Love the Strat... hate the hum....

[Bluesape]

Doug, the shielding may be suspect on your MIM Strat. If ya love the guitar enought to spend the kind of cash again that you already have in it, then any issues can be resolved, or you could consider upgrading to a US Strat or G&L(better, IMHO).

[Chad Thorne]

Shielding and grounding help a lot.

 

IMO any Strat p/u that isn't single-coil doesn't sound quite Stratty. Good, maybe, but not the real thing. The "pre-strum hum" is something one accomodates. Otherwise, in a live playing situation you may be more aware of it than anybody else.

[Guitar55]

Hey 55........that's some purdy fancy pickin for a Jersey boy!! LOL.

 

Seriously, that was some SERIOUSLY good playing. And, very nice tone too.

 

Vince Gill better watch out!!

 

:thu:

 

Thanks for the compliment, Don. That was really about 4 or 5 takes stitched together. When I listen to it I think " Damn, I wish I could play that!" I gues if I sat down and worked on it, I'd be able to reproduce it!

 

[VeloDoug]

Doug,

 

Before you get all crazy trying to figure out what custom, non-humming, wiz-bang pickups you should get, give yourself some time to get used to your Strat as is.

 

Before getting my Strat a year ago, I was primarily a LP, humbucker only kind of person so it's taken some time to get used to.

 

Now though, I love the sound of the Strat... buzz and all.

 

So, I think this was pretty sage advice. I think I was playing the strat in my high gain channel which was doing 2 things:

 

• Intensifying the hum
  
• Diminishing the sonic character of the single coil pickup
  

 

So, for me, lesson learned. I think I'm going to go with a Fralin or a WCR set and just play on my clean and medium gain channels since they are where the single coils seem to sound best anyway.

 

Everyone else had good advice too. I will also, while the patient is on the table, do a great job of shielding the body cavity of the Strat. Thanks again!!

[Quixotica]

Has anyone tried Bill Lawrence pickups? I understand that he designed the latest-generation, Fender Noiseless pickups. I've heard good things about them on other forums. They're supposed to give you classic tone w/o the hum and the prices can't be beat. The prices on the website range from $40 to $56 each, but it looks like the site is due for an update so you might want email them for a quote.

[picker]

EVERYBODY says their hum cancelling single coil-sized pickup will give you "classic tone w/o the hum". But the reality is usually a lot different than the hype. There is always a difference, and not always a subtle one, in the tone of a regular single coil and a hum canceling pickup of any sort. It all depends on how much of a compromise you are willing to make.

 

Clapton and Beck had Lace Sensors in their original Fender signature models, and those things were okay, but definitely not the same as a plain ol' single coil. Then Lace came out with their "Holy Grail" pickups which were supposed to the end-all and be-all for that whole sort of thing. Then they came out with another "end-all & be-all", etc. as so on, and it goes on and on.

 

I think one of the most telling things about the whole hum-cancelling Strat pickup schmeer is that Eric Johnson, whose pickiness about tone is legendary, didn't go with a hum-cancelling pickup in his signature model Strat. If he could have, I'd bet he would have, but he didn't want to sacrifice his tone.

 

'nuff said.

[Hardtail]

EVERYBODY says their hum cancelling single coil-sized pickup will give you "classic tone w/o the hum". But the reality is usually a lot different than the hype. There is always a difference, and not always a subtle one, in the tone of a regular single coil and a hum canceling pickup of any sort. It all depends on how much of a compromise you are willing to make.

 

Clapton and Beck had Lace Sensors in their original Fender signature models, and those things were okay, but definitely not the same as a plain ol' single coil. Then Lace came out with their "Holy Grail" pickups which were supposed to the end-all and be-all for that whole sort of thing. Then they came out with another "end-all & be-all", etc. as so on, and it goes on and on.

 

I think one of the most telling things about the whole hum-cancelling Strat pickup schmeer is that Eric Johnson, whose pickiness about tone is legendary, didn't go with a hum-cancelling pickup in his signature model Strat. If he could have, I'd bet he would have, but he didn't want to sacrifice his tone.

 

'nuff said.

 

I never tried any guitars with the lace P/Us but I did try a few Teles with the noiseless P/Us and they sounded like crap.

 

Give me the "buzzers". Once I start playing, the buzz goes away. When I don't play, I just turn the volume knob down on the guitar.