Because the new MIMs are coming out of the factory with "noise-killing paint shielding in the body cavities combined with shielding tape applied to the pick guards and body cavity covers" it may be that those of us with older 'horns" (mine is an '05) still have to "dew it ourselvz".

My HSS with Floyd Rose (3 color SB and rw neck) was a bit hummy in the usual pup positions until I lined the cavities and the pick guard with foil. (I used aluminum foil from the kitchen. I didn't spend a dime on expensive copper shielding. I used ELMER'S SPRAY ADHESIVE, E-451 and the job was quick and easy with minimum cleanup and very little over spray to clean off )

Things quieted down considerably after, and whilst I had it torn down I tightened all the hardware. (Imagine my surprise to find two of the tuners and some other hardware loose. Okay, the assembler is a production worker and "tiempo es dinero" if you get my meaning. And, in the interest of full disclosure I'll tell you that one of the pick guard screws was stripped, but that's a simple repair.)

I had owned the guitar for a few delightful months before I got around to tearing it down and it definitely improved the axe. The tuning was improved by tightening everything up (not that it was bad, but it's better now) and hum is not a prob except in the usual places ("THE BUCKET OF BLOOD-TRUCKERS, BIKERS AND BRAWLERS WELCOME!") the joints with dirty power, (i.e. fluorescent-neon signs and beer coolers on the stage circuit, not to mention crummy or open grounds) will always be there for gigging musicians.

Like most guitars hum is not a factor in most pup positions and now it's not a big problem anytime. If I select a pup and the hum is noticeable (such as before playing a quiet intro to a song) I simply turn my bod a few degrees and the hum disappears. In places with clean power (like every studio in which I've recorded) hum is not a problem at all, and that's where it really matters. Of course effects can create a problem for any type of guitar when recording, but for every problem there is a remedy. (Nowadays) I can go direct, use my bridge HB pup and/or put a noise gate in line. (Back then) The main thing was to get a clean recording in the can because once I was on stage my ears would ring so much (from the music and crowd noise) I couldn't hear a slight hum anyway!

It's an imperfect world in which we live, and (naturally) the instrument/amp combos that produce zero hum don't excite me. As with string noise, hum is something we learn to deal with. (In fact some of the master acoustic classical players produce an unbelievable amount of string noise and there's nothing they can do about it! UGH SOMEBODY KILL ME PLEASE! I'm shore glad I didn't go in that direction as a kid at the crossroads!)

So, tell me, how much hum management is involved when you play? I listen to a lot of katz on You Tube and I've got an idea what some players will live with but, I'd like to know if you compromise (select a diff pup, choke it off at the amp or bypass an effect) in order to "deliver the merch".

One more tossup "Q":

Would you consider switching to humbucking pups just to minimize all 60 cycle hum?

I played Gibsons with HBs on the road for years and they suited the music and my playing style, but NOW I wouldn't switch for any reason! (I play to please myself and I'm so happy! I don't have to play TOP 40, disco, Broadway show tunes or any of the other commercial stuff I did when I was "hoein" in PLAYBOY CLUBS and Vegas for a living. And, even though I love my bridge HB I also love SSS strats and those unique sounds that only they produce)

I suppose there was a lot less hassle having set necks and HB pups on the road, but, if it was a Stratocaster instead of a Gibson FLYING V that flew off the stage that day in upstate NY when someone hit the button during rehearsal (an electric swinging stage that pivoted ninety degrees and opened into the main showroom) the head probably wouldn't have snapped off, either. It would have been well worth the occasional neck tweak on a Strat as I traveled from the mountains to high humidity-sea level gigs if the axe had survived that terrible day....

So, does anyone wanna discuss this? Tell me something I don't know if you don't mind sharing.

Thanks.

Most of the hum I hear from people's rigs nowadays is either from poorly maintained guitar cords and patch cables or too many effects on at once. Occasionally, you'll hear an older amp that needs new filter caps or has an internal problem.

I don't buy the $100 guitar cables made "in a sterile oxygen-free vacuum chamber by the eunuch monks of the ancient orders of the Parthenon"--I just buy a good quality cable ($20-30 or so) and TAKE CARE OF IT. I roll it up properly (no twists) and don't put heavy things on top of it...if you treat them right, they'll last for years.

Patch cables I do spend a bit extra on, but once again, take care of what you have...

...as for a noisy pedalboard, you just have to realize that some stompboxes are noisy and try to tweak them carefully. I use a Rocktron HUSH pedal at the end of my chain and it does wonders. I have decided to start investigating all the noise gates and noise reducer pedals again in order to see if there is anything else on the market that is better, but I might have the best for my money.

It always helps if you don't turn on too many pedals at once, too (duh!).

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

I am one of those persons that just hates hum... so much that I am obsessed about it... probably thats one of the main reasons I use only EMG's hehe well but besides that I also have all my AC wall outlets properly grounded.. and I use mostly a high quality gold plated tip cable too... in the end those little differences make a BIG difference.... whenever I play my guitars the sound I get is so good it feels like Im listening to the radio...

Hi

my 2 cents on it

Shielding always helps as we talk about interference.But first thing is proper grounding -->your amp has a ground wire(3 poles plug vs 2 poles) and your houses ground works

Between the pickups in the baathtube of the body you can also move up(actually pickguard down) walls witch should extemd a 3 milli below the pickups but not block all of the bathtube

My very little hum comes both from the 74 Vibro Champ(new caps never hum free but sounds so sweet) and from OCD

In the past I had several issues on effects(no true bypass although stated) and cables (Like above take better ones and take care,I use deathvalley cables(sorry advertising but they are really great))

And as in the start up threat-->fix your connections

have fun

Roland

Shielding and good cords help, but if it ain't hummin, it ain't a Fender.

Noiseless pups to me just don't have the same tone to me as standard single coils, I love my 72 Strat, but that's just what I'm used to. Some hum is the nature of the beast. If I don't want hum, I'll play my Lester or other Humbucker equipped guitar. Remember, true bypass effects won't help if you're running a ton of cords even if they are only 6" long each, you would be better off with buffering.

Regular 60 cycle hum simply never bothered me. To me, it is an insignificant fact of life and certainly nothing worth even dwelling on. Granted, bad house wiring, etc. can bring it out a bit more but once everyone starts playing, it is irrelevant.

This whole 60 cycle hum thing being an unacceptable epidemic has been born of, and fueled by, "web dogma" (inane hysteria) which has elevated it to a level of catastrophic proportions. FWIW, MANY guitar legends never concerned themselves with it either and they seem(ed) to manage with it quite well.

Naturally, this is merely my opinion, YMMV.

_________________
You dig?

Real Fender players eat 60 cycle-hum for breakfast!! LOL Mike

_________________
The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

It really depends on the person. My wife hates 60 cycle hum. She plays a J-Bass, and thus doesn't really experience any hum with her instrument. She never reads any guitar/bass forums.

Personally, the hum doesn't bug me, but all my guitars have had single-coil pickups of various types - I've never owned a guitar with humbuckers. So it could just be something I've become used to over time.

She never reads any guitar/bass forums.

She is smarter than any of the rest of us, as it is proven that these forums create most of the hum anyway.

If shielding and using a better grade cable doesn't eliminate hum and it bothers you, then I'd suggest an Eb-Tech Hum Eliminator :

http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?form= ... &cat2=3037

Good luck!

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

- shielding
- quality cords (ALL cords, not good main cord with $1 patch cords)
- minimum of pedals, effects, etc
- quality amp
- outside interference (flourescent lights, electrical transformers, etc)
- quality pickups

and the main one - not turning your gain/volume up, sitting there with your guitar's volume knob wide open and going "SHHH! Listen. I think I hear hum."

It will never be dead quite. Nope. Never. Not like that.

Get good gear, keep an eye on the other things, and be an expert at rolling off that volume knob on the guitar when not playing it.

Otherwise, you're just chasing a dream that will never happen. Hum. It's there a bit. Accept it. Learn to deal with. Super easy.

Rolling the tone off a little seems to reduce the hum a lot on my Strats. I did shield my guitars with foil and that made a noticeable difference also.

As a side note my U.S. made Hwy 1 Strat had an insane amount of buzz compared to my Indonesian Squier Strat before I applied the foil shielding. They're both pretty manageable now.

Great posts, all.

You peeps are outta sight! It's the equivalent of a college education when intelligent and knowledgeable folks share their wisdom this way.

And I'd also like to present a (virtual) laurel and hearty thanks to Fender.

Few things in my life have brought as much spiritual satisfaction as playing music on Fender instruments and through Fender amps. (I used a silver faced Twin Reverb with JBL speakers on the road.)

I even used a gold plated Fender Concert Tone banjo for two songs during our floor show back in the 70's. (It listed for something like $2,800 but it hung in the store too long, and with my discount it was $1500 bux without a case, and that was big munny back in them dayz. I played MR. BOJANGLES with finger picks and AIN'T SHE SWEET with a flat pick, a Fender thin of course-we had a beautiful chick who did classical and interpretative spotlight dances to those songs-don't worry, we redeemed ourselves from the "fate worse than hoke" with a rump kickin' SLY STONE medley) That banjo was great and equal to any other in quality, tone and ease to fret.

In the 60's I loved playing Hendrix and CREAM on my JAZZMASTER, and I'd turn right around and play TAKE FIVE (Dave Brubeck) and it all worked on my Fender!

Just to underscore how sincere I was about getting that sound, I traded a like-new Maple 370 Rickenbacker for a hammered and seriously beat Jazzmaster, and later bought another used one in excellent, nearly new condition. If I knew then what I know now I'd still have those (a 50's and a 60's) Jazzmasters.

A small amount of hum is part of the charm. Beyond that, I use decent cables and replace when needed (or suspected).

Being an old school player, I don't have a lot of effects but I tend to plug in only the one or two I absolutely feel like using to minimize noise. If I had to use more in chains, I'd get top quality patch cables there.

I do have a noise filter at the amp end and I use a conditioned power filter. That alone is worth the price when you're playing in some toilet where the neons are on the same circuit as the stage. It won't help what you're getting through the pups and cables but it cleans the amp power up and (so I'm supposing) saved me from who knows how many surge related disasters.

After a long and painful search, I have replaced my Rocktron Hush pedal with an ISP Decimator G-String. It was a bit pricy and a little hard to put on the pedalboard properly (I don't have an effects loop on my amp, so I had to do a bit of "engineering" to get it to work as designed--see below).

This little stompbox was worth every bit of the $200 it cost; I have no hum at ANY volume--twiddle with the knob a bit and, there were no sustain problems at all. Plus, I spoke directly to the guys who engineered the thing (the same guys who designed the HUSH ten years ago) and they were cool, polite and willing to put up with my 8 million "setup" questions, even replying to e-mails with "Is this right?" diagrams.

...great sustain, no hum and plus, there's always a G-String at my feet when I play!

My rig (with the new noise suppressor)

Guitar (Stratocaster, Telecaster or G&L F100) or
Harmonica (w/1940s Astatic A200 microphone)

Into:
Boss TU2 Tuner
ISP Decimator G-string (start loop)
Ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer
MXR Phase 90
Boss RT20 Rotary Ensemble
Dunlop Crybaby
Danelectro Daddy-O
Dunlop JH2S Jimi Hendrix Classic Fuzz
MXR Classic Distortion
(End of loop, back to Decimator, then Decimator goes into)
MXR Carbon Copy
Morley ABY (for channel switching)

Into:
1963 Reissue Fender Vibroverb (2x10 brownface)

Yeah, that's a lot of pedals, but dang, I can play any style & fill any gap (tonally) you might ever need. I have no problem with noise, due to good patch cables, good (and well-maintained) instrument cables and the ISP DECIMATOR G-STRING!

_________________
Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals