The thought of using dummy magnetic coils inside older guitars is not a novel one. In truth it is one which has been tried from the time people first started to plug them in. This old idea is one that has gained a growing popularity among the younger crowd due to the ease of their installation and the warming effect on the music that they produce.
The dummy pickup is basically just a coil of wire that is wired in series or in parallel with the existing pickups in the guitar. It has no magnet, and does not create a field for the strings to vibrate in. What it does is to take the signal from the existing pick up and turn it 180 degrees. This has the effect of removing a great deal of the 60 cycle hum that most single coil pickups have.
The larger you make the coil size the less resistance that is needed to stop the hum from happening. The coil can be a simple air coil, or it can have a non-magnetic ferrous rod in the center of it. A good resistance range to shoot for is around 50 to 80 percent of the single coil you are using. This is not rocket science and most anything will work with a little tweaking after installation.
One of the simplest ways to achieve this effect is by using a cheap single pickup and removing the magnet attached at the bottom. Very inexpensive pickups can be bought for less than $20.00 from online stores and hometown music stores. Just remove the bottom magnet and you have made your coil ready to be wired in.
What is most important when wiring one up is the directional flow of the wire of the dummy and real coils. You can wire the dummy coil in parallel where each has a single lead to your input switch or volume switch. It is also a possibility to connect it in series making the lead from the active one go to your volume pot with the lead from your dummy acting as the ground. The two remaining leads are tied together placing them in series.
There are numerous different variations with applying setup. With the numerous different combinations you also have the possibility to make many different sounds. The general idea is first to decide what sound type you are aiming for and move toward that sound.
The hum cancellation is just a wonderful side effect of going with this type of set up in your guitar. This setup is often used for production blues guitars. Some notable users of this type of system are Eric Clapton and B. B. King.
Before ripping into your vintage guitar, first research and understand the principles behind how a dummy magnetic coils really work. It can take a fair amount of time and effort fine tuning your instrument using this method of modification. However, when you are searching for a unique sound and just dislike all the annoying hums you have with a single pickup, this could really work for you.
The dummy pickup is basically just a coil of wire that is wired in series or in parallel with the existing pickups in the guitar. It has no magnet, and does not create a field for the strings to vibrate in. What it does is to take the signal from the existing pick up and turn it 180 degrees. This has the effect of removing a great deal of the 60 cycle hum that most single coil pickups have.
The larger you make the coil size the less resistance that is needed to stop the hum from happening. The coil can be a simple air coil, or it can have a non-magnetic ferrous rod in the center of it. A good resistance range to shoot for is around 50 to 80 percent of the single coil you are using. This is not rocket science and most anything will work with a little tweaking after installation.
One of the simplest ways to achieve this effect is by using a cheap single pickup and removing the magnet attached at the bottom. Very inexpensive pickups can be bought for less than $20.00 from online stores and hometown music stores. Just remove the bottom magnet and you have made your coil ready to be wired in.
What is most important when wiring one up is the directional flow of the wire of the dummy and real coils. You can wire the dummy coil in parallel where each has a single lead to your input switch or volume switch. It is also a possibility to connect it in series making the lead from the active one go to your volume pot with the lead from your dummy acting as the ground. The two remaining leads are tied together placing them in series.
There are numerous different variations with applying setup. With the numerous different combinations you also have the possibility to make many different sounds. The general idea is first to decide what sound type you are aiming for and move toward that sound.
The hum cancellation is just a wonderful side effect of going with this type of set up in your guitar. This setup is often used for production blues guitars. Some notable users of this type of system are Eric Clapton and B. B. King.
Before ripping into your vintage guitar, first research and understand the principles behind how a dummy magnetic coils really work. It can take a fair amount of time and effort fine tuning your instrument using this method of modification. However, when you are searching for a unique sound and just dislike all the annoying hums you have with a single pickup, this could really work for you.
About the Author:
You can visit the website www.lancocontacts.com for more helpful information about Using Dummy Magnetic Coils In Your Old Guitars
0 comments:
Post a Comment