MerlinTheWizard

Single coil pickups are definitely playable, if not "dead quiet". Good shielding is a plus. Also, realize that if you play anywhere near a CRT monitor, no matter how much shielding you have, you will always get a lot of hum. Single coil pickups are almost unusable near a CRT screen. Period. The solution is to play away from the screen, or buy an LCD monitor. I say that because this is often overlooked, and more and more common (people tend to use computers more often than they used to when playing music, for obvious reasons...) If your pickups are humming even when there is no CRT screen around, then try shielding your guitar...

It sounds pretty obvious to me that the problem is with your amp, not the guitar. If you don't play any string, of course there is no signal at all; so the amp stays quiet. Definitely try your guitar on another amp, and vice-versa. You will know.

Uh, what? Of course it would. Just wire it as a mono jack. The added benefit of using a stereo jack is that it tends to hold the male jack into place more tightly than a mono one...

Epoxy, as far as I remember.

I've used straight canning paraffin (Gulfwax), and even bayberry scented candles in the past without issues - why is beeswax important? Some beeswax won't even melt below 150ºF! Don't you think it's a lot more important to mention that one should never heat wax over an open flame than to recommend a specific blend of wax? ← lovekraft, a mix of paraffin and beeswax as been used for ages for potting pickups. I think it's basically because the resulting melting point will be a bit higher (thus, the pickup will withstand higher temperatures, something to consider if you live in very hot areas) and also because paraffin alone tends to become kind of "flaky" over time, and tends to shrink a little bit, both problems that you can avoid with mixing it with beeswax. But I agree not all manufacturers use that (probably none today, except for the small shops), and it's probably not worth the added trouble.

Scatter winding, as opposed to a very regular winding, does have other advantages than pure marketing hype. Strictly parallel wires in a coil tend to behave in specific ways electromagnetically speaking. This can get pretty complicated, but basically the end result is that some frequency bands will get canceled out or attenuated a lot. In a strictly random winding, you don't get these annoying side-effects. That said, doesn't mean that "random winding" is "better". It's just different, with potentially more harmonic content, indeed. Doesn't mean that you'll like the sound. Again, it's just different. I agree that some marketing people use this as pure hype, but there is some physical backing to it. In a nutshell, we can say that it's more difficult to make a strictly regular-wound pickup have a "rich sound". But anyway, I think most industrial pickup winders nowadays have the ability, besides winding in a regular pattern, to wind in pseudo-random patterns too. So you get the "scatter winding" effect, so to speak. You don't need to wind by hand to get it... Some manufacturers will tell you about it, others won't. The bottom line is that you like or don't like their pickups. Who cares about what they tell you? ;-)

No, not really. Those are pretty cheap. They are just more suited to audio signals. Yes, the pinout is the same. You can find the data sheet Here . Should not be any problem using it. Just pay attention to the package - they come as DIPs as well as SMDs. It probably makes sense to put the extra 10 pF capacitor that is noted in dashed lines, because the OPA134 is much faster than the 741 and more prone to high-frequency oscillation. As for close alternatives to the schematics you posted, I meant something like this: Tube Reamer, which is actually more or less a clone of the famous Tube Screamer (Ibanez).

Yep, I'd say use polyester caps, and replace the 741 with some good but not overly expensive opamp, like the OPA134. A world of difference. As for this distortion circuit, I personnally think it's a bit crude. You get "smoother" distortion with diodes in the feedback loop of the opamp (like in some solid-state, "blues-typed" units, the Boss OD, for instance, I believe). But after all, your ears will be the judges; so try this unit first (that will be a good start), and then you can try a little more sophisticated designs...

The polarized, output capacitor is marked as a tantalum one. That's not pretty. Tantalum caps may seem "fancy", but they are no good in audio signal paths. Don't use them. (That's the short version. The long version is a long analysis of the tantalum caps behavior over the whole spectrum, with detailed measurements...) Just use a regular electrolytic cap. Actually, since it's 1 µF, I wouldn't even bother with a polarized cap here. I would use a plastic, non-polarized, 1 µF capacitor instead. That will sound better. Then again, I would never use a 741 as an opamp in any audio circuit either, so...

If you're interested by that topic, I think you definitely should take a look at the patents on magnetic pickups. There are tons of them. That should get you started. (Since it's a link to a patents search, it may take a while to display...) As for single coil hum-canceling pickups... there are at least two significant manufacturers that make such pickups: Kinman and Lace (sensor). You could argue about their "single coil-ness" (especially the Kinman's) since there is actually a second coil, but it's not supposed to affect the sound. Interesting to look at the patents anyway.

Kind of weird... flux isn't supposed to be conductive, so its presence in itself should not pose that kind of problems. Although older solder flux may become slightly conductive over time... One thing is that it's always better to clean flux after soldering, because it may cause corrosion... surprising that such a renowned brand of amps would not do that...

It's kinda hard to give you a straight answer. Depends on your own tastes. Some people like the slapping sound on P-type pickups, others on J-type, others on a combination of both, and others yet on different kinds of humbuckers, etc. I'm a little surprised that you can't answer your own question. Have you not tried both types of pickups and seen which you liked better for slap? Now if you want a very generic answer, the classic Jazz Bass pickup will kinda give you the classic jazz/funky slap tone (see Marcus Miller), while a Precision pickup by itself will not give a satisfying slap tone, not enough "bite" (but some people like it, so who knows...)

Yeah, as far as I know, this thing just contains two germanium diodes (it may contain a capacitor or two as well, but I don't know that for sure, since it's encapsulated in epoxy); I guess you could do just the same for a few cents, and see if you like it. You may - or may not; it's a pretty crude distortion device and having one on-board may not make a lot of sense either - but why not try. I suggest trying the DIY way as I said: connect two germanium diodes in parallel with the guitar output, each in opposite direction from each other. You should probably be able to switch this off, because otherwise it will distort all the time once the volume is high enough.

Yup. If the buzzing is really disturbing, you might try shielding your guitar, and especially the pickup cavities. But don't expect miracles with single coils. One thing: if your guitar is anywhere near a CRT monitor (computer or TV), single coils will buzz like crazy no matter what you do. If that's the problem, just ignore it and move away from the screens... For those of you recording on computers, I strongly suggest switching to an LCD monitor. Bye bye the buzzing. It's a must in any home studio, I'd say...

Absolutely. And those who are not sure to be able to understand why, please don't ask.