Environmental Diagnosis

[fieldwrangler]

So, I'm dropping by the local very-well-stocked vintage guitar store once every week to compare my latest commissioned pickup set to some very beautiful-sounding references. Their isolation rooms are far & away the most comprehensive noise sources I've ever experienced! Hum, Buzz, Hash, you name it, you got it.

So, when I finish this project I'd like to help these folks out, 'cause these really aren't the sort of places that are good for selling guitars ('specially vintage ones!)

So, how should I go about isolating the various culprits? It honestly sounds like there's a huge El train transformer lurking nearby, combined with cheap dimmers and who-knows-what other electrostatic sources.

[big_teee]

So, I'm dropping by the local very-well-stocked vintage guitar store once every week to compare my latest commissioned pickup set to some very beautiful-sounding references. Their isolation rooms are far & away the most comprehensive noise sources I've ever experienced! Hum, Buzz, Hash, you name it, you got it.

So, when I finish this project I'd like to help these folks out, 'cause these really aren't the sort of places that are good for selling guitars ('specially vintage ones!)

So, how should I go about isolating the various culprits? It honestly sounds like there's a huge El train transformer lurking nearby, combined with cheap dimmers and who-knows-what other electrostatic sources.

Probably Ballists for Flourescent Lights.
That would be a good place to start.
B_T

[fieldwrangler]

Sounds like good advice.

I'm really curious about what this big inductive source might be...

[Jazz P Bass]

Light dimmers usually use a triac for the switching citrcuit.
Induced Noise is a good word for them.

[David Schwab]

I second the light dimmers. Awful source of noise, and very hard to get rid of. Even the quietest pickups will buzz around light dimmers.

I've seen these isolation rooms with nice dim lights, and that's exactly what you don't want! If they are using dimmers, get rid of them and use lower wattage bulbs.

[ken]

It could be anything - ungrounded fluorescent lights, neon signs, refrigerators, or even the store's wiring itself. If the store is really old and hasn't been rewired since before WWII, there is no ground wiring so the whole place makes a great antenna. Also, if the store's wiring is **really** old, the wire splices in the circuits and even the contacts in the circuit breakers and light switches can be tarnished and make "high resistance connections". This radiates noise every time you turn on a light in the bad circuit.

Also, it may not be in the store at all. Anything that shares the same highvoltage transformer as the store will radiate noise into the local wiring. Have a beauty shop next door? Electric shavers and hair dryers are great noise generators. A bar? Neon signs, bar blenders, or refrigerators. Pickup factories? Little AC motors on winders...

Bring an isolation trandformer with you the next time you go to the store and plug in, and see if this helps. That way, you know if the problem is coming through the wiring or is radiated through the air.

ken

[Joe Gwinn]

So, I'm dropping by the local very-well-stocked vintage guitar store once every week to compare my latest commissioned pickup set to some very beautiful-sounding references. Their isolation rooms are far & away the most comprehensive noise sources I've ever experienced! Hum, Buzz, Hash, you name it, you got it.

So, when I finish this project I'd like to help these folks out, 'cause these really aren't the sort of places that are good for selling guitars ('specially vintage ones!)

So, how should I go about isolating the various culprits? It honestly sounds like there's a huge El train transformer lurking nearby, combined with cheap dimmers and who-knows-what other electrostatic sources.

Get a well-shielded singlecoil (without the guitar) on a wooden pole with cable to an amp, and go poking around the room sniffing around this and that. You should be able to find the big sources pretty fast. Fix the loudest source; repeat.