pick up making

[gae77]

hi guys,
i'm a new one
i'd like to ask your help for a problem. i'm a luthier, but i've always bought factory pick ups,now, it's been a few time i'm trying to do my own. i've bought everything to do it and i have to say that i really like the sound of picks i've made in these months, but in some condition such a not well shielded stages, near recording equipments i have problems of hum expecially with active electronic( expecially the high frequencies).
now i'm going to list what i use in case you might understand the problems:
alnico5 poles
bakelite base plates
enamell wire (grade b to resist to the heat of waxing process of150°F)
wax is 80% paraffine and 20% bees wax
i use an old frying machine to wax the picks and keep them in until all boubbles have come out (about 10 minutes) i also use a heating contol machine kept not to go over 150°F
the entire cavities are shielded (both picks and contol cavities).
now havin said all that, whydo bartolini picks do any noise and my that little that makes me go maaaaaaad!!!!

 

[gae77]

does anybody can tell me why i go mad with the hum by using the following stuff to do my picks????!!!!
alnico5 poles
enamell copper wire (grade 2 insulation for heat resisance)
bakelite plates
i use a old frying machine to wax (80%paraffin 20% bees wax)the picks
temperature NEVER goes over 150° F!!
guitar is shielded in any cavity
the problem comes out by playing on not well shielded stages,near neon lights and near recording equipment such as p.c.(portable ones)

thanks folks

 

[gae77]

pick ups making

hi,
does someone can help me in eliminating the noise in my picks?
i use the following stuff to make them:
alnico5 poles
enamell copper wire(grade 2 insulation)
bakelite chassis
stewmac winding machine
an old frying machine for wax potting with temperature check (150°F)
wax is 80% paraffin 20% bees wax(kept in untill boubbles stop coming out)
guitar is shielded everywhere
they really soud great, but i have problems when i play in not well grounded stages,near neon lights and near recording equipment expecially portable pc
thanks.

 

[unclejed613]

are you making them single coil or humbuckers? humbuckers have a lot better noise immunity. there are 2 different ways to make humbuckers, individual coil pickups (2 coils per string) or the usual wide coil types (2 coils mounted parallel spanning all of the strings). the signal coil and the cancellation coil are wired out of phase, so that only near-field variations (i.e. string movement) are picked up. all other sources of noise are cancelled. single coil pickups whether of the individual (all of the coils are wired in series) or wide coil type have no way of cancelling external magnetic interference.

 

[gae77]

hi,
i'm making both singles and humbuckers.
i like a big sounding pick so the humbuckers are always in series,for the poles you should imagine two jazz bass wired together( each string having two poles for each bobin)
i know sigles are usually noisy, look at the seymour duncan for jazz bass, they ain't that bad!
i always make a wood cover(i just tell in case it might effect the noise).
and what else...i hope to come to a solution!
thanks,bye

 

[poopydoopynoopy]

another option I am currently trying out:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212443

I have all the stuff to wind, just no time so I am going this direction for now...

paul

 

[Terry Demol]

hi,
does someone can help me in eliminating the noise in my picks?
i use the following stuff to make them:
alnico5 poles
enamell copper wire(grade 2 insulation)
bakelite chassis
stewmac winding machine
an old frying machine for wax potting with temperature check (150°F)
wax is 80% paraffin 20% bees wax(kept in untill boubbles stop coming out)
guitar is shielded everywhere
they really soud great, but i have problems when i play in not well grounded stages,near neon lights and near recording equipment expecially portable pc
thanks.

How many turns / what DC resistance are they?

Z

 

[PeteMcK]

perhaps your base plate needs to be metal and earthed, and the pole pieces earthed...?

 

[phase_accurate]

One elegant solution would be a stacked humbucker. Another one is a compensation coil like it is used by Alembic.

Regards

Charles

 

[mondogenerator]

are you making them single coil or humbuckers? humbuckers have a lot better noise immunity. there are 2 different ways to make humbuckers, individual coil pickups (2 coils per string) or the usual wide coil types (2 coils mounted parallel spanning all of the strings). the signal coil and the cancellation coil are wired out of phase, so that only near-field variations (i.e. string movement) are picked up. all other sources of noise are cancelled. single coil pickups whether of the individual (all of the coils are wired in series) or wide coil type have no way of cancelling external magnetic interference.

yes HUMBUCKERS ARE wired in SERIES as jed says...but you could also wire 2 single coils together in parallel to make a humcanceller...cancels hum in the same wasy as humbuckers but also has a cleaner more single coil tone if thats what you like...also if theyre tapped and switched via a pull out pot you can change the configuration at will

 

[Key]

yes HUMBUCKERS ARE wired in SERIES as jed says...but you could also wire 2 single coils together in parallel to make a humcanceller...cancels hum in the same wasy as humbuckers but also has a cleaner more single coil tone if thats what you like...also if theyre tapped and switched via a pull out pot you can change the configuration at will

My strat seems to be like this. If I am in a single pickup position I will usually get some interference. But they sound like they are wired out of phase from each other because on any position where you use 2 pickups the noise is cancelled out.

 

[Peter M.]

My strat seems to be like this. If I am in a single pickup position I will usually get some interference. But they sound like they are wired out of phase from each other because on any position where you use 2 pickups the noise is cancelled out.

This is normal. The middle pickup is probably reversed both magnetically and electrically so you get hum cancelling when using the middle pickup with one of the other two.

 

[phase_accurate]

This is normal. The middle pickup is probably reversed both magnetically and electrically so you get hum cancelling when using the middle pickup with one of the other two.

Yes, that is actually the case. This is also done with some Fender basses for instance. If you use both pickups you have mum cancelling if you use one there is some hum. Marcus Miller once said in an interview that he always uses both when there should be silence (i.e. between songs).

Regards

Charles