Bad hum in just one club with a Strat!

[olddawg]

So....I have a problem with one damn club. I can play anywhere else in town and it isn't an issue. I'm using a Strat and can't use my bridge pickup on that stage. I have also noticed that anyone that uses a Strat has the same problem. If I put the selector switch in #4 position on the 5 position switch (effectively making a humbucker) it goes away. It isn't the house lights or the house ground. But there is a giant gas station 20 feet away lit up like NYC on Christmas Day with all kinds of lights and signage. I think it's radiating from the damn gas station. My question is, has anyone ever run into this before and would shielding the control cavity really make a difference. Again, this is the only venue I have a problem and everyone playing a Strat curses the damn place. Nice club though and humbucker equipped guitars don't have the problem. With single coils it's really nasty.

[big_teee]

So....I have a problem with one damn club. I can play anywhere else in town and it isn't an issue. I'm using a Strat and can't use my bridge pickup on that stage. I have also noticed that anyone that uses a Strat has the same problem. If I put the selector switch in #4 position on the 5 position switch (effectively making a humbucker) it goes away. It isn't the house lights or the house ground. But there is a giant gas station 20 feet away lit up like NYC on Christmas Day with all kinds of lights and signage. I think it's radiating from the damn gas station. My question is, has anyone ever run into this before and would shielding the control cavity really make a difference. Again, this is the only venue I have a problem and everyone playing a Strat curses the damn place. Nice club though and humbucker equipped guitars don't have the problem. With single coils it's really nasty.

You probably won't fix it.
If you have more than one Strat.
I would come up with a Blade Humbucker for the bridge, on one guitar and use it there.
T

[Chuck H]

Q: Doctor, when I turn my head like this my neck hurts. What should I do?
A: Don't turn your head like that.

Sorry... Had to

If you have more than one guitar for the tones you need in that club perhaps a set of noiseless pickups (I know they don't sound the same) or one of those dummy coil humbucker systems. Always a nice option for recording too when noise is an issue.

[g1]

I would certainly give the control cavity shielding a shot. What have you got to lose? If it makes no difference at this place you still end up with a better shielded guitar, which may help in other applications.

[J M Fahey]

Agree with the post above, it certainly won´t hurt, but anyway it sounds Magnetic to me, not Electrostatic.
That´s why Humbuckers work (even if made out of 2 pickups combined).
If you do not want the quacky out of phase Strat sound but still the noise cancellation properties, wire *one* Pickup out of phase, but reverse its magnetization.
It will cancel Hum but not Sound.
It will sound, well, like 2 single coils combined, not like a humbucker, but truer to a Strat sound.
jm2c.

[pdf64]

My rehearsal room backs on to train track, and when trains come past you can feel the rumble and correlate it with massive buzz that engulfs the signal from single coil guitars.
Screening makes zero difference with this (though a true A/B test isn't really feasible).
The Kinman Traditional set have got a proper strat tone, not hotted up, and have worked really well for me to make my strat usable; likewise with their P90 type.
With this type of interference they aren't as completely buzz free as regular humbuckers, but they're 'night and day' apart compared to single coils.
Pete.

[olddawg]

Bottom line I'm not going to go to a lot of trouble and expense for one damn club. I'm only there every two or three weeks for one night lately. I like my strat the way it is and I have an Lp backup. What I do is put the Strat in the out of phase position when I start a song, then I just just let it hum. It's just really annoying though. In over 30+ years I have never run into this problem. The sound guy is really frustrated since everyone has the same problem. I told him I don't think there's a fix for it either. I really do think it's the lighting transformers at the gas station next door.

[J M Fahey]

Well, if *everybody* has that problem, there´s nothing (practical) left to do.
Sorry for the Club owners.

[Chuck H]

I suppose one possible fix would be to pick up the noise and re amplify it 180* out of phase. Probably wouldn't be 100% but if you could even cut it in half it would be a big deal. Not sure how much real time effectiveness would be lost in the re amp delay.

Of course this is outrageous. Just thinking out loud.

[Brad1]

Simple test....

...go the club, if possible, during the day before the gas station turns on all the lights. That extra power to light up everything may be radiating the field farther out, and into the club, when it might not with lights out?

Plug in your same amp and guitar, and see if it's as bad.

If not? Maybe that's it. If it is as bad, maybe it's not?

Better yet would be maybe to talk to the station manager to coordinate a "lighting experiment". Go set up shortly before they are going to turn on the lights, maybe have a bud watching when the lights go on, and see if the noise increases right at that time. Maybe even ask them to turn off ALL their outdoor lights and signs in daylight, and coordinate a sequenced lighting/signage power-up, to see if one particular thing causes it as it's turned on?

If it's coming from next door, 20 feet away, that's a lot radiating out, either from the devices themselves, or the service box? Another thing you might try (if possible) is to have an extra long cord, run it out the door and walk closer to the suspected source to see if the noise increases. (Someone inside listening.)

Doing a few easy experiments might at least rule out (or confirm) that the station is the problem. If the station is not the problem, then the club owner should start investigating other things.

You SURE there are no neon signs, fluorescent lights, dimmers, high voltage lines or other possible sources close to where you guys normally set up to play?

For the sake of better sound quality (and less-cranky musicians), you'd think the club owner would want to experiment a little to remedy the annoyance? You'd also think a convenience store operator might want to cooperate a bit to keep the customers of the club happy, and the club busy, so he can sell more smokes, late-night burritos and condoms?

If it's found to be that station is the problem, maybe the club owner could invest in a bit of shielding around and behind the stage?

Why waste time and money trying to treat the symptoms, when you could try to find and fix the problem? (No need to think like a politician, right?)

If you are the guy who figures it out, you could become something a local hero to all the other annoyed guitarists.

Brad1

PS. You COULD even put a mic (a nice sensitive condenser mic would be good) in front of the amp, and run it into a simple recording (computer, portable recorder, whatever), adjust the input for a reasonable signal (not so high that an unintended string scrape will blow something out or completely overload the recording) and look at the noise levels recorded while doing things. Might be easier to spot than just by ear?

[Chuck H]

you'd think the club owner would want to experiment a little to remedy the annoyance?

I've never met a club owner in my life that would give a squirt of piss if the band were on fire. You can draw well, play well, work cheap and even sweep the floor when your done and they're still grumpy about having to deal with bands.

Otherwise I fully agree.

[Steve Conner]

I agree, if you care about hum, you're not thinking like a proper road warrior!

There's probably some huge transformer in a utility room near the stage, and you haven't a chance of getting that moved, or turned off as it probably powers the whole club if not the gas station next door too.

[g1]

I suppose you could leak a story to the local paper about massive EMF emanating from the vicinity. Then just let the local protesters or tin foil hat brigade take care of the rest.

[David Schwab]

I just played in a club like this last weekend. They have a lot of light dimmers and neon light in the place. Everything hums and buzzes, including the PA!

Everyone was using some kind of hum canceling pickups, and it was still noisy.

[J M Fahey]

I HATE when at some (make that too many ) Clubs everything´s fine (sort of) at the sound test, *but* when the band starts playing with all that public around, the unbearable buzz starts, as if on cue.
Of course, it´s your friendly Club owner who´s trying to "enhance the mood" by dimming all those lights in the Club to candlelight levels.
Fine, if he had a Theater quality Dimmer Pack, you know, those which weigh a couple pounds per channel and cost around 200$ each.
Buzz inferno if he tries to do the same with a $6.95 WalMart one.
The ones which weigh an ounce each.