Noise, noise, noise...

[Steve Sawyer]

Wasn't sure if I should post this in the gearhead section in the guitarist forum where I hang out, but I'll try here first.

I have a MIM Strat that has the common noisy single-coils, and have plans to do a thorough and proper shielding with copper foil soon.

However most of the noise accompanies the addition of the distortion pedal (TS-9 Tube Screamer) and the Strymon Lex digital "Leslie" rotary cab. I'm thinking that these boxes are introducing noise that the shielding won't address.

Whaddya think?

[Gordon Bellerose]

My opinion is that the grounding MAY help somewhat.
I shield every one of my electrics, and it certainly helps those, but I also use high quality pickups.

Make sure that all the pickup routs, the control cavity, the spring claw, and the underside of the pick guard are shielded and if necessary, inter-connected with soldered on wire. Make certain the pots are grounded to the cavity shielding too. Check your ground with a multi-meter from all points. The larger the ground field, the better.
The additional noise you get when hooking up extra boxes will be cut down; they amplify what is given to them.

[David King]

You can easily test out the potential for shielding to help out in your particular situation without going to all the trouble of actually doing it. Using a cable with bare metal plug barrel plugged into the guitar, wrap the body in aluminum foil making sure that the foil contacts the plug barrel. If your effects are still noisy then shielding won't help any more than the foil. *Free tip* use the foil over again to make a hat for your halloween costume.

Try improving the pickup's signal to noise ratio by raising them closer to the strings for a hotter output. You can also remove the pickup slugs and replace them with real AlNiCo magnets or simply drop in better replacement pickups. This guitar might be a good candidate for a used set of EMG pickups.

[Steve Sawyer]

Thanks for the suggestions - Gordon, that was exactly the type of shielding regimen I was planning on executing. I'm installing a new pick guard and making some wiring changes, so it will be a perfect opportunity.

David - cool suggestion about that aluminum foil trick - I'll definitely give that a try! I already have my Halloween costume covered though...

I have no details on these pups - they're the stock ones that came with the guitar. I see people spending big bucks to "upgrade" their pickups, sometimes without much benefit, so I've hesitated to roll those dice. Any reason that you mentioned used EMG's specifically?

[David King]

EMG's typically are fairly quiet aside from the internal preamp noise which is mostly hiss. They have a weaker magnetic pull on the strings so you can raise them up closer to the strings without getting "stratitus" (where the magnets set off a harmonic node on the strings that more often than not clashes with the note being played.)
Strat pickups are incredibly easy to make and materials cost is very low so replacing them with good sounding ones shouldn't break the bank.

[Steve Sawyer]

So you're thinking active over passive, huh?

[David King]

Steve,
As far as active pickups go folks either love them or hate them, if you can stand them, they might be a reasonable alternative. An active pickup is often better at driving effects with dubious input sections.
Many vintage effects can be modified with better opamps but that's a political issue.
There are some pretty decent passive hum canceling pickups like the Kinmans but more $$ and harder to find used, also not particularly efficient being a stacked coil design.

[Gordon Bellerose]

My experience with active pickups is limited to EMG's.
They are quiet, and work very well with effects.
I personally do not care for them as they seem a bit "soul-less." But that is my opinion, for what it's worth.