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Post subject: noiseless pickups
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:24 am
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and I am not talking about a quiet girl :roll:

got a mexi strat from a friend. don't care much for the noisy pickups in it, and I am thinking of putting in a set of noiseless pickups in it. I see there are hot, vintage, and scn sets. I am trying to figure the ones that would be closest to the well-loved classic strat sound. I am more of a clean-sound player, and am not sure whether the hot or vintage would be my best choice. any other options I am missing? any advice?

thx-fred


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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 9:51 am
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Three words for you......

"DiMarzio"

"Virtual"

"Vintage"

I do not think you'll be disappointed.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:04 pm
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phreddybee wrote:
and I am not talking about a quiet girl :roll:

got a mexi strat from a friend. don't care much for the noisy pickups in it, and I am thinking of putting in a set of noiseless pickups in it. I see there are hot, vintage, and scn sets. I am trying to figure the ones that would be closest to the well-loved classic strat sound. I am more of a clean-sound player, and am not sure whether the hot or vintage would be my best choice. any other options I am missing? any advice?

thx-fred


Before going to the expense of pickups, I'd try the usual Strat tricks of shielding the cavities, and the pickguard, and checking the grounding of the internals. Doing that can make an enormous difference in the hum and noise.

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:28 am
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Doing some good shielding is worth the time and effort. You can get a roll aluminum duct tape for little cost. Remember, you will will need to ensure that the tape makes physical contact at all points: shielding in the cavity, on the pickguard and controls
controls, all have to make contact with each other. Also, make sure electronical soclets are wired properly and that your house is properly grounded. A well shielded guitar or one with Noiseless pups will still hum like crazy. Another thing you can do is get the Digitech Hush pedal. My house is noisy place and the Hush pedal helped a great deal. Look up my video on YouTube on the subject.


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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:04 am
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As always, there are only my own personal opinions - please use them as such.

Personally I don't feel that there's any "noiseless" pickup out there, regardless of brand or any advertising hype, that truly sounds like a single coil...mainly because they are NOT. Noiseless pickups, to the best of my knowledge, are stacked humbuckers in one form or another. That's not to say that I think these sound "bad"...I'm a great lover of Duncan rails and EMGs, however they just don't sound like traditional/vintage single coil pickups.

A genuine single coil is always going to have some degree of noise...it's simply the nature of the beast. That said, there's a number of things you can do to minimize this significantly, the first, as others have suggested, being good shielding. I -love- my MIM Strats, however they are rather notorious for not really having any shielding at all. If you check with companies such as Stew-Mac and even Carvin, you can find basic shielding kits for pretty cheap (I actually get scraps of adhesive copper foil from my local Fab Lab for free...works perfect!). You may also wish to check cables and grounds and such as well...it's amazing how many people just don't understand the importance of having a properly grounded amp. Likewise, while this certainly comes back to proper shielding, the environment you play in can have a HUGE impact on just how noisy those single coils are...fluorescent lights, CRT's (older computer monitors or older TV sets) and in some cases, even electrical motors such as those found in average refrigerators and such...all these things can have a seriously negative impact on how noisy those single coils are. I have a few older computer monitors that I have to shut off when I'm recording because even with my shielded Strats they cause too much noise/interference.

In any case, while I have no doubt that a lot of folks are gonna come along and recommend their favorite brand/model of pickups, if you truly want a true classic/vintage Strat sound, you may wish to consider something OTHER than noiseless pups.

Just my $.02 worth.


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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:36 am
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I like Lace pups for noiseless.

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:56 am
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lomitus wrote:
As always, there are only my own personal opinions - please use them as such.

Personally I don't feel that there's any "noiseless" pickup out there, regardless of brand or any advertising hype, that truly sounds like a single coil...mainly because they are NOT. Noiseless pickups, to the best of my knowledge, are stacked humbuckers in one form or another. That's not to say that I think these sound "bad"...I'm a great lover of Duncan rails and EMGs, however they just don't sound like traditional/vintage single coil pickups.

A genuine single coil is always going to have some degree of noise...it's simply the nature of the beast. That said, there's a number of things you can do to minimize this significantly, the first, as others have suggested, being good shielding. I -love- my MIM Strats, however they are rather notorious for not really having any shielding at all. If you check with companies such as Stew-Mac and even Carvin, you can find basic shielding kits for pretty cheap (I actually get scraps of adhesive copper foil from my local Fab Lab for free...works perfect!). You may also wish to check cables and grounds and such as well...it's amazing how many people just don't understand the importance of having a properly grounded amp. Likewise, while this certainly comes back to proper shielding, the environment you play in can have a HUGE impact on just how noisy those single coils are...fluorescent lights, CRT's (older computer monitors or older TV sets) and in some cases, even electrical motors such as those found in average refrigerators and such...all these things can have a seriously negative impact on how noisy those single coils are. I have a few older computer monitors that I have to shut off when I'm recording because even with my shielded Strats they cause too much noise/interference.

In any case, while I have no doubt that a lot of folks are gonna come along and recommend their favorite brand/model of pickups, if you truly want a true classic/vintage Strat sound, you may wish to consider something OTHER than noiseless pups.

Just my $.02 worth.

+1
When you shield a guitar, it will alter ther "tone" to a certain degree. I experienced this first hand. My '76 Strat sounded different after I shielded it, more compressed.


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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2015 10:14 am
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phreddybee wrote:
don't care much for the noisy pickups in it, and I am thinking of putting in a set of noiseless pickups in it. I see there are hot, vintage, and scn sets. I am trying to figure the ones that would be closest to the well-loved classic strat sound. I am more of a clean-sound player, and am not sure whether the hot or vintage would be my best choice. any other options I am missing? any advice?

thx-fred

Noiseless pickups? The good folks at Fender had a vision...
Tear off that guard and drop in a set of Fender Hot Noiseless, I think they're an inspiring tone to play clean or crunched, and record with. Jeffy Beck found their magic before I did.

paris wrote:
When you shield a guitar, it will alter the "tone" to a certain degree. I experienced this first hand. My '76 Strat sounded different after I shielded it, more compressed.

Paris, I don't know what your shielding is, but it's different to the results of an experiment I did a few years ago. I had to put on the black coat and...crank up the LAB.
Compression generally equates to varying degrees of diminished note attack, and added sustain. But it can also slightly expand any noise.
I do a bit of recording, sometimes I've used a compressor pedal for smoothing things out. But I like my expressive Strat attack, and I wanted a quieter single coil setup.

So I get this crazy brainbuzz!!
Out came my Vader lazer beam, and behold...a wafer thin gleaming slice of metal.
Plugged le Strat into my Engl Screamer with Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, the usual Sure SM57 amp mic, a Rode NT2-A condenser mic for good measure, and went through a huge A/B recorded testing session with a regular non-shielded plastic guard, then off with the plastic and just using the gleaming 1mm thick stainless steel shielding, which IS the pickguard (the thicker the shielding metal, the more effective it becomes). It also had to be a non-magnetic metal, which 304 stainless is, to avoid unwanted interplay within the magnetic pickups field.

Using same Strat with Fender Texas Specials, There was no noticeable tone change I could detect during amp recording, or at playback analysis of A/B before/after (plastic/metal), using very good seasoned AK701 Headphones.
There appeared to be slightly added weight to note sustain, which makes sense given the pickguard was 1mm stainless steel. But note attack was definitely present and unaltered. That's not any sign of compression I know, and that was important to me... string attack is the Strat attack!
Noticed also Strat had less inclination to feedback at HIGH volume with the metal guard, during the A/B test playing close to speaker.

Well whammy-up, who doesn't get obsessed sometimes :lol: ...and there's a video of the whole thing lurking out there.

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 6:55 am
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I just recieved a Fender Stratocaster Classic Series 60's Stratocaster yesterday... There is no hum cancelling on those pickups.... I'd hate to think I'd be replacing the pickups already...

I chose a different option to try first...

Joyo Ironman Series Gate of Khan $55 Shipped.

I watch a YouTube clip from Shane at InTheBlues.... It seems really convincing.

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:45 am
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DetroitBlues wrote:
I just recieved a Fender Stratocaster Classic Series 60's Stratocaster yesterday... There is no hum cancelling on those pickups.... I'd hate to think I'd be replacing the pickups already...

I chose a different option to try first...

Joyo Ironman Series Gate of Khan $55 Shipped.

I watch a YouTube clip from Shane at InTheBlues.... It seems really convincing.


So you think that device won't change your guitar's sonic character?

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:46 am
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I think if I were to go noiseless, I'd probably go with Dimarzios like Arjay said.

But I just don't change anything in my guitars, I just have them set up and cavity insulated, do proper grounding and good wiring. Noise is part of the single coil just like the click.

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2015 2:30 pm
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My Telepartster I build I recently completed is shielded completely with copper. Pups are Texas Specials RW/RP. As quiet as single coils can be. However all single coils pickup some interference signals.
Granted only 90%+ of interference and noise can be eliminated by shielding the control cavity, the pickup cavities and just as importantly being sure that all conduit is shielded. This also includes your guitar cord.

Additionally, since you are shielding the entire control cavity, including cover, there is more work to be done.

(1) disconect all ground loops to your pots casing. ( this will cause a ground loop if not removed ) since your pots are resting on your shield, they are effectively grounded.

(2) route pickups ground, jack ground and trem claw ground to a common ground point to the wall of your control cavity. I used a wire loop connector to which I soldered all ground wires inside the crimp area then screwed this connector to the control cavity wall. All is effectively grounded.

(3) If you are running a hard tail, you will need to run a grounding wire securely connected to the underside of your hard tail bridge to connect to the control cavity wall or common ground.


(4) Make sure you eliminate any potential ground loops. In a circuit there should be just one loop of positive to negative connections. Doubling grounds may result in extraneous interference noise as well as a potentialy dangerous situation in case of a short circuit....

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:34 pm
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If you love the tone of your existing pickups, I have a better option...

Spend the $50 on a Joyo Ironman Series Gate of Khan. Its a great noise gate and really helps with the hum. I use it in the effects loop of my Peavey Valveking... Killer!

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 2:52 pm
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The matched set of Fender Vintage Noiseless PUs in the custom Strat I just got are outstanding! They sound teriffic! They are truly noiseless. Just as quite as the Humbuckers in my Les Pauls.

These Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups are what Fender uses in the Eric Clapton Signature Strat.

http://www.fender.com/parts/pickups-pre ... 15000.html

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Post subject: Re: noiseless pickups
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:00 pm
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MusicLaw wrote:
The matched set of Fender Vintage Noiseless PUs in the custom Strat I just got are outstanding! They sound teriffic! They are truly noiseless. Just as quite as the Humbuckers in my Les Pauls.

These Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups are what Fender uses in the Eric Clapton Signature Strat.

http://www.fender.com/parts/pickups-pre ... 15000.html

Have them in a Tele. They sound great! Was through a different amp so not a good comparison but think I like them better than the N3's.


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