How To Make a Hum-Canceling Single Coil

Using a Precision Bass split-coil pickup design to make almost any guitar pickup silent.
For more information about our pickups, please visit http//:www.schuylerdeanpickups.com
Music credits:
Desert Blues by Don Syke
No More Will I Be (Instrumental) by Martin Carlberg

[@DN-wb2gy]

love the replaceable-pickup guitar for your testing, very convenient and useful

[@elluisito000]

This configuration is becoming very popular among bass pickup makers. Thanks for another nice video :)

[@2011batman1]

Genius awesome idea brother.

[@ServiceOrchestramegastore]

thanks for this great video

[@kevinking2468]

I love this type of content - Thanks!

[@AmerikkkaGuitars]

You can also split these with a dpdt switch, so you can get half of the neck pickup and half of the bridge pickup for a wider range.

[@hansonigor]

Nice build. Thanks for uploading

[@robguitarwizard]

You make it look easy.

[@bernieheveron1929]

Excellent video !

[@jamescopeland5358]

Nice pickup

[@HighlineGuitars]

Pretty cool!

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

It sounds good so far. I think ppl would like to hear more of this pickup

[@maurocoimbra9624]

Excellent!!

[@wrzkace1]

soo cool

[@joshchristian8598]

Thanks man... really exactly what i was looking for. KZbin is such a great community ... ty x a zillion

[@MrPhilsAlabamaHotSauce]

Thank you. Very nice video. Great information.

[@pangolinpedals707]

Great work, and they sound great too, brilliant 👍👍👍

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Thanks!

[@Strumbum01]

Killer video! Subscribed!

[@GregPentecost]

Not sure why this style of pickup isn't the mainstay. Thanks for the great explanation and demonstration!

[@ResoBridge]

For the same reason stacked coil hum cancelling pickups aren't the default. In order to get the two coils side by side, the coil geometry - coil height, number of turns, wire gauge - changes a little and they don't sound quite the same as single coil pickups. The pickups are also a little more expensive and complex to build.

[@jbealsmusic]

In this particular pickups style's case, the winds and polarity are reversed between the D and G strings, so you end up getting that "out of phase" sound when bending the D towards the G, or bending the G towards the D. It would be tonally very different than a standard single coil in that space, where most players bend/vibrato notes quite regularly. It would also impact the upper harmonic resonance as you played open chords. Some frequencies would cancel out, taking away a little clarity. Not a huge impact, but enough that, again, it just wouldn't sound exactly like a traditional single coil A very interesting alternative to stacked coils though!

[@ResoBridge]

@@tigeraudio Any hum cancelling dummy coil must by definition output a signal generated by the local hum field, otherwise there would be be no hum cancellation. The problem with dummy coils is that they do add a further inductance to the guitar circuit, altering its response.

[@leonthompson8988]

@@ResoBridge take a cheap single coil then remove the pole pieces and magnet install it between the output of the selector switch and output jack. No volume drop or 60 cycle hum

[@sc0or]

Because we made a software filter that eliminated exactly 50/60Hz almost completely keeping other frequencies with Intel 8051 20 years ago. Only well known as "true guitarists" (or lazy ones) listen to hum. Others use processors with digital filters. Radio frequencies can be easily filtered out with few components.

[@biroesustainer573]

Yes

[@Fernando.Canal2]

This is amazing, thanks for sharing

[@LukaRioli]

*AWESOME VIDEO! This is EXACTLY what I've been needin to see for so, freakin long! 😃 I just knew that you could turn a single coil pickup into a humbucker somehow. And it's so flippin SIMPLE! 😂 LOL Thank you so, incredibly much, Schuyler Dean Pickups & I hope you have a real fab day, buddy! 😁👍✌*

[@paulwomack5866]

You might also be interested in "stacked humbuckers"

[@jessejamessumagaysay2509]

You're such a bright guy dude 😎

[@fideldiazmusic]

great men this is very interesting!

[@ok_CK]

Cool! Cheers

[@Ludus4H1]

Good. I did it but stacked for PU in neck position.

[@leothemetal]

What about 7 strin hum canceling single coil? Where schould you split it? 3 magnets on bass strings and 4 or trebbles? or should you do it otherwise?

[@fm1467]

The split-coil pickup sounds fuller and warmer (bass-y and kinda little bit midrange-y) while the vintage tele sound weaker but slightly more chiming and twangy to me. I love both tone and character of those pickups, but for bridge pickup maybe the split coil is better.

[@michaelhead875]

Great vid. Have you made P-90s with this method?

[@Fabaoguitarbrazil]

If I wind both in the same direction and solder the 2 finishes together, would it work?

[@Fabaoguitarbrazil]

Great idea. Where do you get those eyelets from?

[@ramaclub9999]

cool

[@Charles-Darwin]

Do a humbucker this way with diagonal reverses, wonder what that'd do?

[@sowiloi]

Hi! Actually, less turns for brighter tone and higher output for more mids and warmness. I like the Idea of a splitcoil singlecoil, would it also work if I reverse the winding direction after 5000 winds (P90), secure the windings with tape and wind another 5000 in the other direction, and then have North up on the low strings and south up on the higher ones? Best Dave

[@ResoBridge]

I'm assuming you mean have the coils extend over all six magnets? No I'm pretty sure that won't work because the signal generated by the strings in each coil would be out of phase and the string signal would cancel out as well as the hum signal.

[@6xcchamber971]

When building a Humbucker you can wind both coils the same direction and then just connect the 2 finishes together. Then one start is hot the other is ground????? With a strat the neck and bridge are wound CW and the Middle CCW??? Is this correct??? Thank you for the video and your time, B

[@ltcm5052]

Genius! I know GFS makes some of these, and Zexcoil has its own design that is different. Why don't more major manufacturers use these? And why aren't they found in stock Fenders, etc?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

There are many different ways to make them, this is just an example of one.

[@xenod1066]

Thank you. Your pickups sound great. Have you made stacked hum cancelling singles before? And could you do two stacks in a humbucker so you can split and still have noise canceling? I see above that you had trouble getting it to work with the side by side, but I can't see why it wouldn't ultimately work. I bet you could do it. But stacks would work at the neck with string bending.

[@ulmestrat]

Less hum, but the sound is dull - the normal single -coil is what i prefer ! What is the used gauge wire in "mm" ?

[@gerardoromano3436]

Woooaa look the difference in dinamics split coil sounds choked to me and lacks dinamic range/dinamics (difference betweeen quiet and loud sound in this case It´s pick attack) Compare Split Coil (noisless) at 8:27 and a single coil at 8:39. Notice the contrast between the first note before the bendings , great demo because you repeat that phrase many times (pick attack between split coil (noisless) and vintage single coil , to me the noisless split coil pickup sounds choked , until now I was planning to get noisless pickups thinking the difference is only in the brightness of the sound and could be copensated with an Eq or even the tone control of the amp but now a see brightness is not the issue dinamics is the real issue with at least with noisless/hum cancel pickup ,. Great video and learn a lot, never saw the entire manufacture process of a pickup. Great video, I can tell you are a great professional. Great channel as well, you deserve more subs.

[@jacobhurt3821]

Can be made on normal stat single coil plate

[@ALtheDoctorWho]

I use to fool around with pickups in the 70s and I remember making tap coil on a few. However why can't you just wind the same turns in the other direction over the inside windings? Thanks for sharing. c];-)

[@keithklassen5320]

Lots of people call this a tapped coil, but it's not actually tapped, that's a different thing. This is a split coil.

[@_mysilentblue2227]

I'd be curious to hear one real single coil and one split coil singlecoil made with the same materials, windings & gauge at the same time compared AB. This way they would be the closest AB comparison, the only difference would be how the random winding patterns are laid down.

[@tameromari2102]

Great video man. Thanks for the info. Can you explain what would happen if you don't put the metal base plate on?what does it do exactly? Again thanks for the vid

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

The metal base plate just raises inductance and output. You can leave it off if you want.

[@tameromari2102]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups oh interesting. One more question if you don't mind :) Do you connect the base plate to the ground of the circuit or is it just under everything as a shield?

[@MAPIOH]

@@tameromari2102 as mentioned @07:11..Base plate and Black wire are connected..😊👌🏻

[@goneflying140]

So could you use 43AWG on one side and 44 AWG on the other side if you wanted the bass side to sound thinner, and the treble side to sound fatter? Or would that ruin the hum cancelation?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

The less similar the coils are the more noise you get.

[@ememe1412]

It's worth a try. The mismatch happens with Tele middle position of two matched (reversed poles and wound) neck and bridge pickups. The cancellation won't be perfect but maybe wind to matched outputs of the different gauges rather than to same number of winds.

[@Theansilgregoryshow]

What about a strat style one but a few extra winds on the gbe

[@voodoocustompickups2547]

Couldn't you wind them both either CW or CCW and just attach the leads differently (Start/Finish > Start/Finish instead of Start/Finish > Finish/Start)

[@rorysstuff5129]

Have you tried wiring them in parallel?

[@dwcleary8694]

What is the sonic difference between 44ga wire and 43 or 42 on this type of pickup? -and why did you choose it?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Usually you get more compression from thinner 43 and 44 ga. When space is an issue, you have to use thinner wire to achieve the appropriate output.

[@_teheb]

Its possible take the mfd pickups concept and add the split coil to that system?. I ask, because the two coils will have the same polarity.

[@fm1467]

Very possible, just cut the magnet bars into two piece (or find 2 smaller magnet that fits the magnet bars cavity). then rewire them, and you'll got your split-coil MFD pickup

[@waynegram8907]

Reverse Polarity means South Side UP, the top of the pickups pole pieces are South side?What magnet gauss level do you use to magnetize the alnico pole pieces? I have seen you put magnets in a clamp but what are the magnet gauss levels at to magnetize other nonpolarized magnets?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

I use rare earth magnets in a vice. Just charge them all the way up. Reverse polarity means REVERSE POLARITY.

[@waynegram8907]

Reverse Polarity can either be North Side up or South Side up on the top side of the pole pieces can either be North side up or South Side up.

[@ResoBridge]

Alnico 5 pickup magnets saturate at around 1,000 Gauss (measured right on the poles). Neodymium magnets, of the type shown in the video measure around 3,000 to 4,000 at the pole face. So they should be powerful enough to saturate the Alnico 5, providing the Alnico magnets are passed through as close as possible to the Neo's. I have seen videos of people magnetising Alnico 5s with a gap or spacer between the Neo's and the Alnico's. Magnetic field strength falls off rapidly with distance, so with any spacing there is a danger that the Alnico magnets won't be saturated or magnetised equally.

[@christianurgese]

Thank you. I cannot understand how can you split coils if the coils are part of a single pickup.

[@degarcia_c96]

You must be very proud of your work, it is impressive to see your projects. I don't know the use of a composite coil to cancel hum in a single coil size. Greetings from México.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Thanks Diego!

[@josh661]

Where do you get all the pieces for the pickups?

[@volkerfriedritz8149]

In the US, maybe from Stewmac, in Europe from Crazyparts.

[@giampierodeleonardis1970]

good video, that's exactly what I am planning to do in early future . and...what about your winding machine?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Thanks. It's a Schatten-Design from StewMac, works pretty good!

[@giampierodeleonardis1970]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups oh... So not cheap at all. Tnx

[@jbealsmusic]

​@@giampierodeleonardis1970 They are nearly half price if you buy them elsewhere... StewMac's prices are crazy on some products.

[@iridios6127]

+Giampiero De Leonardis Nobody don`t need a machine like this, you can use a handcranked drill or a electric screwdriver. If you don`t plan mass production of pups. )))

[@goneflying140]

Hi. Does this style of pickup still retain the signature Tele sound? Thanks for sharing such a cool video!!

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

IMO it does.

[@pwhite102]

I imagine you could wind it a little lower than the 8. something and get an even closer sound

[@Mojoman57]

Cool. Is this similar to the split pickups you might see on a G&L?

[@ResoBridge]

It is. The precise details may be different but the principle is the same. Mr Fender was just extending the method he used to build the P bass split pickup. The G&L Z pickups even have the offset between the two coils.

[@ltcm5052]

@@ResoBridge so does the same problem occur when bending with the G&L Z style pickups?

[@InvisibleKingStudio]

Very Cool! I'm going to try this!! But, the real magic is in that wire winding machine with counter you have.... LOL. How did you build that?

[@kevineckhart127]

He didn't built it. Here's one we build that does the same - it has CW and CCW kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGO9aZmarKuegrM

[@jjim0437]

This looks hard. I don’t think I could do this!!

[@dennissutton3767]

Where can I buy a winding machine? Thank you

[@kevineckhart127]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGO9aZmarKuegrM

[@chandler1390]

Jazzmaster set?

[@danielayala9895]

can you make a humbucker pickup this way?, double split-coil single coils, I dont really know the purpose or use of that but...just wondering

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

I tried one once, so it would be hum-canceling when split. Couldn't get it to work right.

[@danielayala9895]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups, what was the issue? polarities?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@danielayala9895 I don't remember, but I'm sure someone could figure it out easily enough.

[@SkibidiEugensson]

Quad-coil pickups are not unheard of if we are talking about basses. A lot of companies produce them, eg Bartolini and Nordstrand. The only reason is to have more tone selection options.

[@arabofon]

I built one exactly like this but in spite of a DC resistance of 10.3k, it sounds thin. Where might have I gone wrong?

[@ResoBridge]

You may have the phasing between the two coils the wrong way around. Try reversing the connections to one of the coils. Or - you have some shorted turns in one of the coils.

[@AJbassist]

this reminds me of some G&l designed

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Yes, it's a very common design.

[@leonthompson8988]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups you can take the poles out of a cheap single coil then hot glue it between the volume pot and selector switch output. No volume drop or tonal change. Woodeso from Canada has a YT channel is where I saw that being done. Great video. The demonstration part let the video down a bit. Is this going to be a side business for you ? It would be nice to buy boutique quality pickups without getting fleeced. Good luck and God bless you and yours

[@dwcleary8694]

I don't understand the bit about not being able to bend strings past magnets 3 & 4, where the polarity inverts. Even if a string was right between magnet 3 & 4 shouldn't the signal just add together? It seems to work fine on a dual coil Gibson style humbucker.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Gibson humbuckers have both coils under all the strings whereas a side-by-side split coil only has three strings under each coil.

[@dwcleary8694]

Thanks for replying. But I still don't get it. I suppose I could do an experiment on a Gibson humbucker: remove three slugs on one coil, and three screws on the other, and see what happens.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@dwcleary8694 A good experiment, but you still have coils under all the strings which makes it different.

[@dwcleary8694]

OK, I took a P-Bass with the split pickup and passed a tuning fork over the pickup (holding the tuning fork vertically so it's as thin as possible). I hear no perceivable reduction in volume between the pickup segments. I'm really curious, because I can think of no technical reason there should be a volume loss between the third and fourth pole, because the output will be in phase...unless it's something to do with the magnets being so close and affecting the same spot on the string, which is not the case with the P-bass pickup or the Gibson humbucker. Fralin apparently gets it to work with the split rail, and those pole pieces are close. Anyway, your design looks close to the holy grail of single coil pickups: hum-cancelling, fits in a stock pickup cutout, can use traditional alnico magnets...except for this volume loss issue.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@dwcleary8694 The purpose of the overlap of the coils on the Fralin and the P-Bass pickup is to reduce volume loss between coils. My pickup has no overlap.

[@jamiemoore813]

The polarity of the magnets really matter?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Yup! It has everything to do with the sound waves. They must be opposite polarity from each other. Which side is which does not matter.

[@christianpucciarelli]

isnt this more of a low low output humbucker than a single?

[@donniepolk464]

Do you sell these?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Not currently, but there are some other builders out there who do something similar.

[@waynegram8907]

Any reasons why you use 0.671inch magnets and didn't use 0.630, 0.650, 0.710inch pole pieces? Why do you use South SIDE for Clockwise and not use North Side for Clockwise?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

The height of the poles is so that I can fit enough windings on there to achieve the right output. The polarity doesn't matter, they just have to be RW/RP.

[@waynegram8907]

Does the Height of the pole pieces length size change the magnetic field and frequency response? the longer the pole piece the more magnet more output?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@waynegram8907 exactly!

[@danilooliveiraaraujo1029]

Hi man, how is it going? If I want to use this same idea but istead of splitting a pickup I built a second one and place it underneath the pickups that are already on the guitar, it will work in the same way?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

You are basically describing a "dummy coil" which is a RW/RP coil with no magnetism required that can be placed anywhere in the electronics cavity and wired in parallel with the pickup you want to create hum-canceling with.

[@danilooliveiraaraujo1029]

​@@SchuylerDeanPickups I got your idea but I was thinking of something more sophisticated. I read that noiseless pickups have the structure of a common humbucker, but instead of placing the coils side by side, the coils are stacked. I thought that a singlecoil placed underneath another with the poles up side down would work as hum cancelling device.

[@danilooliveiraaraujo1029]

I mean, I would double the number of pickups. Each one of them would become a stack.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@danilooliveiraaraujo1029 Oh I see, yes, a "stacked humbucker"

[@danilooliveiraaraujo1029]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups yes, do you think it would work? If so, are there any details to consider, such as the same resistance or the alignment of the magnets? But just to clarify, I am not going to build a whole new stacked pickup , I would just put another pickup under the existing one, invert the poles and connect the starts and ends of both.

[@josecarlosramolete6109]

Yngwie Malmsteen should have requested you to make a hum-cancelling single coil pickups for him instead of going to Seymour Duncan.

[@LukaRioli]

*Hello, Schuyler Dean Pickups. I was just wonderin if you could possibly make me 1 of these hum cancelling split coil pickups for my Telecaster. Could you please do that for me? 😃 I'd absolutely LOVE to have 1 of these pickups in my guitar in its middle position, so it's not too trebley or bassy. On high gain & overdrive it'll sound freakin KILLER, man! 😅 If you can, then please tell me how I can order it & how much it'll cost me in pounds (£) okay? Thank you so much again, Schuyler Dean Pickups & hopefully I'll hear from ya soon! Peace out! 😁✌*

[@rickmilam413]

Stupid question - I know the song and yet... I can't place it. Help? (First one)

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Rick the music credits are in the description.

[@NightxLightx]

Good for recording, but the vintage ones sound way better...

[@jchavins]

running the coils offset like on a Precision bass does not result in volume loss when bending the strings. That's the reason for the offset. Keeping them in line WILL result in a volume loss. You have this backwards, I suggest you investigate G&L Z coil pickups....

[@andrewlyon8924]

Yeah, pickups themselves are pretty dumb and don't know what they're supposed to listen to, so they won't discriminate against your guitar strings (nor will they discriminate against hum lol). But as you were saying, if they're right next to each other it cause a bit of phase cancelation (at least in theory) which would result in a loss of output; hence why Leo separated the coils.

[@ricmel8008]

I thought they said humcancelling single coils are Humbuckers.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

Some people call them that, yes, but the term humbucker was specifically used to talk about double-coil pickups from the '50s that "buck the hum"

[@ricmel8008]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups oh ok thanks much. Does humcancelling single coils sound like humbuckers?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@ricmel8008 No. If they are wired in parallel they sound more like single coils.

[@ricmel8008]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups oh ok ty

[@lavh93]

isn't this just a hum bucker?

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

You could call it that. A humbucker simply bucks the hum.

[@nanofree5950]

Well done video. but it looks something wrong. to me In the wiring process you show and talk only "in serie" coils, with one final black and final white, so these coils cannot be splited. But in the sound test, 1st one, you write "split coil"....and again after playing the Tele... There is a non sense.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

What you are seeing is back to back testing of a split coil and a regular single coil.

[@nanofree5950]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups Thanks for answer. It is wired in serie so it is a 2 coils called humbucker,... just sized like a single. A split coil would be wired with option to cut off one of the coils before the pot by a switch cutting your serie wire. Then it would be a coil splited humbucker..

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@nanofree5950 If you split the coils like a humbucker then half the strings wouldn't make a sound.

[@nanofree5950]

@@SchuylerDeanPickups Exactly, that s why a smart split coil is winded like "Fender noiseless" up to up bobins or side to side like Dual Hot Rail for example. But anyway term "split coil" is used when you can split one of the 2 coils signal before lead in output. What you show here is a pretty nice made mini online humbucker. in serie, not split coil.

[@SchuylerDeanPickups]

@@nanofree5950 I'm having trouble understanding you, but I think you're talking about a "coil tap".

[@johnmoser1162]

You can "hear" the difference BY NOT PLAYING the guitar. You should hold the pickups neat a transformer or such. So all the noodling at the end ... seems you have ZERO understanding of physics.