
Here’s the secret for reducing unwanted hum and noise without losing sparkle and highs.
For years, folks have been debating the pros and cons of shielding single-coil pickups. You may have tried this yourself, only to have been disappointed at the loss of high end. But here's the good news: There is a way to reduce unwanted noise without losing the clarity and sparkle we crave from great single-coil pickups, and I'll show you how to do it now.
The Challenge
We all know the problem, right? Single-coils have a clear, bell-like tone with a lot of highs, but they are very prone to pick up hum and noise, and this can be a nightmare in the studio or onstage. If you want to keep your original single-coil pickups—and not swap them out for humbuckers—you can mod your guitar in three steps to banish the noise. But first, you'll want to complete two preliminary stages.
Shield the pickguard and guitar cavity. The web is full of great DIY instructions for doing this, so I won't rehash that info here. But I will add one thing: In my experience, copper foil is superior to aluminum foil or tape, as well as all forms of shielding paint. And remember, it's crucial that all shielding materials are connected to ground. Otherwise they're mostly useless.
Photo 1 — Courtesy of singlecoil.com
Replace standard wire with shielded wire. This is a simple swap: Substitute shielded wire for all the standard wire in your guitar. Keep in mind that the braided shield of all the new wire must be connected to ground. (You can also replace the two standard wires on your single-coil pickups with shielded wire, and in a moment, I'll explain when and how to do this.)
Okay, now we're ready to shield the pickups. It's not a complicated task and you don't need much in the way of materials, but you must do it correctly. If you don't, all the marvelous high end of a single-coil goes down the toilet. Every week I get at least one emergency call from someone who tried to shield a Strat's pickups and wound up with a dull and lifeless-sounding guitar. It's a hassle to undo the mistake, so let's get it right from the get-go. Ready?
Every week I get at least one emergency call from someone who tried to shield a Strat's pickups and wound up with a dull and lifeless-sounding guitar.
We'll start with the materials. As shown in Photo 1, you'll need conductive, self-adhesive copper tape, self-adhesive pickup-coil tape, a piece of solid-core wire, and some alcohol or naphtha. These items don't cost much, and you can buy the copper tape and pickup-coil tape on eBay or from luthier and pickup-building suppliers. For this project, our guinea pig is a standard Stratocaster pickup. For this type of pickup, the ideal width for the tape is 3/4" (approximately 19.1 mm).
Step 1: Protect the pickup's windings.
This is where the pickup-coil tape comes in. When you look at a standard Strat pickup without its plastic cover, you'll see the windings are unprotected. If you left them this way, you'd be affixing the copper tape directly to the windings. But even the back of the copper tape is conductive, so if there's any damage to the thin coating on the windings, the resulting contact will short out the pickup. Older pickups are particularly vulnerable to this, so to avoid the problem, we'll carefully wrap the pickup-coil tape around the windings to completely cover them.
Photo 2 — Courtesy of singlecoil.com
In most cases, you'll need two wraps to accomplish this. Don't worry if one wrap overlaps the other, and be particularly careful to cover everything at the base of the pickup—an area that's often overlooked. You don't want any of the copper windings peeking through, so to be on the safe side, I like to partially cover the base with tape. Using a pair of small scissors, I'll cut a thin strip of tape, then fold it down and press it onto the base, all around the windings. By the way, if you ever need to remove this special pickup-coil tape, you can easily do this without damaging the pickup. Photo 2 shows what the pickup looks like after it has been wrapped.
Step 2: Surround the pickup with copper tape.
Photo 3 — Courtesy of singlecoil.com
The copper tape's 3/4" width is perfect for surrounding the pickup because you only need one wrap to accomplish this (Photo 3). But it's essential that the two ends of the tape don't touch each other. This means no overlap and, of course, no solder connecting the two ends of the copper tape.
Photo 4 — Courtesy of singlecoil.com
It's crucial to have a little gap between the two ends of the tape to keep all the high end alive (Photo 4). Not having the gap is exactly why so many shielded pickups lose all their highs, and in a moment, I'll explain the reason.
Note: Be sure the gap isn't right where the pickup's two wires are attached, because in the next step, we'll need that space to connect the copper wrap to ground. Otherwise, it's not important where the gap is or how wide it is. I like to place the gap on the opposite side of the pickup from where its two wires are attached.
Why is this little gap so important? If you close the copper-tape wrap so the two ends make contact, the loss of all high end is unavoidable. You'll often read this is because the capacitance of the pickup's winding increases against ground. While this is electrically true, it is not the reason for the loss of high end. The real reason for the high-end loss are eddy currents in the metal film, which act like a shading coil in a transformer. The gap breaks the eddy currents and the loss of high end is minimal—and in most cases, not even audible.
Step 3: Connect the copper tape to the pickup's ground.
In this last step, we engage the shielding function. This is also the point to decide if you want to swap the two standard pickup wires for a shielded cable. If you elect to do this, simply connect the braided part to where the black wire was originally connected, and the hot of the shielded wire to the white wire's former location.
Photo 5 — Courtesy of singlecoil.com
Take a piece of solid core wire and solder it to the spot where the black pickup wire connects to the base. Next, use some alcohol or naphtha to clean the area on the copper tape where you plan to solder the solid wire. This cleaning makes the soldering process much easier because the solder sticks perfectly to the copper. After the area dries, solder the wire to the copper tape (Photo 5).
Photo 6 — Courtesy of singlecoil.com
Note: Be sure the wire is long enough that you can bend it toward the copper foil (Photo 6) to allow the plastic cover to fit over the pickup.
Congratulations—you're done! In a future installment of Mod Garage, we'll apply everything we worked out today to shielding plastic pickup covers. Again, we'll do it the right way so you don't lose any high end.
But next time, we'll continue our study of pickup parameters by bringing phase and polarity together. Until then ... keep on shielding!
[Updated 8/16/21]
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Over the decades with Hüsker Dü, Sugar, and solo, Bob Mould has earned a reputation for visceral performances.
The 15th studio album from the legendary alt-rocker and former Hüsker Dü singer and 6-stringer is a rhythm-guitar record, and a play in three acts, inspired by sweaty, spilled-beer community connection.
Bob Mould wrote his last album, Blue Heart, as a protest record, ahead of the 2020 American election. As a basic rule, protest music works best when it's shared and experienced communally, where it can percolate and manifest in new, exciting disruptions. But 2020 wasn’t exactly a great year for gathering together.
Mould’s album landed in a world of cloistered listeners, so he never knew how it impacted people. For a musician from punk and hardcore scenes, it was a disquieting experience. So when he got back out on the road in 2023 and 2024, playing solo electric sets, the former Hüsker Dü and Sugar frontman was determined to reconnect with his listeners. After each show, he’d hang out at the merch table and talk. Some people wanted their records or shirts signed, some wanted a picture. Others shared dark stories and secret experiences connected to Mould’s work. It humbled and moved him. “I’m grateful for all of it,” he says.
These are the in-person viscera of a group of people connecting on shared interests, versus, says Mould, “‘I gotta clean the house today, so I’m going to put on my clean the house playlist that a computer designed for me.” “Everything has become so digitized,” he laments. “I grew up where music was religion, it was life, it was essential. When people come to shows, and there’s an atmosphere, there’s volume, there’s spilled drinks and sweat–that’s what music ritual is supposed to be.”
His experiences on tour after the pandemic heartened Mould, but they also gave him traction on new ideas and direction for a new record. He returned to the simple, dirty guitar-pop music that spiked his heart rate when he was young: the Ramones’ stupid-simple pop-punk ecstasy, New York Dolls’ sharp-edged playfulness, Pete Townshend’s epic, chest-rattling guitar theatrics. In other words, the sort of snotty, poppy, wide-open rock we heard and loved on Hüsker Dü’s Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey.
Mould’s time on the road playing solo in 2023 sparked the idea for Here We Go Crazy.
Photo by Ryan Bakerink
Mould started writing new songs in the vein of his original childhood heroes, working them into those electric solo sets in 2023 and 2024. Working with those restraints—guitar chords and vocal melodies—put Mould on track to make Here We Go Crazy, his new, 15th solo record.
Lead single and opener “Here We Go Crazy” is a scene-setting piece of fuzzy ’90s alt-rock, bookended by the fierce pounding of “Neanderthal.” “When Your Heart is Broken” is a standout, with its bubblegum chorus melody and rumbling, tense, Who-style holding pattern before one of the album’s only solos. Ditto “Sharp Little Pieces,” with perhaps the record’s chewiest, darkest guitar sounds.
“It’s a very familiar-sounding record,” he continues. “I think when people hear it, they will go, ‘Oh my god, this is so Bob Mould,’ and a lot of that was [influenced by] spending time with the audience again, putting new stuff into the set alongside the songbook material, going out to the table after the show and getting reactions from people. That sort of steered me towards a very simple, energetic, guitar-driven pop record.”
Of his new album, Mould says, “I think when people hear it, they will go, ‘Oh my god, this is so Bob Mould.’”
Mould recorded the LP in Chicago with longtime bandmates Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster at the late, great Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio. Then Mould retreated to San Francisco to finish the record, chipping away at vocals and extra guitar pieces. He mostly resisted the pull of “non-guitar ornamentation”: “It’s a rhythm guitar record with a couple leads and a Minimoog,” he says. “It’s sort of cool to not have a 64-crayon set every time.”
Mould relied on his favorite, now-signature late-’80s Fender Strat Plus, which sat out on a runway at O’Hare in 20-below cold for three hours and needed a few days to get back in fighting shape. In the studio, he ran the Strat into his signature Tym Guitars Sky Patch, a take on the MXR Distortion+, then onto a Radial JD7. The Radial split his signal and sent it to three combo amps: a Fender Hot Rod DeVille, a Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb reissue, and a Blackstar Artisan 30, each with a mic on it. The result is a brighter record that Mould says leaves more room for the bass and kick drum. “If you listen to this record against Patch the Sky, for instance, it’s night and day,” he says. “It’s snug.”
Mould explains that the record unfolds over three acts. Tracks one through five comprise the first episode, crackling with uncertainty and conflict. The second, spread over songs six to eight, contrasts feelings of openness with tight, claustrophobic tension. Here, there are dead ends, addictions, and frigid realities. But after “Sharp Little Pieces,” the album turns its corner, barreling toward the home stretch in a fury of optimism and determination. “These last three [songs] should give us more hope,” says Mould. “They should talk about unconditional love.”
The record closes on the ballad “Your Side,” which starts gentle and ends in a rush of smashed chords and cymbals, undoubtedly one of the most invigorating segments. “The world is going down in flames, I wanna be by your side/We can find a quiet place, it doesn’t need to be the Albert Hall,” Mould starts. It’s a beautiful portrait of love, aging, and the passage of time.
Bob Mould's Gear
Mould paired his trusty Fender Strat Plus with a trio of smaller combo amps to carve out a more mid-focused rhythm-guitar sound in the studio.
Photo by Mike White
Guitars
- Late 1980s Fender American Standard Strat Plus (multiple)
Amps
- Fender Hot Rod DeVille
- Blackstar Artisan Series amps
- Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb
Effects
- Tym Guitars Sky Patch
- TC Electronic Flashback
- Electro-Harmonix Freeze
- Wampler Ego
- Universal Audio 1176
- Radial JD7
Strings, Picks, & Power Supply
- D'Addario NYXLs (.011-.046)
- Dunlop .46 mm and .60 mm picks
- Voodoo Labs power supply
And though the record ends on this palette of tenderness and connection, the cycle is likely to start all over again. Mould understands this; even though he knows he’s basking in act three at the moment, acts one and two will come along again, and again. Thankfully, he’s figured out how to weather the changes.
“When things are good, enjoy them,” he says. “When things are tough, do the work and get out of it, somehow.”
- YouTube
Many of the tracks on Here We Go Crazy were road-tested by Mould during solo sets. Here, accompanied only by his trusty Fender Strat, he belts “Breathing Room.”
The guitarist-of-all-trades runs us through his formidable live rig.
Rhett Schull’s a busy guy. Between being one of the most prolific YouTubers in the guitar sphere, working as a trusted hired gun, and creating his own original music, including last year’s EP The Early Days, he’s an avid cyclist. Just a week before we met up with Rhett at Eastside Bowl in Madison, Tennessee, for this Rig Rundown, he was slated to ride a 100-mile race in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Those plans were dashed when 70-mile-an-hour winds stoked a wildfire near town and burned just over 26,000 acres. But the show must go on: The next night, Schull played a gig in town, a special release for people reeling from a brutal natural disaster.
Schull’s a certified gear aficionado and tone wizard, so PG’s Chris Kies headed to Eastside Bowl to have him walk us through his current live rig. Check out the Rundown here, and stay tuned; Schull’s got more music coming later this year.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Special Serus
Schull’s wife pointed out this Novo Serus J hanging on the wall of a guitar shop back in 2017, and it was love at first strum. Made from tempered pine and loaded with Amalfitano P-90 pickups, plus sporting an unmissable pink sparkle polyurethane finish, it’s a real looker, and one of Schull’s favorite guitars.
Third Man Thumper
After Schull did a video on the Fender Jack White Pano Verb amplifier, Fender sent him a Jack White Triplecaster Telecaster, part of his signature series of gear with Fender launched last year. Schull calls it one of the most versatile guitars he owns, with each of the three pickup options virtually splitting it into three separate guitars.
Firebird-Watching
This beauty from Gibson’s Custom Shop came to Schull following NAMM in 2020. On tour, he needs something with humbuckers and something with single-coils. Then, he thinks of what’s exciting him. These days, it’s this Firebird V, which doesn’t have a typical Firebird tone, but cuts closer to something like a Telecaster at times.
Rockin' Two With a Two-Rock
Schull runs two amps onstage, but he doesn’t run them in stereo; he believes the stereo image doesn’t translate as well in a live situation where listeners are spread across the speaker system’s field. With this Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature and an AC15-ish David Edwards Apollo, Schull gets a “broadband” sound set for big, fat clean tones, like one giant amp on the edge of breakup.
Fun fact: Edwards surprised Schull with the Apollo when Rhett went to Florida to work on some videos.
Rhett Schull's Pedalboard
Schull’s 2024 EP is very effects-heavy, so he commissioned the pedalboard-whisperers at XAct Tone Solutions to build him this double-decker station based around an RJM Mastermind PBC/6X switcher. Some of the stomps, like the Chase Bliss Mood, are activated by MIDI, and all the different sounds from each song—from intro to chorus to bridge to finish—is set up in the RJM. If Rhett wants to go off script, he can hit the function button, which lets him engage pedals on a one-by-one basis. A Line 6 HX One is a “wildcard” pedal in this rig, filling in gaps as needed.
In addition to those machines, the rig includes a Chase Bliss Dark World, GFI System Synesthesia, Hologram Electronics Chroma Console, Boss Space Echo RE-202, GFI System Duophony (which mixes the Dark World and Synesthesia), Chase Bliss Automatone Preamp MkII (used for boost, EQ, fuzz, or overdrive depending on the song), Old Blood Noise Endeavors Beam Splitter, Source Audio ZIO, Memory Lane Electronics Tone Bender clone, and a Mythos Argonaut. A mysterious Japan-made Noel dirt pedal, finished in striking red and gifted to Shull by JHS Pedals’ Josh Scott, rounds out the collection. Utility boxes include a TC Electronic PolyTune3 Noir, Lehle Little Dual, a pair of Strymon Ojai power supplies, and a bigger Strymon Zuma supply.
Sterling by Music Man introduces the Joe Dart Artist Series Collection, featuring the Dart I, II, and III basses.
The original Dart I features the Sterling-shaped body with a single humbucker and volume knob. The Dart II, featuring the beloved Ernie Ball Music Man Caprice body, swaps the humbucker fortwo single-coil pickups, each with its own volume knob for precise, hum-free control. Completing the trilogy, the Dart III is a short-scale StingRay bass with a split single-coil pickup and single volume knob.
A blank canvas, the bass collection embodies the no-frills philosophy of the original Ernie BallMusic Man design—everything you need and nothing you don’t. All three basses are equipped with passive electronics, Ernie Ball flatwound strings, and are available in Natural or Black finishes. No tone knobs here.
“Jack Stratton and I are thrilled to team up once again with Sterling by Music Man to build affordable versions of the three best basses I've ever held in my hands. The JoeDart I, II, and III represent three different sounds and feels, three different eras of bass,and three different shades of my own work as a bassist,” said Dart. “The feel of these instruments is incredible, and the quality would be remarkable at any price point.”
This is a special “Timed Edition” release, only available for pre-order on the Sterling by MusicMan website for two months. Each bass is made to order, with the window closing on May 31st and shipping starting in September. The back of the headstock will be marked with a “2025Crop” stamp to commemorate the harvest year for this special, one-of-a-kind release. A gig bag will be included with each purchase.
All basses are priced at $499.00
For more information, please visit sterlingbymusicman.com.
Billy Corgan and The Machines of God announce 'A Return to Zero Tour' kicking off on June 7th, featuring classic tracks and deep cuts from iconic albums. Tickets available for presale on April 1st. Don't miss this unforgettable experience! Tour dates include Baltimore, Boston, New York, and more.
Today, Billy Corgan, the frontman of the iconic rock band, The Smashing Pumpkins, has announced a new solo project titled ‘Billy Corgan and The Machines of God’ who will commemorate the anniversaries of the legendary albums with sets drawn from Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness and the double album Machina/The Machines of God & Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music as well as the 2024 release, Aghori Mhori Mei with a national US tour set to kick off this summer. The tour, titled A Return To Zero, will launch on June 7th and feature the four piece group also embarking on previously-confirmed festival shows.
The A Return to Zero Tour will reintroduce a four-piece, two set guitar lineup in which music from these seminal Pumpkins albums were created. The shows will feature classic tracks and deep cuts from the highly acclaimed records. In addition to Corgan, The Machines of God will feature recently recruited Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Kiki Wong, drummer Jake Hayden and bassist Kid Tigrrr (Jenna Fournier).
Tickets for the upcoming tour will be available for artist presale beginning Tuesday, April 1st at 10:00AM local time through Thursday, April 3rd at 10:00PM local time. Following the presale, the general onsale will begin Friday, April 4th at 10:00AM local time. Please see tour dates below and purchase tickets at ticketmaster.com.
Along with this touring announcement, The Smashing Pumpkins have revealed the details of the long-awaited and reconstituted release of the 2000 concept albums Machina/The Machines of God and its companion Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music which have been extensively remixed and remastered. Corgan's Madame Zuzu’s tea shop in Highland Park, IL will exclusively offer this expansive 80-song box set; featuring a 48-track ‘MACHINA’ plus an additional 32 bonus tracks of demos, outtakes, and live performances, marking the first time these two records will officially be united. Additionally, the rock band will release a 16-song reissue of the original Machina/The Machines of God vinyl on August 22nd, and pre-orders will begin on June 27th.
This year will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Smashing Pumpkins era-defining acclaimed album, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadnesswhich set the sound for a generation. To commemorate the album, Corgan has partnered with Chicago’s Lyric Opera to world-premiere A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness, a seven series performance taking place November 21–30, 2025.
These noteworthy music announcements follow on the heels of an already exciting 2025 for Billy Corgan; earlier this year the rock legend also launched his applauded podcast series “The Magnificent Others.”
Beyond these accomplishments, the GRAMMY® Award-winning musician, versatile producer, songwriter, poet, also serves as the President of the National Wrestling Alliance, owns Madame Zuzu’s, a beloved tea shop in Highland, IL, and remains a devout philanthropist through varying initiatives focusing on animal advocacy and NO KILL shelters.
Billy Corgan and The Machines of God - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Tour Dates
- June 7 - Baltimore, MD // Baltimore Soundstage
- June 9 - Boston, MA // Paradise Rock Club
- June 11 - Muskoka, ON // Kee to Bala
- June 12 - Toronto, ON // HISTORY
- June 13 - Montreal QC // Beanfield Theatre
- June 15 - New York, NY // Irving Plaza
- June 16 - Philadelphia, PA // Theatre of Living Arts
- June 17 - Allentown, PA // Archer Music Hall
- June 19 - Detroit, MI // St. Andrew’s Hall
- June 20 - Joliet, IL // Taste of Joliet (Festival Performance)
- June 21 - Grand Rapids, MI // Intersection
- June 23 - Pittsburgh, PA // Roxian Theatre
- June 25 - Cleveland, OH // House of Blues Cleveland
- June 26 - Cincinnati, OH // Bogart’s
- June 27 - Milwaukee, WI // Summerfest*
- June 29 - Minneapolis, MN // Varsity Theater