Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

G

guitar bitch

New member
Hey everyone,

I did the hybrid pickup made from a 59 trembucker and a Custom Custom trembucker. Here is a list of the pickups that resulted:
#1) 59 slug w/adjustable CC coil and A5 magnet underneath
#2) CC slug w/adjustable 59 coil and A2 magnet underneath

Heres the question for all the owners of this pickup who has had the chance to try this combination side by side. Is there more hum noticable in higher gain applications with the #2 pickup combination compared to the #1 pickup combo??

Just for your information, my guitar is foil shielded under the pickguard and also in the cavities of the pickups. From my testing of these two pickups side by side, the #1 pickup combo is pretty queit with the gain way up, this is really nice. As for the #2 pickup combo it is much more annoying with a loud hum set at the same gain amount that I tested with #1. :yell:

Another question, Could this be because in pickup #2 the slug coil is bigger in resistance (approx 7k ohms) and the slug coil is stronger magnetically creating more of a hum problem? where as the #1 pickup has the 59 slug coil which has only 4k ohms resistance? (these reasons are very unlikely i believe)

Furthermore and finally, could it be the problem within the #2 combo pickup itself? some kind of ground connection or winding failure? (just guesses once again) Keep in mind the pickups are working properly and dont have any issues like "weak thin sound" or anything of that nature, it's just that #2 is much more noticable in Humming in high gain compared to #1 for some reason which I hope someone else has stumbled on the same problem and has hopefully diagnosed. :smack:

Replies and opinions appreciated. Thanks.
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

I have not noticed any hum differences regardless of what combination... sounds like you made a faulty connection somewhere?
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

I checked all the connections that I possibly could with my mutimeter. I checked the connections where the individual coils come together , also checked for continuity between the green and bare to the body of the pickup and also the copper shielding on the pickups, everything checks out. The red and white wires are connected too. Measuring the resistance between the black and bare/green wires i get something like 11.31k ohms for both pickups. If your pickups are not having the same problem then it might be something internal to one of the coils in #2. :yell: sucks.
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

Also when I put my hand on the strings, with the gain setting up theres no noticable reduction in any type of hum whatsoever with the #2 pickup. With the #1 pu combo theres a slight reduction in hum when I touch the strings. Its looking more and more like something within the pu itself, because all the external wires (all wires connected to, and inside the humbucker) are connected and the pickup is reading at 11.38 k ohms. Cant see what else there is other than to say the inside is faulty somewhere.
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

BachToRock said:
I have not noticed any hum differences regardless of what combination... sounds like you made a faulty connection somewhere?
Click to expand...
+1
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

guitar bitch said:
Also when I put my hand on the strings, with the gain setting up theres no noticable reduction in any type of hum whatsoever with the #2 pickup. With the #1 pu combo theres a slight reduction in hum when I touch the strings. Its looking more and more like something within the pu itself, because all the external wires (all wires connected to, and inside the humbucker) are connected and the pickup is reading at 11.38 k ohms. Cant see what else there is other than to say the inside is faulty somewhere.
Click to expand...

I had this scenario with a Jazz/59N Hybrid and it was a bad ground connection on the black wire to the plate on the pickup and I re-did my pot grounds....Fixed my problem...You might have disturbed the ground connection to the plate?
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

guitar bitch said:
Its looking more and more like something within the pu itself, because all the external wires (all wires connected to, and inside the humbucker) are connected and the pickup is reading at 11.38 k ohms. Cant see what else there is other than to say the inside is faulty somewhere.
Click to expand...

Hey GB; I just finished a CC/59 hybrid for Travis, and when I first assembled it, the little yellow insulating tape moved off the red wire as I put the black tape back on, resulting in the red wire being shorted to the frame. When I measured any of the normal 4-conductor wires, all readings were good. But the red was shorted to the frame. If I connected the pickup using the bare wire as ground, I'ld get the same symptoms you have.

Take your meter, and measure each wire to the bare, or pup base. See if anything is amiss there.

(btw Travis - I fixed yours.) ;)

Artie
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

ArtieToo said:
Hey GB; I just finished a CC/59 hybrid for Travis, and when I first assembled it, the little yellow insulating tape moved off the red wire as I put the black tape back on, resulting in the red wire being shorted to the frame. When I measured any of the normal 4-conductor wires, all readings were good. But the red was shorted to the frame. If I connected the pickup using the bare wire as ground, I'ld get the same symptoms you have.

Take your meter, and measure each wire to the bare, or pup base. See if anything is amiss there.

(btw Travis - I fixed yours.) ;)

Artie
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I use small heat shrink tubing on the re-soldered wires and then I neatly tuck the wires under the edge of one of the bobbins....I re-use the original black bobbin tape with a bit of glue and heat the pickup a bit with a hairdryer to remelt the wax...I've done several and just did 2 for(Rich) 51501984....
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

STRATDELUXER97 said:
I use small heat shrink tubing on the re-soldered wires and then I neatly tuck the wires under the edge of one of the bobbins....I re-use the original black bobbin tape with a bit of glue and heat the pickup a bit with a hairdryer to remelt the wax...I've done several and just did 2 for(Rich) 51501984....
Click to expand...

I came so close to doing this. We, of course, have the heat-shrink and gun here at work, but I was afraid of toasting one of Travis' coils. On top of that, we have the exact same kapton yellow tape that SD uses, so I thought I'd try to keep it true to original construction.

I think I will try the heat-shrink when I build my own.

Artie
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

ArtieToo said:
I came so close to doing this. We, of course, have the heat-shrink and gun here at work, but I was afraid of toasting one of Travis' coils. On top of that, we have the exact same kapton yellow tape that SD uses, so I thought I'd try to keep it true to original construction.

I think I will try the heat-shrink when I build my own.

Artie
Click to expand...

My way has been working just fine! :nana: :beerchug: : popworm: :18:
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

Alright guys, back in from the storm. I took out the #2 combo and opened it up. I took apart all the four connections including bare wire to plate. This leaves me with one CC slug coil independent and one 59 screw coil independent, with the A2 underneath of course. Then I went ahead and took some Meter readings. Here they are CC slug @ 7.31 k ohms, 59 adjustable coil @ 4.34 k ohms.
What I did was then re-solder all the 4 connections that connect each individual coil together, back to how they should be. I wired it like this: CC slug side: white (finish) to white 4 conductor, black (start) to black 4 conductor. 59 screw side: white (finish) to red 4 conductor, black (start) to green 4 conductor.
I then took the red and white wires at the end of the 4 conductor bunch and soldered them together, thus wiring the two single coils in series. I took another measurement, this time from green (ground) start of the screw coil and black (hot) start of the slug coil. What I got was the 2 coils in series reading @ 11.75 k ohms.
Now checking my pot grounds, they all checked out nicely. I then went to resoldering the green and bare to ground, and black (hot) to its original place on the volume. Plugged in my amp setup and put it on the gain I typically use, and turned up the volume, and again get the same humming sound out of that setting , BUT the difference this time was that when I put my hands on the strings there is a component in the Hum that dissapears unlike before, I've read somewhere that this is the RF interference component of the humming sound (not sure though).
Now this has to verify that it's something within the coil itself, but let me ask this. If I were to use a soldering iron (65 watt) to heat up the screws on the adjustable side coil in order to melt wax out of the way, would this be the cause of the hum, maybe I heat damaged something in the screw coil, maybe not?
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

Oh yeah, forgot to add that when I took the pickup out again I re-did the bare wire connection to connect to the plate, thanks Stratdeluxe for pointing that out.
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

Maybe I should change my name to Guitar Bee instead, anyone know how to do that?
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

guitar bitch said:
Maybe I should change my name to Guitar Bee instead, anyone know how to do that?
Click to expand...

All these posts! So is it fixed then? :33:
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

I looked at everything I could but still hums alot, so I call it quits and have to live with it.
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

guitar bitch said:
I looked at everything I could but still hums alot, so I call it quits and have to live with it.
Click to expand...

If the hum bothers you,I wouldn't live with it? How bad is it? You get slightly more noise(Very slight)with the Hybrids because of the mismatched coils,but it's something not very noticible like a bad hum or anything.
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

Okay, as a final note to anybody that stumbles upon this topic. It just seems like there are some Humbuckers that hum more than others. Plain and simple, I happened to get the ones that hummed. --However-- I did end up purchasing other sets of Humbuckers from various sources and have put together a Hybrid that doesnt hum half as bad. Theres your answer people. Some standard rpoduction models hum, and some dont. Dont blast me down either, I check all my connections. Cool? Cool.
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

It might be that the HB is ok but the strings on your guitar aren't grounded properly. It shouldn't huım. ;)

B
 
Re: Hybrid 59/CC A5 and A2 HUM??? Owners Opinions Here

If you do a search, you'll find some discussions regarding why A2 humbuckers hum more than A5 humbuckers. For example, my CC hummed more with an A2 than with an A5.
 
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