How much ambient noise is acceptable from your guitar?

[lafromla1]

Pertinaing to hum, buzz, or whatever you want to call it, how much ambient noise is acceptable from your guitar, as it goes through your amp, untouched?

I noticed that my Regal had a slight amount of this 'noise', and I hated it, so I traced back every connection and was able to get it near quiet.  I went on numerous sites to look it up and nearly everyone with a Les Paul has it make some sort of 'noise', although it seems that some will put up with more than others. 

In comparison, I plugged in my other guitars (3 warmoths and 2 Fenders, including a Clapton version) to the same Blues Junior, in the same outlet, using the same cable, and found that my others all made about the same amount of noise, very little, which I am happy with, but of all my guitars, my Tele with P90's (Ken at Roadhouse provided these) was dead quiet....not a peep, which is strange because everything I read said P90's were the noisiest of most pickups. 

So now I am questioning why all my guitars aren't dead quiet.

 

[Glimmer]

If it was like Eno-ambient, I'd take all I could get. If we're talking La Monte Young-ambient, I'd shoot for a little less.

:icon_jokercolor:

 

[line6man]

I like my guitars to whine and hiss at me. 60Hz hum is quite soothing, as well. And it's always a nice surprise when I hear my favorite radio station coming through.

 

[Cagey]

If my guitars make any noise at all I quiet them down with a cleansing fire in the dreaded fireplace. Serves 'em right.

 

[Great Ape]

Really the only ''ambient'' noise I find intolerable is usually originating with the harmonica player...AAAAARGH!!!

 

[bagman67]

Really the only ''ambient'' noise I find intolerable is usually originating with the harmonica player...AAAAARGH!!!

I'm hip. They're almost as bad as those middle-aged poseur wannabe whiteboy jive-ass pseudo-blooz-guitar-players (MAPWWJAPBGP's) -- namely me.  Although I think I sound better than most of the harmonica players I've encountered at the local MAPWWJAPBGP jam.  Others may differ.

 

[Glimmer]

The last two responses call to mind the following little comic from yesteryear:

Different instrument, same sentiment.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Pretty deep rabbit hole, that one.... I'm not particularly bothered by 60hz hum in principle, so long as it's not a distracting presence when the guitar is actually being played. In fact I've found myself rather enamored of recordings where you can hear that sort of thing, I find it very "organic" and genuine in the right context and dose. I'm thinking for instance of listening to Roy Buchanan recordings where you can hear the pickups hum and can hear the "pop" when he switches his amp; or of Puscifer's Humbling River (the "Nagual del Judith" version) which has a really nice pulsating tremolo guitar tone playing long ringing notes, and the sound of 60hz hum can be heard pulsing with the tremolo as the notes decay, I dunno, I love that stuff. I remember being a kid listening to my dad play fingerstyle acoustic guitar and being riveted by the string squeak when he'd change chords. Those sorts of "artifacts" really pull me in. Someone recently posted a video in the "Post what you're listening to" thread, I think it was the Wayne Krantz video, and you could hear his single coils humming in some instances and he didn't seem to care and neither did anybody else. He sounded fantastic. Too much is too much of course, a brush motor or rheostat or similar source of interference can make things pretty ugly, but I don't think that a bit of noise is automatically a problem.

Regarding your quiet P90s, that's been my experience too. I've got a P90 loaded Paul that is quieter than my Teles or Strat.