Emmons 108N Humbuckers

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 18 Jan 2004 2:58 pm

Well I got em in there, the jury is still out though. I figure I'll give them a month or so and see how I like them. I still have hum though! I noticed that I have more hum here in my house than I did at band practice last night while I still had the single coils in there, lots more! Wassup with that? Something with the way the house was wired?

Charlie Moore · Post by **Charlie Moore** » 18 Jan 2004 7:42 pm

David,if you are using them in an emmons make sure the wires coming out of the p/up are not touching the changer post,if it is it WILL hum,also run them(the p/up's) close to string's as you can........

cya ..Charlie....

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 18 Jan 2004 7:53 pm

Thanks Charlie, this hum isn't comming from the pickup though. I've been chasing this thing for a while. I noticed that I had a lot less hum last night at practice than I do at home. It must be a lighting or wiring thing in my house.

Bill Erb · Post by **Bill Erb** » 18 Jan 2004 8:12 pm

I had the same problem. I called the Emmons company and they told me to cover the bottom with a good grade of electric tape. It worked for me. I have no hum at all now.

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BILL ERB

Dave Robbins · Post by **Dave Robbins** » 18 Jan 2004 10:14 pm

David,

The 108 is a "noiseless" pickup. There will not be any hum from using them.

Charlie is right. The lugs that stick out the side of the pickup where the wires are attached, you are suppose to cover with electrical tape. They are not supposed to touch anything! The lugs shouldn't be pressed against the pickup plate either.
By the way, it is a good idea to wrap a turn or two of electrical tape around the pickup mounting plate in the area of the lugs, if they are not already wrapped.

I have a customer's guitar here on my bench right now and my own guitar, and both have the 108's. Both are "stone quiet" even when the "volume pedal and amp are wide open!" I have installed the 108N pickups in other people's guitars and have had no problem with noise ever.

If you unplug the guitar from the amp, do you still have the hum? If you get hum when you plug the guitar in then you have a problem at the guitar. If the amp sets there and hums without the guitar plugged in, then the problem is not the guitar or pickup. No pickup will help an amp that is humming without anything being plugged into it. The problem is elsewhere. (Try lifting the ground, checking the reverb, etc.)

After you installed the pickup did you check to make sure the ohm rating is still correct? Before I install a pickup I check the ohm rating with my ohm meter to see what the pickup is reading (and make sure it is OK). Then, once the pickup is installed, I again check to make sure the ohm rating is still in the "ball park". If it isn't, or doesn't read properly, then it is a sure bet there is a problem with the soldering job, or a grounding problem, wiring, etc. Be sure to check the ohm rating with a meter, before and after. If the pickup is fine, and it is a "108N", it will read in the vicinity of 20-22.5K ohms, approximately.

If there is a problem with the installation of the pickup it will not sound optimum. I had a customer who had installed a pickup in his guitar, but he said it didn't quite sound right to him. When we checked the ohm rating we couldn't get it to read right. Turns out that one of the wires had come loose inside the pickup. It still had volume, supprisingly, but just didn't sound right. When installing a pickup, an ohm meter is your best friend!

Give Ronnie a call if you have any further trouble. He's put them in countless guitars and if anybody knows anything about them it'll be him.

Dave

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 19 Jan 2004 7:03 am

Thanks Dave,

I really don't think it's the pickups. I put tape over the leads on the bottom of the pickups and I checked them with my DVM before trying them out and they read within the range you stated. I really think at this point it's something else in my house that's causing the problem.
Now, I'm going to turn around and contradict myself by saying this, but, the hum isn't as bad with the guitar unplugged. However, since I had minimal hum with the exact same rig somewhere else the other night, I can't help but believe there's something other than my rig that's causing this. I may be wrong, I'll try some of the other suggestions as well.

Thanks
David

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 19 Jan 2004 7:16 am

I just checked the voltage comming into my house, it's at 124v. I even checked it on the other side of my power conditioner, same thing. Talked to a buddy of mine who does electrical work, he says that's a little high and could definitely be causing the problem. He says that 110 - 115 would be optimal. What do y'all think?

Thanks
David
[This message was edited by David Mullis on 19 January 2004 at 08:06 AM.]

Dave Robbins · Post by **Dave Robbins** » 19 Jan 2004 10:37 pm

David,

here in my music room/shop the AC runs 122v. No noise.

Try setting up someone else's guitar and/or amp and see what happens with their stuff.

Years ago at a small home studio, I did some recording for a person and periodically we would get "hum" on the recording. After frantically trying to figure out why, we discovered that everytime the refrigerator kicked on we got the noise!

LOL! (We wound up unplugging the 'fridge until we were through.

)

Dave[This message was edited by Dave Robbins on 19 January 2004 at 10:37 PM.]

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 19 Jan 2004 11:02 pm

Thanks for the info Dave. This whole pickup change has turned out to be a huge mess. I got to noticing that the magnets weren't lining up right on the strings on the E9 side. The strings were lining up between the magnets instead of in the center of the magnets. I noticed that the holes on the mounting plates were off center, so I figured, cool, I can just flip the plat over and be in good shape! I took the E9 strings off, took the screws out of the pickup and checked to make sure I had enough slack to just lay the pickup out of the way to flip the plate, when I did, the ground lead broke off. I figured, no big deal, I'll just resolder it, well when I tried to resolder it, the dang leg broke off!!!
I should have known better than to work on it on a Monday!!! I'm sure you guys think I'm an idiot at this point, screwing up a perfectly good pickup in just 24 hours. Maybe I'll just cut my losses and put the stock single coils back in. As for the humbuckers, they're going to Jerry Wallace to be fixed. I guess I'll hang onto them just in case I ever get a second guitar.
I talked to another electrican about hum. He suggested trying setting up my rig in another room. I have a lot of computer equipment in the house and he said that computer puwer supplies can be noisey. Hell I may just unplug everything in the house except for my rig and see what happens. Before I screwed the pickup up tonight, I did plug just the guitar straight into the amp, no rack, not even an volume pedal, still got hum. I'm convinced it's somewhere else. Thanks to everyone who has offered advice. I'll post my findings later. Right now, I need a drink and to go to bed! It's been a rough night!

Thanks
David

Dave Robbins · Post by **Dave Robbins** » 20 Jan 2004 10:23 pm

David,

you are definitely having a difficult time! Especially with such a simple project. Too bad I'm not close enough to give ya a hand.

No offence to Jerry Wallace, but I think I'd definitely give Ronnie a call and send it/them to him. If memory serves me correct, Ronnie is the guy who winds them suckers!

Good luck,
Dave

Buster Warren · Post by **Buster Warren** » 20 Jan 2004 11:01 pm

David, why didn't you call me,,, I could have helped you find your trouble,,,,,??

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Thank's> Buster,"JAM4FUN"

Bob Snelgrove · Post by **Bob Snelgrove** » 21 Jan 2004 3:51 pm

Did you ever try the amp with no guitar plugged in?

bob

David Mullis · Post by **David Mullis** » 21 Jan 2004 5:50 pm

Dave, I guess it was just bad luck. I've changed pickups in other guitars lots of time with no trouble. I've even worked on my own amps, installed peavey mods etc and I work on about everything that's electronics or telecom related in the hospital where I work. Thanks again for all of the advice and info. I'll let ya know the next time I head up to Gnashville.
Buster, trust me, you didn't want me calling you at 1am when I was working on this! hah hah

but if you insist, the next time I'm up late working on a project, I'll give you a call!

Bob, there is some hum there with just the amp but, it's more pronounced with the guitat plugged in. I haven't had much of a chance to experiment, but hopefully I can work on that this weekend.

Thanks guys!
David

Bobby Boggs · Post by **Bobby Boggs** » 21 Jan 2004 9:43 pm

Do they hum when you're not plugged into an amp?

.........Just picking on you David.Sorry for your bad luck..Regards...bb

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 22 Jan 2004 2:40 am

David..sorry to hear of your adventure.

You could have called me and brought all your gear over here as well..but do be advised..

at 1:00AM I have the "David Mullis Detection Device" turned on and your call would have been automatically forwarded to the Fairfield Resorts Vacation Timeshare hotline !

see ya soon..
t