How to Get Rid of Humming Sound on guitar?

Humming Sound – Behind premium guitars, there’s a special, exclusive weapon, and this holds true for Ernie Ball Music Man guitars. This manufacturer of guitars and basses, which had Leo Fender involved until 1980, possesses a crucial tool that is uniquely their own.

The small secret weapon is known as the “Silent Circuit.” It’s just one of the many technological innovations that Ernie Ball Music Man has developed over the years in crafting musical instruments. It’s called a small secret weapon because it’s compact, not even the size of a palm. So, what exactly is the function of this particular secret weapon?

The Solution to Single-Coil Pickup or Spool-Type Issues

In simple terms, the “Silent Circuit” is the answer to the problems associated with single-coil pickups or spools. These single-coil pickups, resembling a finger-sized rod made up of metal signal-receiving points, often cause a “hum” or buzzing sound. This buzzing is commonly referred to as a “60 Hz hum.”

What exactly is this “60 Hz hum”? Well, this hum is the sound related to the alternating current at the main electrical frequency. The base frequency of this sound is usually 50 Hz or 60 Hz, depending on the local electrical power frequency. Hence, it’s called “60 Hz hum.”

This sound often contains heavy harmonic content above 50-60 Hz. The electrical current causing this can originate from within the electrically powered audio device or from the electromagnetic field of AC current generated by nearby equipment and cables or external factors. Confusing, right? Here’s the gist: when you plug in an electric guitar, suddenly, you hear that annoying “hum,” and the noise won’t disappear unless you lower the guitar’s volume, for example.

In reality, the issue of “hum” has been addressed with the introduction of “humbucker” pickups. The name itself reflects its purpose: “bucking” (opposing) the “hum.” Nevertheless, humbuckers still have their challenges, as they tend to compromise the purity of the sound.

The Origins of the Silent Circuit

Dudley Gimpel, an electronics expert at Ernie Ball Music Man, provides further insight into the history of this hum problem and how they came up with a better idea to address it.

“In the 1980s, Fender had a design for this problem, involving separate coils to pick up the hum that doesn’t really capture the signal from the strings and passes it through a preamp, but it’s an active circuit. So, our idea essentially still functions as a passive pickup,” he explains.

These guitars have no preamp between the pickup and the amplifier because the Silent Circuit’s electronic circuit is placed between the pickup’s base and where the pickup typically connects to the ground. So, in principle, this secret weapon facilitates a clearer tone without unwanted noise (hum). Once the idea for this concept emerged, Dudley continued the refinement process in the research and development division for nearly a year.

According to Dudley, people might think that breakthroughs like this require extensive knowledge of guitar electronics. However, when they simplified the idea, the principle was actually quite straightforward.

“Basically, what we do is produce hum signals that are out of phase using the hum signal picked up by the pickup or coil itself. Then, we inject that signal into the pickup, and the result is silence,” he says.

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But the secret doesn’t stop there. Casey Ball, the grandson of Ernie Ball, the company’s founder under which Music Man now operates, explains that they also added a shield on the pickguard and an acrylic resin layer inside the cavity to eliminate humming.

“We basically did that before we created the Silent Circuit, so whether they play a role with each other (is likely),” Casey says.

Dudley Gimpel delves further into the origins of the hum issue. There are two types of hum: electrostatic and electromagnetic or, in the electrical world, known as EMI (electromagnetic interference), which is the external factor mentioned earlier.

“To protect against EMI, we need to use something magnetic, but, on the other hand, we can’t install a steel cover on the pickup because that would significantly affect the pickup’s magnetic field and render it non-functional,” he explains.

The “Silent Circuit” secret weapon is incorporated into several guitar models, including the Music Man Albert Lee edition, Cutlass, Cutlass HSS, Silhouette Special, and Valentine. There you have it, clear and simple, right?