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 just a simple coil of copper wire which is then wired in parallel or series with your existing pickup. With no magnet, it can not make a field for any of the strings to vibrate on. What it really does is to turn 180 degrees the existing signal from the active pickup. This will generally remove a good deal of the sixty cycle hum most single coil pickups produce.
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 matters the most when wiring it up is the direction of of the wire winding of the dummy and real coil. It is possible to wire the dummy in parallel where each one has a single lead wire to the input switch or volume pot. It is also possible to wire it in series where the lead from the real one goes to the volume pot and the lead from the dummy goes to the ground. The other two leads are then connected and this puts them in series.
There are several different variations using this setup. With the several different combinations arises the possibility for assorted sounds. The basic idea is to decide on the type of sound you want to achieve and move in that direction.
The hum nullification is just a side effect of using this type of system in your classic guitar. This set up is frequently used in production blues guitars. A few notable people using of this system are B. B. King and Eric Clapton.
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 just a simple coil of copper wire which is then wired in parallel or series with your existing pickup. With no magnet, it can not make a field for any of the strings to vibrate on. What it really does is to turn 180 degrees the existing signal from the active pickup. This will generally remove a good deal of the sixty cycle hum most single coil pickups produce.
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 matters the most when wiring it up is the direction of of the wire winding of the dummy and real coil. It is possible to wire the dummy in parallel where each one has a single lead wire to the input switch or volume pot. It is also possible to wire it in series where the lead from the real one goes to the volume pot and the lead from the dummy goes to the ground. The other two leads are then connected and this puts them in series.
There are several different variations using this setup. With the several different combinations arises the possibility for assorted sounds. The basic idea is to decide on the type of sound you want to achieve and move in that direction.
The hum nullification is just a side effect of using this type of system in your classic guitar. This set up is frequently used in production blues guitars. A few notable people using of this system are B. B. King and Eric Clapton.
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.
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