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Think about all the stray electronic fields such as radio waves, cellular phones and many stray magnetic fields you can’t see. Guitar strings act like an antenna and pickup the various stray magnetic fields and when you touch the strings, the unwanted buzz is usually reduced as long as the strings are grounded to the…

The hum you hear in your amplifier is usually caused by stray magnetic fields generated from the output and power transformers in your amplifier. It is commonly called 60 cycle hum and is one of the major problems that occur with single coil pickups. There are various single coil sized humbucking pickups on the market…

Squeal is usually associated with loose or vibrating parts within the pickup. Making sure the many ferrous components in the pickup are potted in wax help reduce unwanted vibrations that can lead to squeal. Single coil pickups are usually potted in wax to eliminate any minute vibration within the coil. Ferrous components near the coil…

Shielding can be done with several components such as conductive paints, copper and aluminum foils with adhesive have been used. Conductive paints can decrease the value of your instrument if improperly used and can react with the various type finishes used. It can drip onto the surface and cause plastics to melt or distort. It…

Hum is usually associated with stray magnetic fields usually from transformers in amplifiers or poorly grounded instruments or amplifiers. Shielding will help RF interference but will not reduce the stray magnetic fields that can penetrate all kinds of components such as the body, bobbins, pickguards, pickup covers etc. Using anything that will reduce hum such…

Microphonic feedback is similar to having a microphone to close to a speaker and you get uncontrollable feedback or high pitched squeal. In guitar pickups it is caused by loose or vibrating parts such as the various ferrous components and also eddy currents within the coil. Feedback is increased in instruments due to pre-amps, overdrive…

Buzz is usually associated with external electrical interference and better grounding and perhaps radio frequencies filters can be used for eliminating interference in guitar and basses. Proper grounding of amplifier and effect devices will help reduce unwanted RF interference or buzz. When ever possible, the ground system should be continuous and the shields of the…

The best solution is to use an instrument with humbucking pickups if at all possible. Nightclubs seem to have the worst lighting due to all the dimmers, mirror balls, fans, air conditioners and all the cables under the stage. Also some of the stages are so small that you are literally a foot from your…

The easiest thing to do would to use a reverse wind, reverse polarity pickup in the center position of your Stratocaster. I would not suggest rewinding or remagnetizing your older pickups, but to have a new one made for that position and keep the original one stock. Some players reverse the wires on the center…

If you need to shield your pickups, make sure you use extreme care. The best way to shield a humbucker is to put a nickel silver cover on it as it was designed. Using foils don’t do a whole lot as the electrical interference can go right through the top of the plastic bobbin. The…