Humbucker resistance and AC hum

[caspercody]

Hello,

I have (2) guitars.

Stratocaster with (2) humbucker's. It has a Dimarzio X2N in the bridge (ceramic with 15.83K ohms), and a Duncan Designed HB-103 in the neck (ceramic with 16.6k ohms). This guitar has no noise when I play.

schecter diamond series with (2) humbuckers. A Duncan Designed HB-103 in the neck (ceramic with 16.6k ohms). I also had the Dimarzio X2N in the bridge. This guitar has no noise when I play.

Now I am trying (2) Jalen 78 pick ups (Alnico 2 and 9k ohms) and they are both very noisy in either guitar, in the bridge position.

The only difference I can see is the magnet type, and resistance. Would either of these make a big difference in noise?

I also have some very cheap ceramic 12k ohm humbuckers lying around and put it in the bridge to see about noise, and this was also quiet.

Please any thoughts on this would be great.

Thanks
Rob

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

If a humbucker is noisy, either the wiring or the grounding is wrong. Check the wiring schemes in the support section and connect it accordingly. Dont forget a proper ground connection and the connection of the bare and green as well the connection of white and red.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

Welcome to the forum!

I agree- if the humbucker is noisy, it is either a wiring issue or a problem with the pickup, unless it has severely mismatched coils.

 

[blaise.brown.7967]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

Welcome to the forum!

I agree- if the humbucker is noisy, it is either a wiring issue or a problem with the pickup, unless it has severely mismatched coils.

Is it potted? I know, stupid question.

Sent from my LGMS330 using Tapatalk

 

[caspercody]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

Thanks for the replies!!!

It is wired up correctly, and grounded. I put copper tape in (in both guitars) in all the cavities, and soldered a wire to all cavities. I removed all the tone pots, and just have the volume left on both guitars.

The first 78 pickups I got were 4 wires and I reversed the red/white wires to see if they were not connected correctly. They were because the noise got really load. So I sent them back and he re-did them with two wire. And they still have noise.

I think it might be the pick ups, because the other pick ups (I have that are not 78) are quiet, even one of the cheap one's I have lying around that came with a cheap pick guard that I wanted.

I went on here to see if by any chance it might be caused by difference in resistance, or different type of magnet??

Now come to think of it, I tried just the 78 pick up in the guitar wired directly to the pick up then to the jack and was still noisy.

That mismatched coil thing you mentioned, do you mean if they are not the same resistance (the 2 coils in the 78)?

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

You say the neck humbuckers are not noisy? Just for giggles wire the 78 to the neck volume pot. Black to hot lug, red and white connected and taped away, green and bare to volume pot cover.
Good luck!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

I always have to tell people to make sure all their components are grounded with a wire. Including switches. People are racist against switches for some reason and have a hissy fit when I tell them that can let in noise.

Of course, like Mincer said, you could have mismatched coils. My JB in 1 guitar is silent while my neck hybrid has a very quiet buzz.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

I am not sure if the noisy pickups you are talking about have mismatched coils, but those that do, let some hum through. It isn't as loud as a single coil though, and certainly not as loud as a ground problem.

 

[caspercody]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

I am pretty sure it is the 78 pickups making the noise. Everything is grounded and I verified with a meter. I have a three way switch in both guitars and when in the position that is not the 78 pickup it is quiet. Just normal high gain noise. When I switch to center position noise level increases and when in position that is just the 78 pickup noise is louder. If I turn off volume with guitar pot noise is gone and if I move around to different areas there is a sweet spot where noise is gone, these are when using the 78 pickup.
Again no noise when I use any other pickup just when I use either of the 78 pickups
So now I have one of the pickups apart and want to try different things to see if I can get rid of noise. But what????
I will measure the resistance of each coil, maybe turn magnet around......

 

[Mincer]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

I am not familiar with these pickups, so I am not quite sure what to try.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

Ground your 3 way switch with a wire.

 

[caspercody]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

Fixed it.

It was the A2 magnet causing the noise. I put in a ceramic and all noise gone. It is actually quieter then the other pick ups. The following link is what helped me figure it out.

http://www.caliguitar.com/pickup/data/magnets.pdf

Thanks for all your help!!!

 

[masteroggame]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

I recently got a Jalen 78' in a HSS setup and it indeed does buzz a bit. My neck and middle are RWRP and its dead quite. The noise is back when I switch to the bridge in full humbucker mode but its not as bad as the single coils but still present.

I swapped the wires, checked grounding etc. and it didn't do anything, maybe its just a noisy pickup by design because I have a ltd with cheap stock ltd pups which are ceramic and they're silent.

 

[caspercody]

Re: Humbucker resistance and AC hum

Thanks for the reply about your Jalen 78 pickups. I gave up on trying to get them quiet like the other pickups