Seymour Duncan JB withj funky hum... ongoing issue with the JB

[Slobrain]

Hey Folks,

I have a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker that's about 17k and it really picks up hum in idle more than most my other JB pickups. I checked all the wiring and I cant seem to figure why this one pup seems to have much more hum than my other pickups? Yep, I checked my wiring and checked both bobbins as well they are wired correctly. This isn't a guitar wiring problem, its a odd pup problem.

I see that there is an ongoing issue with the JB pickup having hum issues. In a net search I found some different forums that have folks complaining about the excessive hum. I wonder if SD company changed something on the production. This JB pup is fairly new, I got it off EBay lightly used and maybe someone sold it due to the hum issue.

Any suggestions on this odd problem? I sure hate to garbage can a fairly new JB pup...

Slo

[Chuck H]

Coming from eBay I would guess that the hum issue is precisely why that pickup was being unloaded. JM2C on that regarding the auction site.

Have you tested each coil for symmetry? If they're even reasonably symmetrical you should achieve acceptable hum cancellation with the pickup wired correctly. It's possible, though I've never seen it, that the color coding is wrong and you'll need to pigeon through different options to find the right one.

Can you link the info you have on others having hum problems with this pickup?

Do test the coils DCR individually and out of the circuit.

[Slobrain]

Hey Chuck,

The slug coil is 8.28K and the screw coil is 8.68K I tested the north/south polarities and the positive negative polarities and the wiring is correct. I've connected it directly to the amp and comparing with an old Ibanez V2 pup the JB has more hum in idle with the gain up on my amp. The Ibanez pup was a quieter. I compared the JB hum to another guitar using a JB and it was quieter than this JB pup. I'm not sure what to think about this? There has to be something in the build of the JB pup that isn't right.

I've read on some other forums there being an issue with some JB pups having excessive hum, more than normal. maybe build quality changed like other stuff these days... There has to be a fix...lol...

[big_teee]

I see you checked the wiring.
There is very little to them, 2 coils, and 4 wires with shield.
T

[g1]

Completely OT, but how did Arkansas become Southwestern USA ? .

[big_teee]

Completely OT, but how did Arkansas become Southwestern USA ? .

Where else would it be?
I'm south of the Smith and Wesson Line, and west of the Mississippi!
T

[soundguruman]

If you turn one coil around and reverse the connections, it might hum less than the original way.
Of course a higher output pickup is going to have more noise...in general.
That's why many players don't use high output pickups.

I have never really been happy unless I was using Gibson pickups.
I have tried several Seymour, Dimarzio, etc...and always went back to Gibson.
The only ones I could stand besides Gibson was the EMG passive pickups.

[Slobrain]

This was probably one of those factory screw-ups, in the junk drawer it goes... shame too, it looks like brand new... maybe one day I'll get it rewound...

a few years back I started to refret necks so now maybe its time to learn to make pickups...lol...

I need to find a cheaper source of GOOD cheap pup... I have some of the GFS crunchy rails humbuckers in a few different guitars and they sound good. A bit brighter than the JB but good. I have been playing one strat that has the Seymour Duncan Mayhem set and I like the distortion pup. its got a nice sound to it.

There are a lot of cheapo pups out there like the Dragonfire brand on EBay but I hear mixed reviews on them and the Guitarheadz brand, all probably from the Asian imports like Jay at GFS gets, but at least Jay does make some really good cheap pups...

[soundguruman]

I have some $1.75 Epiphone pickups.
If you like cheap pickups, you can have those.

[Slobrain]

Thanks SGM but I'll pass on the Epi pups... Thanks anyway though.

I had once heard a guy at GC playing a Epi Les Paul thru a dual recto amp back in maybe 2000, it sounded muddy, then the guy picked up a real Les Paul and it sounded crisp and clear... Not sure if Epiphone changed pups since. The Gibson sounded FAT.

What I meant about cheap pups was like GFS and folks who sell stuff Asian made knockoffs, Jays stuff is pretty darn good for the prices. I'm big on making cheap stuff play and sound good. Like tonight, I just got thru refretting a Squier maple strat neck. I had to relevel the fretboard to a 12 radius, then I installed Jescar super jumbo frets on it. I still have to do the fret leveling, then cut a new bone nut. Hopefully it will play sweet after that. Its got the 69 headstock so I'll put it on my white strat for a Hendrix Woodstock look, but with a better feel of the fretboard.