Single coil hum alternatives

[yevri]

I'm an experienced guitarist and want to start playing mandolin. I just bought a Fender FM52 SB used on ebay for $110 and already learned a few songs well enough, so I know I want to continue playing it both for recording and for gigging with my acoustic-rock band.

The Fender FM52 plays and sounds pretty good when unplugged, but when I plugged it into my acoustic amp, it hummed/buzzed like crazy. The seller said I could return it for a full refund, but when I took it to a Guitar Center, it didn't hum at all there - I brought it home and moved my amp to another room and it didn't hum there.

Then I took it to a gig (nightclub with neon lights, etc.) and it hummed loud enough that I didn't want to play it at all. I also had to crank my amp almost all the way up to be loud enough to hang with the rest of the band. My acoustic guitar with a preamp didn't hum there at all, but my electric with a single coil pickup did hum a little, but not as bad as the mandolin.

My question is this: Is there a mandolin out there that I can buy that's around $300 that doesn't have a single coil or may have a single coil but doesn't have the hum problem and that sounds good and will be loud enough? Also, are there solutions for the hum that would work for single coil pickup hum problems so that I don't have to worry about that?

Any advice here would be appreciated.

[Jim Broyles]

Maybe a piezo or a microphone type pickup like K&K (http://www.kksound.com/mandolintwin.html) on an acoustic mando would work better for you.

[jmkatcher]

You could either try to have it shielded better or replace the pickup with an equivalent form-factor noiseless one.

[yevri]

thanks for the advice. The K&K mandolin twin seems interesting. I think I'd add the preamp then too. But it looks like it would be about $250 for that solution without the mandolin. Do you know of any good acoustic mandolins that would be $100-$200 to go with that? Or is there a good mandolin that I could buy that has the pickup with volume controls, etc. that doesn't hum for around the same price (around $300-400)? I like the idea of having the controls on the mandolin if possible, but if it will hum, then I can live with the controls on a separate piece.

As for having it shielded better, how do I go about that?

[mandroid]

shielding would involve a metal liner around the pickup cavity, and shielded braid cable in all the wiring, and grounded to the shield on the cable,
a rewiring around a 3 conductor tRS cable , so signal is separated to the blue and white twisted pair, so cable shield can be grounded .
[NB not a guitar tech, best to hire one for the job]

EMG stacked humbucker in a strat format is I think a reasonable replacement and #only about $25.00 #, #at last note [stewartMcDonald sold me one] #2nd reversed polarity winding was created just to cure that single coil problem..

Godin A8 is an excelent value in an amplified electric acoustic mandolin, they sell typically at about $600.oo #4 bridge piezos, one per pair, a preamp and EQ built in, 9v battery powered.

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

(also: My Fender FM61 electric could change hands for $500.. thats modified improvement [humbucker] and with custom case,,]

[yevri]

Thank you very much. That's very helpful. That Fender is tempting, but I think I want an acoustic/electric - acoustic is right for me for a lot of reasons, especially for recording. Thanks!

[mythicfish]

It could be the case the the recepticle that you amp was plugged into was not grounded. This is often true of older buildings
in which there is a hodge-podge of wiring that has been "upgraded" through the years.

Curt

[yevri]

Is there anything I can plug into (such as one of those little ground lift things) that could help when the grounding is bad or the neon lights are a problem?

[mandroid]

i was in an apartment without grounded outlets, so I bought a new outlet , enough copper solid wire to get to the bathroom, and a clamp to fit the end of the wire to the water-pipe.
and a 3/8" 12" long drill to go thru baseboards in the wall.
Ground was then working , and i ran grounded extension cords from that outlet.
plugged anything that needed gnd into it.

[yevri]

I gave up on the Fender FM52 and think I will not get a single coil pickup.

The owner of a small music shop near me happened to get a great deal on a mandolin the day before I stopped in, a brand new Michael Kelly Legacy Festival Pack (Mandolin, case, strap and tuner) - here's the product on the michael kelly site:

http://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/mandolins/legacyfestivalpack/

Retail is $700, $500 is the lowest they can advertise it and he said he'd sell it to me for $375. Then I'd need to put a pickup on it. Anyone know anything about the Michael Kelly Mandolins and this Legacy Festival Pack? I like the looks of others better, but it sounded and played well.

Does this seem like a good deal and what pickup would you put into it?

Thanks,

Brian

[mandroid]

a microphone and a mic stand has no intstallation costs.

AKG 411 and Schertler are contact microphones. [ i like the latter , but Swiss made, they cost almost as much as your instrument ] if not installed you can keep it when you upgrade again ... you know you will, admit it ,...

but if you must; abundant discussion in the equipment section
big variety of piezo pickups made on /under soundboard or in the bridge 2 location types.

[EdSherry]

The sound of a single-coil electric pickup (like on the Fender) is very different from the sound of a humbucker, which in turn is very different from the sound of a piezo pickup (which, of the three, has the most "acoustic" sound, other than a mike).

It is possible to get noiseless "single-coil" pickups, but you'll spend more than the Fender is worth to retrofit one.

If you're experiencing buzzing (60 cycle hum) when you play out, but not at other times, the problem is most likely that there are flourescent dimmers somewhere near the stage. They are notorious for inducing hum in single-coil pickups (Strats and Teles). Only solution I know of is to try to find a position on the stage that minimizes the buzz.

[yevri]

Thanks so much for the info. I will check out those options.