Stop my Ric with Sergio Silva Pickups from humming

[08 Ric 4003]

I have flourescent lights in my bedroom, and when the lights are off is sounds the same. I will try copper foil first since it is the easiest and cheapest. I think I am going to take my Ric to a guitar store and plug into a bass amp there to see if it does it there.If it does then the pups are the problem. Just watched the Lemmy documentary last weekend. His sig model is off the hook nice, love that dark wood with the engraving. I noticed all the Rics he played he moved the strap button down to were the neck goes through the body. I guess its the godfathers preferance.

[cassius987]

I think you'll have better luck with RWRP--just a prediction. Do try the copper foil first if you want as it's a bit simpler to try out.

[08 Ric 4003]

I will do the RWRP mod when I change my strings in a few weeks, and see if it does the trick.

Thanks Everyone

Joel

[08 Ric 4003]

Took the Ric to a music store and played it on the same amp that I have (Acoustic B100) and there was no change. So either the Ric is supposed to hum a little or I need to do the RWRP. It hums, buth when I start playing I can't hear it. It just drives me nuts when I am not thumping it.

[cassius987]

Took the Ric to a music store and played it on the same amp that I have (Acoustic B100) and there was no change. So either the Ric is supposed to hum a little or I need to do the RWRP. It hums, buth when I start playing I can't hear it. It just drives me nuts when I am not thumping it.

Yes, that's exactly how this works. It's 60 Hz hum that can be picked up virtually anywhere. It's not the amp's fault. Do the RWRP mod or, like you said, just ignore it as it is barely audible when you play.

Try the same experiment with a Jazz Bass with one volume turned off and you're going to have the exact same thing happen.

[08 Ric 4003]

You are right. I have a Jazz Bass and if I keep both volume knobs at the same setting, dead quiet, but if I turn one just a little or have one on and one totally off. It buzzes. I don't think as much as the Ric. Will the RWRP change the tone of my Ric? Will it sound out of phase?

[cassius987]

No not at all... it will sound exactly the same except for the lack of hum with both pickups on. They already interact right now in such a way that causes comb filtering, basically a light mid scoop. The RWRP mod does not change that.

I've heard people say this changes tone, but in my experience, it absolutely does not.

The pickups will be in phase as far as the strings are sensed but out of phase as far as the hum is sensed.

[08 Ric 4003]

Sound good. When it is time to change stings I will do it. Does it matter which pup I do?

[cassius987]

No it doesn't in theory. Yes it does in practice.

The bridge pickup is easy to do this mod to, the neck pickup is kind of hard. So do it to the bridge pickup. It's very straightforward to invert the magnet on that pickup.

[woodyng]

this is probly a dumb question-but does RWRP also work on a single pickup model? my 4000,which i have had copper shielding done in the control cavity,still has the tendency to pick up a lot of hum. Reading previous posts,i presumed RWRP was a kind of jazz-bass style wiring that worked only where 2 pickups were involved. yes/no?

[ken_j]

I presumed RWRP was a kind of jazz-bass style wiring that worked only where 2 pickups were involved.

Correct, unless you add a dummy coil hidden in the cavity. Gibson did this with the Blues Hawk with two P90's.

[coolhandjjl]

I may be wrong, but I thought I read that collectively Rics are a bit noisier as compared to other types of guitars. Apparently that is supposed to be a part of the infamous clank and growl. Whether that's by design, or happens merely by leaving it true to its roots, I don't know. I did the RWRP mod on my 4003, and find no loss of character to its sound. So I also plan to do it on my upcoming RM1999 reproduction. Dane wired my 4004/2 v57 both as traditional humbucking with the addition of two push/pulls for single coil operation in either or both pups. So I suppose when in one or both single coils, I may be noisier, but it sounds fine to me. (With that bass, there are too many combinations of modes to do a true RWRP mod anyway if I'm not mistaken.)

[cjj]

RWRP stands for Reverse Winding Reverse Polarity. Hence switching the wires and flipping the magnet. This means that the signal generated by the strings will still be the same phase since both windings and polarity are reversed.

The hum cancelling effect comes from the reversal of the windings only. Hum is caused by electromagnetic (EM) fields picked up by the windings alone and has nothing to do with the magnet. Since the EM field is essentially constant in the two pickups, reversing one will cause the hum signal to be 180 degrees out of phase between the two pickups causing it to cancel when the signals mix. This is exactly what a hum bucking pickup does, only in that case, it's all in one pickup so the hum signal is even closer to being exactly the same between the two coils.

Most Ricks have single coil pickups, which by their design are susceptible to picking up hum. There are several things that can be done to reduce this, shielding for example, but just how much effect this has varies with the source of the hum. RWRP helps, but as has been noted, only works when both pickups are on and at the same volume...

[johnallg]

Teach your Rick the words!!!!






I can't believe this thread has gone this long without one of us yahoos posting that....

[08 Ric 4003]

Sergio got ahold of me and I am going to send him pics of my pickups. I bought the bass with what I was told Sergio Silva vintage made hi gain pups.