Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

[Gunner]

OK guys, with all the talk of shielding going on lately I've decided it's high time I did this to my Mexi Strat.....my APS-2s are the noisiest single coils I've had but the tone is TOO good to go for stacks/rails etc and if it works to my liking I'll shove a pair in my Pacifica

It all comes down to which is going to be more effective in killing that buzz.

What do you guys reckon, and, how much improvement can I expect ?

 

[callous_frigid_chill]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

shield & star ground

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

 

[big_black]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

Dummy coils are very effective in noise reduction. I have a dummy coil in my Blueshawk. If you want to go that route, I would say it will have a greater overall impact than just sheilding. In my exerience there will always be some buzz no matter how well you sheild. Dummy coils significantly reduce 60 cycle hum.

 

[Gunner]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

Ahh.....thanks Big Black that's kinda the answer I was hoping for. I was looking at going ahead with the guitarnuts shield and star ground but read something a while back about SRV using a dummy coil that his tech suggested was more effective than
foil/paint shielding. Basically, I want the tone of true singles and a little hum/buzz is bearable- just not as much as I've put up with to date with the APS-2s...just lowering that noise floor is what I'm after

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

A dummy coil turns your single into a humbucker ... plain and simple that's what they do. When mixed with a preamp they are seemless.
An active notch filter is another way to go ... don't want batteries and actives ... well between the two and DC will change your tone slightly, but it will kill the hum (hum and buzz are two different things). Shielding will reduce hum a bit, and tends to fight buzz a bit more effectively. If you really want to get rid of hum, passively a *DC* is the way to go, a passive notch filter will work, but only they offer only reduction and not cancellation.
Shielding simply will not get rid of hum, it helps, but it won't.
If you play with higher gain, a DC is the way to go, if not with an active treatment of some kind.

 

[big_black]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

With a dummy coils, they will be in series, but I don't think the sound will be the same as with a traditional humbucker, at least in my Blueshawk it isn't. Theoretically it may be a humbucker, but I wouldn't expect exact humbucker tone.

 

[sanrafael]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

A dummy coil gets rid of hum from magnetic fields such as generated by the power transformer in your amp. That is, as Kent says, the same thing as a humbucker. Shielding gets rid of electric fields; a different kind of hum.

Getting an add-on dummy coil to work right is difficult. It might be a good idea to do the shielding first, and then see how much hum you have left. Getting rid of the electric fields is usually a big improvement, but you might find you still have some hum left.

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

With a dummy coils, they will be in series, but I don't think the sound will be the same as with a traditional humbucker, at least in my Blueshawk it isn't. Theoretically it may be a humbucker, but I wouldn't expect exact humbucker tone.

No, no, that's not what I meant ... I meant that they turn it into a humbucker as far as hum *bucking*. Not that they make your single sound like a humbucker, sorry for the confusion there ( SRF picked it up). But they do change your tone slightly when simply added on to existing pickups. Most humcancelling stacks, for instance, are carefully designed so that the resulting sound is from the effects of both the pup and the DC itself. The blueshawk pups were also designed around this idea as well.

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Dummy coil vs shielding cavities?

Another thing also, that sometimes gets overlooked, a dummy coil is meant to be used without a RW/RP pup involved, the problem can be corrected individually (like the blueshawk does)... But say with a strat 2 or 4 position with a RW/RP pup in the middle ... you have to get the DC to drop out (the blueshawk does this also in the middle position), this though further complications into the switching layout (if it's even pragmatic to do so).
The beauty of having three pups with the same wind and polarity is that you can (using a strat for instance) just leave the DC connected the entire time.