a tele, with a volume pot for the middle pickup. I have found that with shielding etc. the guitars are very quiet. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for the response. So with the blender turned on I’m basically reducing the effectiveness of the dummy. Maybe I could add a 2nd dummy coil and re-wire so both neck and bridge have a dedicated dummy coil?
THANK YOU! Finally a few people get it. I have had to endure the armchair, tone police gear page pickers of the nit guys questioning a proven process. I have not gone into further detail just to avoid the comments from guys who probably spend less time playing than the do questioning everything in the guitar universe. Thanks again for watching and commenting.
1. Is it a pickup cover wrapped in copper foil or the upper and lower bobbin? 2. Is there a hot and ground wire connected to it or just the ground wire only?
Thank you! I have DiMarzio Humcanceling Pickups in my Strat right now, but I do have a set of real singlecoils lying around I took out because of the hum. I might have to try this! Liked and subbed :)
This has been very controversial. However, everyone I have done it for was pleased. Infact one guy said he can not stand to play a single coil guitar otherwise anymore. But opinions always vary. Thanks for checking out the channel.
One thing I don't understand is why you would shield the dummy coil. It seems like the purpose of this coil is to pick up noise, so wouldn't shielding it make it harder for it to do this?
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 My impression of how a dummy coil works is like this: While your guitar pickup is picking up signal and noise, the dummy coil only picks up noise. When you combine that at 180 degrees out-of-phase with your pickup, the noise will cancel out, leaving only the signal. So that's why it seems like you wouldn't want to shield the dummy coil.
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 I think it doesn't matter if the cover is there or not. If it's not there, both coils are picking up noise, and because of the way they are wound, they cancel out each other's noise. If the cover is there, each coil picks up less noise due to shielding, but the effect is the same: they cancel out each other's noise.
Hey Charlie!! Hope you’re well!! Where can I buy a coil cheap enough for the magnets to slide out… I’ve tried ordering $20 pickups on Amazon and they’re the ones you can’t slide the poles out……let me know!! Thanks for the video!
Hey Kevin, Check out this video, it will answer your question. Give me a call you know where to find me. I have taken a lot of grief over this concept, but it has been proven for decades and is still commonly used by some manufacturers. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-glsLYKc5HfQ.html
Wiring diagram would be better, surely? Are you saying that the "hot" lead of the dummy coil is attached to the output of the selector switch & set these to go to the input of the volume?
That is exactly what I said. Except that the hot and ground leads may have to be reversed to make it reverse wound. Depends on the hum cancelling pickup purchased. That works in this case with the pickups all the same polarity. If you have a reverse wound middle pickup then it would need to be wired differently. The variations are many, so each needs to be approached differently. The idea of the video was to show you the concept. Give you the tools to figure it out on your own for what ever situation you have. There is no one easy wiring diagram for this, and in this case it is pretty simple. A hum cancelling coil and 2 solder joints one at the output of the switch and one to ground.
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 thank you! In retrospect would you say that it would be better to have one dummy coil for each pick up? Would this affect the sound for better or for worse with the in between/quack positions? Is parallel definitely the way to go, NOT series…? Thanks again!
Multiple dummy coils are not necessary. If a reverse wound pickup is used in the middle position I would use a monster switch to flip the leads of the dummy coil when using the middle pickup alone. Tone is a very subjective matter and everything can affect it. Parallel vs series do sound different. If you have not read comments there are many questions answered. There are both positive and negative comments. There is so much controversy here it may as well been a Marshall video. Hope this helps.
Hi I’d like to try this in a Warmoth esquire type build. One very noisy bridge pickup, one volume. That’s it. Plenty of room in the control cavity. No switch. Just a 250k volume pot. So just wire hot to the output jack & ground to the volume pot?
No, wire the hot to the input of the volume pot and ground to the back of the pot. Make sure your polarity is correct and you should be golden. It would be really nice if you could fit it under the pickup. I also like to shield everything but opinions vary. Thanks for watching.
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 thanks! I’m gonna give it a try. The pickup is custom wound, Birdseye maple bobbin, matches the guitar & does sound great! Except the hum. Thanks for the info
It would be interesting to hear the overall effect of a dummy vs magnetized pup in the same configuration? I'm not sure how the tone police would react though..lol
This is actually the best solution. I don't like humbuckers I'm a big fan of single coils. Noise cancelling single coils are a weird amalgamation between a single and a humbucker so that's the worst option for me. But this is brilliant since there is no extra magnet it won't affect the tone.
A great idea and a great experience, but I don't know English well. Poorly understood, is the false coil connected in series to the output jack? Is only the shielding of this false coil connected to ground? Thanks!
Let me try to clear this up for you, and anyone else that may read this. Luckily English is also my second language, unfortunatelly Hillbilly is my first. The hum cancelling coil is connected in parallel from the output lug of the pickup selector switch that is connected to the volume potentiometer, to ground. The shielding is also connected to ground. Depending on the particular coil you are using connecting it one way will cancel the hum reversing the leads will induce hum. That part has to be done by trial and error. Thanks for watching.
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 I looked at the encyclopedia - Hillbilly is the language of the Highlanders! I thought everyone in America spoke English. :-) Thanks for your reply. Good luck from Siberia.
The cyclopedia does not take into consideration that "hillbilly" in our case referrs to the Mountain folk of the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern and Northeastern United States. In my personal case the state of West ( BY GOD ) Virginia. Mountain Folk, so I guess it is correct as well. Best wishes to you in Siberia. Thanks ya all!
thank you for sharing this information, I am going to test this out on my strat! as i was doing some research, some said to wire this in serial with the other pickup, and you mention to wire it in parallel, may I ask what's the difference in sound? or does it make a difference at all? thank you!
I do it in parallel because it is simpler and keeps the impedance similar to having two pickups on. You can wire it in series, sometimes I do depending on wiring configuration. Everything makes a difference in sound.
Hello,The hum only went away when I put the hot(white) to the ground and the ground (black) to the output on the switch. ...but....!!!! now my tone knobs are only working with the 5 way switch on 4 and 5.Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks..
Thank you for your quick response.Sorry about the tone knob problem.I kinda thought there was a wire that came off when I put the pick guard back on. When pushing the wires in to set the pick guard back on the ground for the back tone pot came off.It is a very small wire and I didn't notice it at first.Sorry for jumping the gun and not checking it first..As far as connecting the dummy pickup,I ended up removing the wire that connects to the output switch to the vol. pot tab. The only way the hum would go away is that I had to connect the white wire to the tone tab and the black to the switch. I did replace the middle reverse pickup with a bridge pickup I had laying around.
I have a set of 57/62 set on my strat. All pickups are the same meaning all have the same specs and polarity and wound. So there is no hum cancelling in ANY position. Will a Dummy coil help reduce the noise considerably?
Short answer is Yes. But.... I have considered taking this video down due to arguments over its usefulness. Another reason I have not been posting videos, because everyone has an opinion and is an expert on all subjects. It works, it has a couple drawbacks, well, because nothing is perfect. However, I have done this for years with a lot of happy owners. It is not a one size fits all magic bullet, and it takes a bit of knowledge to achieve the best results.
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 I understand. But I'd rather listen to people who actually applied what they learned like you. That is why I raised my question. I will see if it will help installing a dummy coil. The original pickup on my strat might do the trick.
You have to use an empty coil with no magnets or iron load. The plastic molded pickups Fender has used work well. You can slide the magnets out. That is exactly what Fender did in the Japanese made Strats in the early 80's. For some reason it was not accepted well.
Remove the from the molded plastic bobbins only. The magnets hold the bobbins together, and the magnet wire is wrapped directly around the magnets. Just in case you did not know.
I have read that I believe, Bill Lawrence had done many special wirings for Mr Hendrix, including one with another switch on the rear of the guitar that was moved by his body while playing. So it is quite possible. It could also be those old coiled cords, they roll off a lot of highs.
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 a couple of times i spoke to Bill Lawrence when i was a kid on the phone (he was back in Germany at the time) and one story i remember was that he told me that he also (wired all pickups in series once on one of Jimi's guitars ;)
Also BTW, your comment on Bill Lawrence disappeared when I approved it. Nice comment. The notorious Billy L. Made a lot of innovations in the pickup industry. Fortunately some of us were old enough to experience it while it was happening.
Sorry for asking, I was wondering can I do this on humbuckers? Cause for some reason, my HH pickups has noise, Thank you! Also what if the bridge of the strat is hotrails? Can I still use this method?
You should not have to do it for hubuckers, I am guessing you have a problem else where. Make sure the pickups are wired correctly in Humbucking mode, sometimes the wiring codes are wrong.
I did not have the time this morning to give you a proper answer so here we go. I have run into a lot of humbuckers wired improperly. I believe there is a video here about it. Sometimes the factories get the leads reversed or color coding of leads wrong. Also make sure all the shields on the cabling is grounded properly see that a lot too where some shields are not grounded at all. (many Gibsons) Also check the jack to make sure it is not wired backwards. I found the video just and example... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ivk3MEttwN8.html
Thank you for the advice, this really helps a lot, maybe its the shielding, because I only have copper shielding in the pick guard but not in the cavity and I think there is no wire connecting the ground in copper tape and pots. Thank you!!
I used a standard economy strat pickup. As I remember the DC resistance was around 6.5K Actually for the least tone cancellation you want the coils slightly unbalanced. Asymmetrical coils are very common these days in humbuckers as well. This is useful in cancelling hum but not highs. Thanks for watching.
@@guitarc.p.r.9675 There's a cheap FLEOR Alnico 5 Strat bridge pup on ebay at 6.2 K which may be suitable....I'm assuming the neck and middle pup's are a lower res than the bridge so hopefully the FLEOR will do the job...
If I'm about to install it on an HSS will it work? If it does not is there a way to install it in a different wiring configuration so it would work anyway?
Sure! you just have to wire it so that it only works with the single coils. You may need to use another switch unless your guitar has a master tone control.
Question about this: Does the coil have to be mounted directly behind the bridge PU in order to 100% work or can I place it anywhere else in the body cavity? TY
It can goanywhere. BTW you do not want 100% cancellation, that will also extremely cancel highs. I like to look at it as an asymmetrical wound humbucker.
I noticed that you or the previous owner have put in different Bridge Saddles than what normally comes with the strats now I had to do the same thing and it was a 75th Anniversary Edition unbelievable they put the cheapest darn Saddles that I've ever seen
I will make the test with only one pu (the neck) then i move foward. Thank you for the tip. I wish i knew that before i sold all the other american strat pickups. :))))
Man, I am super late to the game here but this really opened my eyes...thanks so much for the info: KUDOS. Question: so this will give you the same result as you switch across position1 (B-pup), 2 (B-M), 3 (M), 4 (M-N) & 5 (N)? Also, have you noticed any tone issues or drastic change of character from each pup due to adding this dummy coil?
Yes, It will cancel noise in all positions as long as all the pickups are the same polarity: no reverse wound middle pickup. As far as changing the tone well everything changes tone. I would worry less about this wiring, than I would old strings. Plus how can you tell about tone with the hum. If you are new here, and you own a strat I highly recommend also watching my "Fenderitis" video. Thanks for watching.
Yes but if you have reverse wound middle pickup you will have to flip the leads of the humcancelling coil to be used with it, and the humcancdlling coil should connect in the neck only and middle only positions only.
Because I already installed, I soldered on the second position of the switch, so on this position sounds fantastic with the bridge pickup, but in the 4 position sounds awful.
My strat is a Squier that came with humbucker, maybe the reverse wound is already done. So for the 4 position I have to make a bridge cable betwen 2 and 4 position right?
Yes, but you would need a different coil similar to the ones in the pickup. You would also need a monster switch to engage the coil in the proper positions. Most likely it would be easier to wire the humbuckers in parallel via switch. They then would be humbucking in parallel instead of single coil.
You can but it must be wired differently, and it gets complicated with magnet polarities etc. It has been discussed several times in the comments. Read through those and a lot of questions are answered.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, can't say it enough! Now I have to explain it to my tech. Brilliant at setting up a guitar but kind of a dummy with wiring. But since I'm even worse at that, let's hope he gets it 😄
Life is full of compromises. The trick here is no one rule applies to all, I unwind many of the coils a bit. Asymmetrical coils cancel less. Funny thing, most of you guys are dissing this idea, but many are also raving about the similar back plate etc systems. Bottom line is it works for my customers that want it. Especially the ones in studios. Thanks for watching and commenting.
