Single Coil Pickups

[Lee Baucum]

What's the latest on noise reduction on single coil pickups? I've been using 705s for a long time and like them; however, I really would like to go back to single coils.

Are the noisy old venues gone by now? I remember all the horror stories being told on the Forum quite a few years ago.

[Richard Sinkler]

Noisy venues are still plentiful. My best solution was an XR-16 pickup wired with a switch to switch from humbucker to single coil.

[Stephen Cowell]

You want quiet single-coil? You can do split humbucking, like a P-bass... or low impedance, like a Rickenbacher horseshoe. I've seen 8-string lapsteels with P-bass pickups on them... never heard them but it should work fine. You want 10 strings? Sentell, others will make whatever you want.

[James Holland]

I'm still learning about my George L 10-1, but I have a good understanding and usage of guitar single coils and humbuckers. My experience, is a higher resistance, higher output pickup will often be less noisy (reference my tele single coils, (10.1k bridge and 8.5k neck), and lower resistance will be more noisy (reference my les paul burstbuckers, 6.4k and 6.5k). So interestingly, my single coil tele is quieter than my humbucker LP. At 19k, my 10-1 is really quiet. When i had a True Tone single coil in my steel, it was quiet too. Its been a long time since i had noise issues with a venue. One other thing: I have all my amps serviced and corrected for noisiness, or i sell them. Same with noisy cables. I wonder if some have an amp issue, instead of pickup issue?

[Dave Meis]

I also have used 705s for years, and wanted to go back to single coils myself. I've been very pleased with the Scott Schwartz 'Steeltronics' design.. I've never had hum problems with them... and I've played in some really old bars!

[Ron Pruter]

Instead of splitting a humbucker, you can run the coils in parallel. It will be quiet and bright. You need the following:
1) 4 wires coming from the PU.
2) A south coil and a north coil-
magnetically speaking. I use to keep
a pole piece magnet handy to make
sure it would draw to one coil and
be pushed away by the other.Many
6 string guitar PU's use to come
with directions for series/parallel
wiring.
3) Last thing to check when you think
you have it all wired up right. Hook
up the output of the PU to an older
ohm meter with a needle.(non-
digital) Tap the top of a coil
with the side of a metal screw
driver blade.The needle will bounce
either left or right. Take note of
which direction.
Now tap the other coil.It should
bounce in the same direction..
If not,it's out of phase-
Weak and nasal sounding.
Take two wires from either coil and
swap where they're connected. RP

[Larry Ball]

I thought I would throw my “Two Cents” on the table.

I too am a lover of single coil pickups and have them in various steels. Scott at “Steeltronic’s “ has wound a couple for me with great results. I find the volume pedal controls the amount of hum coming from the single coil if any…depending on the amount of compression applied to the pedal. Regarding “Humbucker’s” I was looking at the L710 thinking I try one in one of my Steels. I asked and received a comment from a very knowledgeable steel player as too why he was using the L710. He said the L710 does not “colour” the tone like other pickups can do. It still gives you a single coil tone but provides you hum protection that humbuckers give.

[Richard Sinkler]

I thought I would throw my “Two Cents” on the table.

I too am a lover of single coil pickups and have them in various steels. Scott at “Steeltronic’s “ has wound a couple for me with great results. I find the volume pedal controls the amount of hum coming from the single coil if any…depending on the amount of compression applied to the pedal. Regarding “Humbucker’s” I was looking at the L710 thinking I try one in one of my Steels. I asked and received a comment from a very knowledgeable steel player as too why he was using the L710. He said the L710 does not “colour” the tone like other pickups can do. It still gives you a single coil tone but provides you hum protection that humbuckers give.

I've been using 710s in my guitars for decades. 2 Sho~Buds, 1 Williams, and my current Carter (on C6 only with an XR-16 on E9, wired to a switch to select single coil or humbucking). I don't think the 710 sounds like a single coil.

[Dale Rottacker]

I too used 705's for years, in fact had a D10 Mullen that had 4 of them in it. I love 705's and still use them and have them in my Rittenberry, HOWEVER... I wanted to try the Single Coils in my MSA, so got a couple made by Clay Alden. I don't know what he's done, but they're pretty blame quiet, and just sound killer. Wound at 15 something LOVE THEM.

[Derek Puckett]

I second Dale Rottacker clay Alden is the new single coil guy he also has a stacked single double coil he’s working on

[Wiz Feinberg]

I want to add my findings to this thread. One year ago, in late December 2022, I ordered a pair of newly wound Emmons single coil pickups for my 1983 Emmons push pull steel guitar. At that time, that guitar had a pair of Lawrence XLR-16 pickups installed from a month after I bought it, used, in 2004.

When I bought the Emmons, it had a pair of George L pickups. I didn't care for the sound, or the amount of hum suppression. So, I ordered the XLR-16s, which were supposed to be the best available for my guitar. For the next 18 years, that was my sole steel guitar. I grew used to the sound those pickups produced/emitted.

In 2022 I grew dissatisfied with the sound of the humbuckers and ordered a new pair of Emmons single coils from the new Emmons company. They cost over $400, shipped. What I was looking for was to hear the sound of my picks on the strings and the brightness that Buddy Emmons used to have on his old push pull guitars in the early days.

So, I installed the pickups and began playing with them. The hum was very noticeable when I pushed the volume pedal down to sustain dying notes. I researched the problem and learned about a device called the Electroharmonics Hum Debugger, so I bought one. Sure enough, the hum disappeared when I stomped on the footswitch. But, the tone was changed too. I continued using this combination successfully, for one year.

However, on one of the last gigs I played with the push pull, I ran into a situation where the single coils went into feedback at loud stage volume when I was using my Bobro effect pedal, and the Buzztone fuzz unit. I started getting pissed off.

In December, 2023, after a year using the single coils with the hum debugger, I decided it was time to try a different humbucker. So, I got a hold of Becky Lawrence and ordered a new set of L-710 pickups. I didn't realize that they were made to replace the single coil sound on an Emmons steel, when feeding a standard volume pedal with a 500k pot. I could have had them all these years!

Anyway, the 710s are installed and working as designed. I can hear my finger picks hitting the strings. The highs are bright again, and the hum is gone. No need for the hum debugger. No more feedback with the Bobro, or Buzztone.

My advice to somebody looking for the single coil sound, without dealing with hum, is to try the L-710 pickups. They only cost $110 each, plus Flat Rate box postage.

If anybody wants my 2 one year old Emmons pickups, and the Hum Debugger pedal, contact me through the forum and we'll work out a deal. I also have a pair of used XLR-16 pickups that I pulled out in December, 2022. They are quite mellow in comparison to the 710s.

[Larry Allen]

Aloha Richard.. I’m wanting to pull the Telonics out of my Excel and put in a BL LXR16..having never split a Pu before, what Switch did you use for the Spliting?? Mahalo Larry

[Richard Sinkler]

Larry...

SPST switch. Hook the red wire to one side of the switch. Run a wire from the other side to ground

[Larry Allen]

Got it! Thanks Richard!!