Splitting humbuckers to sc's - worth doing or not?

ThePrettyDamned · September 2014

TheGuitarWeasel said:

mike_l said:

I have a couple of bucker's which I wouldn't split. The Bulldog in my Jackson (from @Van_Hayden ) sounds really, really perfect (to me) without anything to split it (exactly as I asked for). I think trying to put a split would spoil either the 'bucker or the single sound, and neither would be great.

Also I wouldn't split the pickups in the Charvel, as this would be wrong for the guitar (think 80's hair metal), the pickups would (I think) split nicely in a different guitar.

There is no detectable difference between the sound a humbucker with four conductor wiring and one with 'vintage' so you might as well have the option.

Dave_Mc said:

Depends on the pickup- it can sound a bit meh, but I figure you might as well have it since you aren't really losing anything either.

I haven't tried the more involved solutions like the resistor things.

Also interesting that ICBM said he didn't like parallel wiring for getting single coil tones- me neither (in my limited experience with it). On other forums you get the usual know-all types "Oh parallel is superior because it's still hum-cancelling and it sounds more like a single coil than a split"- to me it didn't. I quite like it in my Legra V, but then it has higher output pickups and I wasn't trying to get a single-coil type of tone with the parallel wiring. But if I'd been trying to get single coil tones, I'd have been disappointed, to me it just sounds like a lower output, brighter humbucker.

The resistor thing is actually very easy: on Gibson colour coded pickups splittlng is accomplished by connecting the 'series link' wires (green and white) attaching a suitable resistor to that wire pair ... then switching the output of that resistor to ground ... thus shorting out a coil.
And I don't think parallel wiring sounds like a single coil either!!!

Ash... Noob question incoming

What colour scheme do your pickups use? I lost the instructions so I'll be following the duncan wiring diagram...

FelineGuitars · September 2014

The guitar in question has BKP Crawlers in it - so the bridge is a big fat HB and the neck is a bit more vintage

If you had push pull pots in it you could experiment relatively easily to ee which option sounds right for you Jon

I do think that the parallell option seems a bit neutered, although the straight split or split with resistor options may suit you.

Forge · September 2014

I have just done the resistor mod to my Jag and liking the extra body. Worth a try!

Dave_Mc · September 2014

TheGuitarWeasel said:

The resistor thing is actually very easy: on Gibson colour coded pickups splittlng is accomplished by connecting the 'series link' wires (green and white) attaching a suitable resistor to that wire pair ... then switching the output of that resistor to ground ... thus shorting out a coil.
And I don't think parallel wiring sounds like a single coil either!!!

Thanks

Stupid question alert, but what does the resistor do (compared to just wiring a coil split the usual way)?

mike_l · September 2014

ThePrettyDamned said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

mike_l said:

I have a couple of bucker's which I wouldn't split. The Bulldog in my Jackson (from @Van_Hayden ) sounds really, really perfect (to me) without anything to split it (exactly as I asked for). I think trying to put a split would spoil either the 'bucker or the single sound, and neither would be great.

Also I wouldn't split the pickups in the Charvel, as this would be wrong for the guitar (think 80's hair metal), the pickups would (I think) split nicely in a different guitar.

There is no detectable difference between the sound a humbucker with four conductor wiring and one with 'vintage' so you might as well have the option.

To clarify, I was trying (probably badly) to say that on that specific pickup a split would have been a compromise on either full 'bucker, or split single, not that putting a splitting switch in was a bad idea.

Dave_Mc · September 2014

TheGuitarWeasel said:

There is no detectable difference between the sound a humbucker with four conductor wiring and one with 'vintage' so you might as well have the option.

Yeah that's what I've always heard.

I suppose one advantage of "vintage" wiring is that if you knew you were going to put it in a guitar that you had no intention of fitting splits etc. to, it might save a little work when it came to soldering? That's about the only advantage I can think of though (aside from vintage accuracy/aesthetics), and it also has the obvious disadvantage that if you decide to move it to a different guitar that you would like to fit splits to you're in trouble...

)

ICBM · September 2014

Dave_Mc said:
Stupid question alert, but what does the resistor do (compared to just wiring a coil split the usual way)?

It shuts off the second coil slightly less than fully, so you get a bit more humbucker 'body' to the tone. Oddly, this can make it sound *more* like a proper single coil than a fully-split humbucker, which tends to have a lower resistance/inductance and hence can sound thin and a bit lacking in punch.

The value for the resistor is surprisingly low, and critical - too low and it's too close to a full split, too high and it doesn't split enough. The right value is dependent on the pickup - both its resistance/inductance and which position it's in - too, so there is no one correct value. For example PRS uses 1.1K and 2.2K for the neck and bridge pickups respectively. It may be best to fit a small trimmer (eg 5K) at least until you've found the 'sweet spot'.

Dave_Mc · September 2014

^ Excellent, thanks

Danny1969 · September 2014

I like the reverse tone control trick, wire the centre tap of the pickup to centre tab of tone pot and short one end tab of tone pot to ground. Winding down the tone pot now shorts one coil to ground and you get the brighter thinner sound without having to add push \ pull pots or switchs.

Modded an SD equipped LP copy the other day in this fashion and it works really well.

ICBM · September 2014

Danny1969 said:

I like the reverse tone control trick, wire the centre tap of the pickup to centre tab of tone pot and short one end tab of tone pot to ground. Winding down the tone pot now shorts one coil to ground and you get the brighter thinner sound without having to add push \ pull pots or switchs.

You can do it the other way too, if you want a normal tone control as well - connect the coil split to the top end terminal of the tone pot. (This requires the middle terminal to be grounded, not connected to the cap - but easily reversed if it's the other way round.) That gives you the coil split with the knob at 10, full humbucker with it around 8, and normal tone control below that.

OilCityPickups · September 2014

ThePrettyDamned said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

mike_l said:

I have a couple of bucker's which I wouldn't split. The Bulldog in my Jackson (from @Van_Hayden ) sounds really, really perfect (to me) without anything to split it (exactly as I asked for). I think trying to put a split would spoil either the 'bucker or the single sound, and neither would be great.

Also I wouldn't split the pickups in the Charvel, as this would be wrong for the guitar (think 80's hair metal), the pickups would (I think) split nicely in a different guitar.

There is no detectable difference between the sound a humbucker with four conductor wiring and one with 'vintage' so you might as well have the option.

Dave_Mc said:

Depends on the pickup- it can sound a bit meh, but I figure you might as well have it since you aren't really losing anything either.

I haven't tried the more involved solutions like the resistor things.

Also interesting that ICBM said he didn't like parallel wiring for getting single coil tones- me neither (in my limited experience with it). On other forums you get the usual know-all types "Oh parallel is superior because it's still hum-cancelling and it sounds more like a single coil than a split"- to me it didn't. I quite like it in my Legra V, but then it has higher output pickups and I wasn't trying to get a single-coil type of tone with the parallel wiring. But if I'd been trying to get single coil tones, I'd have been disappointed, to me it just sounds like a lower output, brighter humbucker.

The resistor thing is actually very easy: on Gibson colour coded pickups splittlng is accomplished by connecting the 'series link' wires (green and white) attaching a suitable resistor to that wire pair ... then switching the output of that resistor to ground ... thus shorting out a coil.
And I don't think parallel wiring sounds like a single coil either!!!

Ash... Noob question incoming

What colour scheme do your pickups use? I lost the instructions so I'll be following the duncan wiring diagram...

I use the Gibson code: screw start black, screw finish green, slug start red, slug finish red. so the white and green are connected and tied back. Red is then hot, black and bare wires then go to ground.

Van_Hayden · September 2014

Snap. Swap green and white and you've got BKP.

OilCityPickups · September 2014

I always thought I'd just go for the the colour scheme that is most logical to my UK brain ... with red as 'hot' and black as ground :-)
Yay we have some UK maker consensus!

steamabacus · September 2014

I had my Lag Jet apart today to fit a new 5-way switch. While I was under the scratchplate I thought I'd experiment with the partial coil split described above on the Duncan Screamin' Demon in the bridge (HSS setup).

The Screamin' Demon replaced a JB I had in there before and , whereas I much prefer the sound of the Demon over the JB in humbucking mode, the coil split sound was a little weak (the JB was better when split - not surprising as the JB is 16.4k and the Demon is 10k).

I used the resistor to ground method - I soldered a couple of thin wires that I could run out from under the scratchplate when the guitar was reassembled and then experimented with a few resistors attached with crocodile clips. I started with the PRS values mentioned above (2.2k for bridge) and then tried a few other values around that, settling on 1.8k as my preference.

I've now permanently soldered in that 1.8k resistor and the split sound is subtly warmer and fuller. Well worth experimenting with if (like me) you haven't tried this before.

axisus · September 2014

Intriguing. I went for a straight coil split on my BK crawlers, very much like the neck and both together, not quite so keen on the bridge split. Overall works very well for me though, just what I wanted.

Branshen · September 2014

I have a Suhr SSV in the neck position of my guitar. Really love the humbucker, as well as the split sound. Great variety, as a result I use the neck much more than the bridge.

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Splitting humbuckers to sc's - worth doing or not?

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