Stupid 60 Cycle Hum Question

[JaySwear]

i understand that there are stacked hum canceling singlecoil pickups out there. i also know that otherwise there's normally a reverse wound reverse polarity pickup to prevent hum. my question is: if you have one regular singlecoil pickup (not hum canceling) and a stacked single coil together, would there or would there not be hum?

i'm thinking of a classic tele pickup set for bridge and neck and a dimarzio area pickup for the middle position. should i expect hum with the bridge and middle pickups together? or middle and neck? i've tried searching around google, but i have no idea how to even word this question for a google search. thanks!!

 

[Mor Paul]

There would be hum only on the single coil.

 

[JaySwear]

i realized that there's no hum in the middle position of a HS guitar :doh: so obviously a hum canceling single would be the same as the humbucker.

man, i have just been on a dumb-thread-making rampage recently.

 

[ptirman]

i realized that there's no hum in the middle position of a HS guitar :doh: so obviously a hum canceling single would be the same as the humbucker.

man, i have just been on a dumb-thread-making rampage recently.

The only dumb question is one not asked. At least that's what I've believed (for the most part anyway).

 

[Firebird211]

This may not be the official answer, but from my understanding of electronics I would have to say that when the single coil is combined with the stacked coil pickup, it's not fully humbucking 100%, but the magnetic flux from the closest coil of the stacked coil would have a 60 Hz suppressing characteristic on the single coil.  The single coil pickup should get a piece of the hum cancelling action just from proximity, but would have to be in the same polarity configuration.  For another example with quite a few modern humbuckers, like P-rails, the coil mismatch is huge, but still eliminates the hum.  I know of a few single coils that are supposed to be "noiseless", like the stacked ones you are talking about, and all I can think they added was a little dummy coil inside to counter the main coil.

 

[Cagey]

i understand that there are stacked hum canceling singlecoil pickups out there. i also know that otherwise there's normally a reverse wound reverse polarity pickup to prevent hum. my question is: if you have one regular singlecoil pickup (not hum canceling) and a stacked single coil together, would there or would there not be hum?

i'm thinking of a classic tele pickup set for bridge and neck and a dimarzio area pickup for the middle position. should i expect hum with the bridge and middle pickups together? or middle and neck? i've tried searching around google, but i have no idea how to even word this question for a google search. thanks!!

There will be less hum, but it won't be cancelled out completely.

Humbuckers work because of a principle called "common mode rejection". If you have two signals that are identical but out-of-phase, then when adding them together you end up with zero signal. Only signal that's the same but in-phase will be output. In the situation you describe, you will have two signals that are out-of-phase and nearly identical, but one will be larger than the other. So, adding them together is going to cancel, but only up to the differential point. It'll be better than nothing, but not as good as a well-balanced humbucker.

 

[bpmorton777]

here is my stupid reply!!!

if it is a tele that you are wiring up, you are using a blade switch. buy one of those multi lug/5 pole megga super switches and wire the thing up so you split the humbucker to single coil in the mid position to mix with the other single coil. you'll get it to hum cancle pretty well like the way that strat's buck the hum on the in-between positions.

if you realize this already then just never mind me!!!!!!!!!!!

Brian