All guitarists who have ever used a true single coil-equipped guitar, knows the annoying 50/60 cycle hum and electrical interference associated with these pickups.
Of course, the scope of this problem highly depends on your location and proximity to noise-inducing devices, such as refrigerators, fluorescent lights etc.
I’ve always been perceptive to noise and hum, which is why i decided to do something. Surely, I couldn’t be the only one to be bothered by noise issues, so i went on the wide, deep internet in search of a solution.
The only solutions i knew of were dummy coils or noiseless single coils. Both with their drawbacks. The dummy coil introduces about 5-13kΩ of extra resistance to the signal path, altering the sound. Then the varieties of noiseless single coil pickups aren’t really true single coils, rather stacked humbuckers or other rather esoteric designs for better or worse.
Enter the Ilitch BPNCS (Backplate Noise Cancelling System). A copper coil of opposite phase to the pickups installed in the backplate and wired in series with the pickups. Because of a thicker wire gauge, fewer winding turns and a bigger size, it picks up the same noise as the pickups, but only adds negligible extra resistance in the signal path. I thought “WOW, now this seems brilliant, no alteration in sound, easy installation, and i get to keep my original pickups!” …But then i looked at the price. And the shipping cost. I could almost as well buy a set of high quality noiseless pickups. I couldn’t undestand why a piece of copper, plastic and two trim pots justified a price of about 340$.
Sure, there are