Strat dummy coils???

[Leevibe]

I recently got a strat as a late Christmas present from my amazing wife. I had posted a NGD pre-crash. (MIM, LPB, SSS, maple fretboard) Anyway, I'm contemplating which mods I'm going to do, and one thing that's intriguing me is the idea of putting in a hum cancelling dummy coil, mainly for the bridge pup.

From what I understand, these can be pretty effective in reducing or eliminating hum, and have much less impact on tone than stacked humbuckers. In fact, a little treble suckage on the bridge wouldn't hurt.

Looking for opinions from anyone who has tried this approach. I know I could just put a humbucker in there. Don't want to.

[brucer]

I can recommend the L-290SL (L="lead"=bridge) pickup from http://wildepickups.com/Wilde_Bill_s_NF_Singles.html (no affiliation).  I think it's essentially what you're talking about design-wise ... and I wouldn't know how to DIY that 

[john_p_wi]

I haven't been to Rob DiStefano's site for a loooong time, kinda out of the guitar building bug.  I know that he recommended cheap import pick ups for this purpose.  Read more here:

http://www.frettech.com/frettech/dummy/index.html

[mjcyates]

Not necessarily what you are asking about, but I added a Mooer Noise Killer to my board to deal with my Strat Lead pickup noise. It is very small, only cost 75-80 bucks and works pretty darn good. I am fairly certain it is based on the ISP Decimator circuit.

[madbean]

I actually just tried doing a dummy coil a few days ago. Did not get results as of yet. I used a cheap pup that measured around 5.6k. Did not seem to make a difference...in fact it seemed to make it a little more noisy if anything. Gonna try working on it some more.

[Leevibe]

I actually just tried doing a dummy coil a few days ago. Did not get results as of yet. I used a cheap pup that measured around 5.6k. Did not seem to make a difference...in fact it seemed to make it a little more noisy if anything. Gonna try working on it some more.

Did you try flipping the leads? I know one way should cut noise, the other way will increase it. Keep me posted as to what you find out.

[nzCdog]

I haven't been to Rob DiStefano's site for a loooong time, kinda out of the guitar building bug.  I know that he recommended cheap import pick ups for this purpose.  Read more here:

http://www.frettech.com/frettech/dummy/index.html

That's an interesting read.  I neglect playing my strat for noise issues, and it's so bright I normally play with the tone wound off a little.  The dummy coil might be worth trying, thanks for the link

[drolo]

Ideal would be something like the Suhr Plate which is a larger coil, wound with thicker gauge so the impact on tone is minimal and still cancels as much hum.

I had done a little experiment on my jazzmaster here:

http://www.davidrolo.com/2013/10/24/dummy-coils-for-dummies/

I am really happy with how it turned out.

I did the same on a tele, the coil had to be a little smaller but it still worked great

[john_p_wi]

Sorry that I have not refreshed my memory on this, another issue if I recall is that you can not use the now normal reverse wound middle  pup.

[bcalla]

There's a lot of info on this subject here.

Note that I haven't tried this yet, I bookmarked the site a while back thinking I will get to it some day.

[madbean]

Sorry that I have not refreshed my memory on this, another issue if I recall is that you can not use the now normal reverse wound middle  pup.

I'm not sure that would matter once the magnets are removed. All your left with is a coil. As far as direction of the coil making a difference, my memory is also kinda sketchy but maybe because magnetic fields run orthogonal to the coil? (yes it's been 20 years since I sat in college Electricity and Magnetism)

[Leevibe]

Ideal would be something like the Suhr Plate which is a larger coil, wound with thicker gauge so the impact on tone is minimal and still cancels as much hum.

I had done a little experiment on my jazzmaster here:

http://www.davidrolo.com/2013/10/24/dummy-coils-for-dummies/

I am really happy with how it turned out.

I did the same on a tele, the coil had to be a little smaller but it still worked great

Looks like you found the same article I read:  huge coil with fewer turns. Is there room to fit one in the trem cavity if I use fine enough wire?

I'll probably start with a crappy strat pickup and just pull the magnet and slugs for starters, but I kind of want to try the big coil idea.

[drolo]

the trem cavity seems to be a good idea. or even in the control pots cavity

[john_p_wi]

Sorry that I have not refreshed my memory on this, another issue if I recall is that you can not use the now normal reverse wound middle  pup.

I'm not sure that would matter once the magnets are removed. All your left with is a coil. As far as direction of the coil making a difference, my memory is also kinda sketchy but maybe because magnetic fields run orthogonal to the coil? (yes it's been 20 years since I sat in college Electricity and Magnetism)

Lol, it's been 30 years for me... 

The electrical guys (I'm mechanical) at work build the equivalent of the Qi charger into hand held medical devices.  I'll have to see if I can grab a coil that is wound flat and stuck to a poly sheet and investigate.  It would be super easy to stick to the inside of the trem cover, although I don't use them.

[Scruffie]

I'd vote for just copper shielding tape, if you do a good job with some star grounding it's really effective, my strat is silent with it.