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I've been a Telecaster player for almost 50 years. I have been through a succession of Fender and non-Fender versions since I acquired my first (a 1968 blonde) used in the early-70s.
I have always preferred the original, single-coil neck pickup to humbucking replacements. However, I find the hum when recording to be unacceptable. When sitting in the studio, I keep the pickup selector on the middle position (both pickups on) for its hum-cancelling effect, and switch to neck only as I get ready to hit the first note or chord. It requires some skill and forethought to remember not to start playing in the middle position--too twangy for jazz.
In your opinion, what is the better approach: (1) keep the single-coil pickup but add a hum-suppressing pedal of some sort, or (2) find the best (most like the tone of the single-coil) hum-bucking pickup for the neck position of the guitar?
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12-18-2021 12:39 PM
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Well, #2 is a rabbit hole. I'm sure you would eventually find the one you're looking for, but it might take ALOT of trial-and-error. For me, I'd start with Fender (yes, Fender) Noiseless and whatever noiseless tele neck that is being offered by Duncan, Dimarzio, and Fralin. That's just where I'd START.
#1... a standard tele has been my #1 for 26 years. While there is, technically, some hum going on (the standard single coil thing), I honestly never notice it unless I'm really loud. At home, the hum is so minute as to be irrelevant to me (kind of like my tinnitus- I don't even hear it unless I LISTEN FOR IT).
For jazz tones, I don't see how the hum could be that bad, with lower volumes and cleaner tones?
Also, my tele is fully shielded- the control cavity as well as the back of the pickguard.
I wouldn't bother with "hum debugger" devices like pedals and plugs; I think you'll find they are marginal at best. Perhaps a power conditioner would help?
Actually- I just remembered- you might want to check out the Fishman Greg Koch tele set. It's dead quiet, by design. It's also not a regular (single coil or humbucker) pickup. But hey- it's about the tone, right? If it sounds good, it IS good.
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I agree a good Tele neck PU has a liveliness that is hard to match in a humbucker. Would it work to have separate volume pots, put the PU selector in the “both” position, and keep the bridge volume at zero?
PS - You may already know this, but there’s a parallel thread about noiseless Tele PU solutions: Hum cancelling Tele neck pickups ... What do you all like best?
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Thanks for the suggestions so far.
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Well there are Noiseless alternatives from Bill Lawrence, Joe Barden, EMG, Lace Sensor, etc. Also there are dummy coils that can be installed Illitch System? Not cheap I’m afraid!
For me I be always preferred Humbucker or Mini Humbucker in the neck position.
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I have the HER signature strat which has some kind of noiseless pickups. I can't tell any difference to my ear it sounds like a strat.
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I'd just throw a mini-humbucker of some sort in there and forget about it. I have found that most minis are tonally between single coils and full-sized humbuckers. Maybe one with a coil tap as well for a couple of distinct sounds. I'm sure Lollar et al make something along those lines.
Hofner used to use a "clear contour" circuit that allowed one to make its mini-humbuckers sound very Fenderish to me - not a coil tap or cut but a resistor/cap combination that one could dial in on the tone control to make the pickup sound spankier.Last edited by Hammertone; 12-19-2021 at 12:40 AM.
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What I did was stick another pickup right next to it and wire it in series and use a spin a split. I used a lipstick. So as soon as you blend in the other pickup, it starts to provide hum cancellation. But on full provides a nice boost. Lipstick is a good choice because it looks similar and sounds similar and is only wound to 3k. I can share the full details if ur interested.
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The mojotone hum canceling tele pickup is actually great. But I put a set of bardens in my tele and strat and love them. The tele has a gatton neck and modern T bridge and they sound beautiful for jazz or tele twang or fusion or anything else I've thrown at them. I used the strat gigs and nobody had any clue they weren't stock strat pickups. The strat pickups get a great SRV tone but also a great jazz tone which was never a strong suit with the real singles. I tried the fralin split rails but IMO, the bardens blow them away. Just be careful about the gatton tele lead pickup. It'll knock paint off your walls...
A while back they were struggling financially and were shopping their brand around to other companies like Fralin (who turned them down) and they were not making pickups anymore but it seems that according to their site they are back in business...
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I really liked the Dimarzio Area T neck pickup until I ruined it with ham-handed screwdriver use. I replaced it with a Bill and Becky L280TN and have found that to be an excellent pickup. It is a little brighter and livelier than the Dimarzio. My Telecaster is my quietest guitar!
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I'm also using the Bill & Becky L280TN. Very pleased.
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As to Greentone's question: (2) as far as I am concerned.
I realize that the EHX Hum Debugger has a lot of friends here, but since you are talking about recording, I bought one of these a few years back to use my then Tele over headphones, and for this specific scenario at least, I found the tone to be degraded more than I could bear. Even in position 1, position 2 being more radical. And I like EHX pedals.
Not sure about other hum-suppressing pedals, but some folks seem to use (good) noise gates for what you are describing.
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Originally Posted by Greentone
If you love the guitar and pickup, I'd go with the hum canceling pick guard.
ILITCH ELECTRONICS – Hum Canceling Systems
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If it's only between takes that the hum bugs you, a simple noise gate should help. We can't tell how bad your hum problem is, but I like all the solutions offered above. That lipstick p/up in tandem sounds like a cool tonal variant also.
I know very well what it's like to have a certain p/up giving you a sound that you can't live without - I've had a few Tele neck p/ups that somehow or other got away from me, and I regret it.
I bought some Fender Hot Noiseless p/ups for my Strat. Can't really tell that they are not the regular SC's. Of course I know and you would too, but for recording, they are very close. And they are not "hot"!
Maybe talk to Jim at Ralph's? He's quite the expert on p/ups and Tele's.
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Get a hold of Robben Ford's telephone number and ask him - he has been using his 60's Tele for many years, both on stage (at earsplitting volume levels) and in the studio and afaIk nothing has been replaced in that guitar.
The aforementioned alternatives are def. worthwhile checking out and I have also been quite happy with the DiMarzio Area pickups in my Parts-Tele. My Suhr Strat came with their in-house hum-cancelling circuit (dummy-coil) which to my knowledge is very similar to the Illich system and it does indeed work very well. It costs a bit more than new pickups but might just be the most effective and "tone-conserving" solution.
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Hej Green! You have undoubtedly seen and taken in all the suggestions below. I have a demarszo Area T in the neck, which has been carefully copper foil coated. Previous to that I had a SD (perhaps Alnico II, not hum free) which sounded great except for the hum. After copper foil in all cavities and the Area T it is dead quiet. The hum could have driven me mad, now it is just a fine guitar. After all the work on it I can not say I can do a good A/B, but I dont really remember me thinking that the tone had changed, and I was happy about that. Good luck, and dont forget to tell us how is works out.
Hum cancelling Tele neck pickups ... What do you all like best?
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I don't have copper foil in the guitar body cavities. I am going to start there.
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Ground the foil, otherwise it’s no use. And make sure no bare wires carrying signal touch the foil! Originally Posted by Greentone
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Little Jay,
Thanks
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I used shielding paint on my Stratocaster with success. Just like metal foil this should be grounded. Also check that the strings and bridge grounding wire is attached correctly.
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I used copper to shield the cavities then installed Bill Lawrence hand-wound noiseless pickups, a 202 at the neck and a twin blade at the bridge. No hum and love the tone.
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Originally Posted by Little Jay
I clearly should have mentioned that in my post as that is the only way the foil is functional. Some how I assumed it as generally understood so thanks LJ for clarity!
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The copper foil works very well. It won't completely eliminate noise, but it minimizes it pretty effectively. As an alternative, StewMac sells a shielding paint that you can use in the cavity and on the pickguard. That works well too. In either case it's critical to do a thorough job applying it. Originally Posted by Greentone
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