Dummy coil for a guild starfire

[Ayalt]

Hi everyone,
Bought a guild starfire recently and I'm loving the sound, moreso when using only one of the pickups rather then both at an equal volume.
The problem is of course the hum that's introduced when using a single coil pickup like those bisonics.

I was wondering if anybody here tried to install a dummy coil and how different it made the sound. Since it's a hollowbody i'm sure there's enough room for it, but I'm trying to assess whether or not it's worth the bother.



Thanks!

 

[SulzerType2]

Yes! I tried a couple of cheap Strat pickups with the magnets removed, and it didn't work. I tried wiring them in series and in parallel with each Bisonic to see if either would work.

At a guess the coil geometry or scatter pattern was just too different across the Bisonic and budget Strat pickup coils for it to work.


I have had better luck with dummy coils in the past, but they do rob some dynamics, power, sparkle or other magic from pickups.

 

[dwizum]

Any coil with the same number of turns and an axis in the same direction will help, assuming the noise you're hearing is actual noise being picked up by the coil - and not the wiring or something else. For me, step one would be ensuring grounds are all good, and everything is shielded and as tidy as possible. If that all checks out, then the easiest thing would be to get an exact match to your existing pickup and either remove the magnets or demagnetize them. That said, if the new pickup is nowhere near the strings (it doesn't have to be), you can leave the magnets in.