"Ask Bud!"

Question:

Why am I getting body noise from my older pedal steel guitar coming through my amplifier?

Answer:

If your older guitar has the original single-coil pickups in it, they are most likely becoming microphonic because moisture has seeped into the windings and/or some of the windings or pole pieces have become loose.

The movement of the windings in response to vibrations induced in the body cause a signal to be generated. This signal results in amplified body noise.

You may be able to reduce the amount of noise by putting a piece of foam between the body and pickup.

Or, you could find a guitar repair shop and have the pickup immersed in hot wax in a vacuum to immobilize the loose wires.

Most likely, you can eliminate the problem by changing pickups.

Both George L's and Bill Lawrence make units that will drop right in as a replacement (just be sure to specify "Sho-Bud-style" or "Emmons-style" mounting if you order Bill Lawrence pickups).

When changing pickups, make a wiring diagram before you unsolder the old pickups. Doing so will allow you to wire in the new pickup correctly.

By the way, making a wiring diagram should also be standard procedure before replacing the neck selector switch and before replacing the pot in your volume pedal.

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