so i have a 6 mo. old mim strat hss. it does have that good old hum in postions 3 and 5. any solutions? i like the sound of the pus in those positions.

would i be better off getting new pups? if so what type- i have seen some decent prices on ebay, and am fairly handy with a soldering iron.

this has probably been discussed a million times, so sorry about that chief!

I'm using the SD Stack+ on my guitar (with the Custom Stack + in the bridge). They were big improvement over the HW1 pickups, at least for my uses and they sound more Straty to me. Everything I need is there.

If you're used to boutique single coils then you might miss some of the real single coil charectaristics. I'm not used to the higher end, so I don't miss anything... not sure I even would.

As for brands - Kinman - but he's expensive. The new Dimarzio Area series gets good reviews and Lace were also a brand I've considered. Went with Duncan based on some sound clips a user had sent me and the descrition of how they sound like... don't know about the cheaper stuff though.

If you don't want to go with noiseless single coils, you can do what Strat players have done since 1954 to deal with single coil hum: turn the volume knob on the guitar down between songs. You can't hear the hum while you or the rest of the band are playing.

Positioning yourself in a different place in relation to your amp and finding a spot that hums less can help too.

It's all a compromise that many guitarists are willing to deal with for that sweet original single coil Strat sound. But then again, your Strat is HSS so maybe you play heavy metal or high gain? Noiseless single coils would be a good choice if you use a LOT of distortion most or all the time.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

Or even easier - just move the switch to a hum canceling position... but it does limit your technique. Hum is just always a problem with certain amount of gains.



Hey, I play a SSS Strat while using nice amounts of gain - most of the time. Don't be prejudice...

LOL. You're right it can be done! Yeah that Hendrix feller also used SSS and nice amounts of gain and he got along fine with the hum.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

Yup. Every once in a while on live Hendrix recordings, you can hear the occasional bit of hum between songs. Didn't hurt him in the least.

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'08 Fender Am. Std. Jazz bass, maple fretboard, charcoal frost metallic finish
'10 Squier VM Jazz bass, maple fretboard, natural finish
Ampeg BA115
'09 MIM standard Strat, maple fretboard, sunburst finish
Fender Super Champ XD

Shielding tape on the underside of the pickguard may help.

I have DiMarzio noiseless "Area-series" pickups in two of my Strats -- you might give those a try.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Over the past 36 years of constant Strat playing I've grown so used to hum that I almost don't notice it.I find that the angle that you stand in relation to the amp and the distance that you are from it greatly affects the hum to the point that you can almost make it disappear completely. AS for changing the pups I've always prefered the sound of the stock Fenders anyway so in my case a pickup change isn't an option.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Do a little poking around on the net and you'll find that much has been written about shielding the entire pickup cavity and the underside of the pickguard with either copper foil, aluminum foil, or conductive paint.

Stewmac is one source for the copper shielding.

To do it correctly, takes some patience, and can yield a substantial reduction in hum. Not doing it right doesn't help much at all. I suspect that those who don't do the process correctly are the ones who say that shielding doesn't help IMHO.

The alternative, of course, is to use hum cancelling pickups like the Kinmans. I used the Dimarzio Area pickups on my previous Strat. Excellent hum cancelling and darn good sound.

Currently, I'm using Fralin pickups with with no hum cancelling, but plan to shield the entire cavity with copper foil one of these days.

I have a set of the Fralin Split blade, hum canceling, I couldn't Stand the Hum. They worked out real well, They still have the single coil tone, and can get pretty nasty with some gain.

+1.

The copper shielding undoubtedly cuts down on the hum. It's still there, of course, but the shielding tape reduces it noticeably.

As an Auto Tech, my ears are tuned into listening for hiss, pops, squeals and such, that is why I have played humbuckers for years.
I sold off my single coil guitars, and yet I bought another one just this year, My first strat.

I was just going to live with the hum and try to play around it. I didn't care for the bridge humbucker so I got a two of custom shop 1969's pick ups and used the center stock one.
I needed to get a new pick guard to install the SSS set up, and I choice the Fender gold aluminum unit for the look and how close it matched the color of the guitar.

I had installed them with the stock pick guard so yes they hummed just like it did stock in 5 and 3, but now with the aluminum pick guard it is dead quite, even when overdriven.
I plugged it into my Peavey Ultra 212 and cranked up the gain on the drive channel, it took quite a bit of gain to get any hum out of it.

So if you want to kill off the hum, get the aluminum pick guard.

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Marriage is like playing cards...

At first all you want are Hearts and Diamonds.

But in the end, all you really want is a Club and a Spade.

Shielding or trying an aluminum pickguard are great ways around it. If you are happy with your pickups and not happy with the hum - go for shielding first - it's much cheaper and you don't risk loosing the tone you liked.

I hated the stock pickups (sounded good only in the neck position) so going for a set of stacks didn't feel like I'm loosing anything...

Also, I'd beware of tone snobs with "great" ears - some might tell you the RW/RP is not good enough for "true", "vintage" Strat tone. I bet you can find guys on the internet who will explain about how shielding harms your tone.

In band situations there are only things that sound good or bad and the "little something" usually gets lost in the mix. Don't over think it - all methods are kosher.

You could go for noiseless pickups
Less noisy pickups
Humbuckers in a single coil package
Shield wrap the pickups
Shield the cavity
Shield the wiring loom
Shield the pick guard

Also you might want to ensure your amp and cable are not to blame for anything.
It could be interference or amp hum your hearing.
Try playing elsewhere on a different amp and crank it to see how you go before you get too carried away and spend money.