2 lil/jr pups in a humbucker space. Genius, insanity, or both?

[eviltobz]

So, I was toying with the idea of squeezing a couple of single coil sized humbuckers into the space of a normal sized humbucker. I'd likely be doing this in a custom build, so possibly needing a slightly odd cavity and mounting wouldn't be an issue. With pups like the jb jr, lil '59 & lil demon I was thinking that i might be able to get some funky different sounds when doing some elaborate switching. My first thought was could I use a freeway 6 position switch, or a 3 way and a push pull so I could get either pup individually, coil split or normal series operation, and in the middle position get both in series (not plain old parallel) so it'd either work as a hybrid when coil split or a monster when humbucking. Has anyone tried hooking such pups up together in such a crazy way? Do they sound ok in series or does it just turn to mush? Do the lil's even split well?

If the idea has legs, the next question is what combo of pups would be good. My understanding is that hybrids work best when the 2 coils are taken from pups in adjacent output levels, so low output like a '59 with a medium like the customs, or the custom with a higher output like the jb. Would this mean that I'd really want to take the demon and pick which of the other 2 I want, or might a jb/'59 have some merit?

Finally, could anyone else think of cunning wiring schemes to look into presuming that I had some sort of normal pup selector (toggle, superswitch, that sort of thing) and just a plain old volume knob which could hide a push/pull? Maybe splitting the lil '59 would be so weak it's not worth it, so there could be a spot for something else to happen...

[orpheo]

Re: 2 lil/jr pups in a humbucker space. Genius, insanity, or both?

I tried it once. .. very undefined tone. A lot of string pull and a boring sound. You can try it but i wouldnt expecr good results.

[King IzzO)))]

Re: 2 lil/jr pups in a humbucker space. Genius, insanity, or both?

Dimarzio multibucker.

[freefrog]

Re: 2 lil/jr pups in a humbucker space. Genius, insanity, or both?

If you put 2 SC sized HB's close to each other, their magnetic fields will alter each other... it's not recommended for various reasons.

[boardwlk17]

Re: 2 lil/jr pups in a humbucker space. Genius, insanity, or both?

If you put 2 SC sized HB's close to each other, their magnetic fields will alter each other... it's not recommended for various reasons.

I talked to mj about having that done with 2 YJM FURY'S she said it can be done it just has to be wired differently, steve morse does it with a humbucker an sc

[freefrog]

Re: 2 lil/jr pups in a humbucker space. Genius, insanity, or both?

I talked to mj about having that done with 2 YJM FURY'S she said it can be done it just has to be wired differently, steve morse does it with a humbucker an sc

I've not said it can't be done, under defined conditions.

I'll just say that a PU immediately close to another one might sound differently compared to the same pickup alone.

It's not a question of wiring: it's a question of magnetic fields.

If one of the two pu's has a stronger magnetic field, it might even cause various problems. If my memory serves me, John Suhr evokes an increased risk of feedback in such a case ; not to mention the risk to drain a magnet with the other one if one of the PU's has an alnico mag. Regular P90's are already well known to degauss because of the physical position of their mags, for example (https://forum.seymourduncan.com/show...agnet-question)... And there's horror stories due to the powerful mags of guitar loudspeakers (see here for example: http://www.lollarguitars.com/blog/ta...uitar-magnets/).

Now, if the two magnet's are of the same kind and not too strong, OK, it can be done. But the tone of each PU might still differ because of its neighbor. I say it because I've already tried the idea and heard the result. :-)

There's various models on the market which include two mini-HB's side by side: they are designed for such a use, with an adapted arrangement of magnets which forms a single magnetic field.

Note that I post this answer to be useful and not to argue.

EDIT- Yes, the OP mentions minibuckers with ceramic magnets. But if ever this topic gives the idea to put alnico and ceramic models side by side, at least I'll have tried to warn my readers about it...

[eviltobz]

Re: 2 lil/jr pups in a humbucker space. Genius, insanity, or both?

cheers for the feedback guys. sounds like it's probably a bit of a non-starter. oh well, nevermind.