Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

[WhoGivesAPluck]

Im trying to get the single coil mode out of this humbucker with a push pull, it's got red+white wires soldered together, Any ideas? thanks

[beaubrummels]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

Depends on the make of your pickup for a start

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=color_codes

then ignore the phase switching part here

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=phase_switch_coil_split_hb

or if you're feeling really adventurous, you can do split or series

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=series_spl_parallel-w-phase

[WhoGivesAPluck]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

The diagram sais to wire the red and white together on the push pull A. it doesnt say which the red and white are North start and south finish? and wouldn't that give me the same effect as just wiring them together without being on the switch?

[beaubrummels]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

You still haven't said what brand of pickups you are using so it's difficult to help you. The brand matters to know what colors are what, which is why I posted the first diagram.

Assuming you are using Duncans, white is the screw coil finish and red is the slug coil finish. The two coil finish wires are the ones that make the series link. When the coil finish wires are soldered together as a series link, it makes the pickup a full humbucker. Putting that link onto a push-pull switch gives you the ability to ground out the series link which will split to one coil.

[WhoGivesAPluck]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

Assuming you are using Duncans, white is the screw coil finish and red is the slug coil finish. The two coil finish wires are the ones that make the series link. When the coil finish wires are soldered together as a series link, it makes the pickup a full humbucker. Putting that link onto a push-pull switch gives you the ability to ground out the series link which will split to one coil.[/QUOTE]



It's a Jackson humbucker, it has 1 black, 1 blue, 1 white, 1 red, 1 bare, Thanks for the explination So which two should I put on the push pull? the red and the white still? im assuming the blue is the hot normally a green for most ?

[jimijames]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

Yeah whichever two are tied together are the ones you want.

You connect them to the middle of a push pull switch and then above them you wire the lug to ground, above meaning closer to the pickguard.

For added fun and games you can wire it to split to the screw coil if you short red and white to hot.

When I get to a computer I can show you better what I'm talking about

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[WhoGivesAPluck]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

Yeah whichever two are tied together are the ones you want.

You connect them to the middle of a push pull switch and then above them you wire the lug to ground, above meaning closer to the pickguard.

For added fun and games you can wire it to split to the screw coil if you short red and white to hot.

When I get to a computer I can show you better what I'm talking about

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

When you say the screw coil you mean it will use the other coil in the humbucker? Which one is that? the one closer to the neck? the humbucker im doing this to is the neck pickup, I have bought an active EMG 89 pickup and just love spending way more than the guitars worth on parts because its fun messin around with em' So "for added fun" is right up my alley! I have the active 89 wired up with a single coil mode on a 25k push/pull also so I figured I'd do the same thing to both of them, but now I have to use the pot the EMGs on for a tone for both of them, and the neck with the jackson pickup for the volume...ugh, what did I get myself into



If I make a diagraIm I could use the help, but I don't want to spend 2 hours on a diagram if no one is going to help me like last time

[jimijames]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

The screw coil is traditionally the one closer to the neck - basically if you short the two wires that are tied together (typically red and white but I'm sure it can vary with how many people have manufactured pickups) to ground you get one coil, and if you short them to hot you get the other. To find out which is which you'll probably want to tap the pickup with a screwdriver while it's amplified. Also, if it's a humbucker two wires have to be wired together and tied off for it to work in series, so that's how you know what wires to use.

The screw coil on a 22 fret guitar is right under one of those harmonic nodes - the two octaves up one. If there's a better, more accurate name for it I don't know it. So while initially it might seem that the screw coil is the one you should split to for single coil sounds, it's not that simple - the slug coil carries more of the magnetic field than the screw coil, so it will be audibly louder. In addition it's nearer the bridge so the in-between sounds supposedly are better. People typically split to the slug coil because there's less of a volume dropoff and because of the aforementioned in-between sounds.

I don't have access to a drawing program on this computer (or at least a simple one, the joys of linux haha) or anything but maybe I can scratch something down and scan it.

I only have experience with active pickups - isn't the output way higher? I feel like they'd be near impossible to mix. 9v-18v with an active vs. less than a volt for a passive pickup, so I can't see how (unless you used a super-compressor or something) you'd be able to easily mix them.

As a final note, ArtieToo has always been super helpful (don't know where he's been recently though), and even though this forum is a great resource you should by no means limit yourself to just here - there are tons (and tons and tons) of guitar forums around so don't be afraid to branch out and ask for help on places like tdpri or the gear page, etc etc etc.

Additionally, whenever I've had problems figuring out diagrams I find that usually with some diligence you can find what you're looking for - it's not nearly as bad here with guitar stuff as it is with software. I've found wiring diagrams for combo series/parallel/spin-a-split and all weird sorts of diagrams. I'm just saying whatever you're looking for has probably been tried. Just my .02

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

This may help:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=color_codes

By shorting the red and white wires to ground you are splitting to the slug coil. If you short the red and white to the hot lead, you are splitting to the screw coil.

[dystrust]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

I only have experience with active pickups - isn't the output way higher? I feel like they'd be near impossible to mix. 9v-18v with an active vs. less than a volt for a passive pickup, so I can't see how (unless you used a super-compressor or something) you'd be able to easily mix them.

You can mix actives and passives in the same guitar, but you can't run both at the same time unless you install a buffer between the passive pickup and the active portion of the circuit. Sharing a tone control (as the OP wants) won't work without such a buffer. This is why actives and passives typically aren't used together in the same instrument.

[WhoGivesAPluck]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

You can mix actives and passives in the same guitar, but you can't run both at the same time unless you install a buffer between the passive pickup and the active portion of the circuit. Sharing a tone control (as the OP wants) won't work without such a buffer. This is why actives and passives typically aren't used together in the same instrument.

Okay from what I understand correct me WHEN im wrong using a 25k pot on the active acts like a buffer to help mix the two, IF i wire it up and the volume is still to drastic to mix them, can i put a cap on either one/both of the pickups to act as even more of a buffer? or would that eliminate the reason for even having an active?

[dystrust]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

Okay from what I understand correct me WHEN im wrong using a 25k pot on the active acts like a buffer to help mix the two, IF i wire it up and the volume is still to drastic to mix them, can i put a cap on either one/both of the pickups to act as even more of a buffer? or would that eliminate the reason for even having an active?

Actives and passives won't work at the same time due to differences in impedence. Passive pickups are high impedence and want to see a load of 500-1000K ohms. Actives OTOH are low impedence and want to see a load in the range of 10-100K ohms. The new EMG X-series pickups are designed for an even lower impedence of around 2K ohms; so much lower that a conventional passive tone control (pot & cap to ground) won't work with them.

In your case the issue isn't a volume imbalance, it's an incorrect impedence for your passive pickup. It's possible that it may not work at all, or you may get a fizzy distortion due to the mismatch. A buffer would convert your passive pickup's signal from high impedence to low; a downside is that it will also change the sound of the passive pickup.

[WhoGivesAPluck]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

Yeah enough with this , ill get another EMG if I had know then how incompatable they were i would have gotten two from the get go, the only reason I kept the Jackson was I liked the way it sounded, but if it changes the sound then it's defeating the purpose, Thanks!

[dystrust]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

Yeah enough with this , ill get another EMG if I had know then how incompatable they were i would have gotten two from the get go, the only reason I kept the Jackson was I liked the way it sounded, but if it changes the sound then it's defeating the purpose, Thanks!

My previous post didn't make it clear, but both pickups will work fine by themselves provided that they have dedicated volume and/or tone controls. If there are two control pots on your guitar, one could be the passive pickup's volume, and the other could be for your EMG. Take the output of each pot to your pickup switch, and it'll work fine as long as you don't combine the pickups. What you can't do is have both pickups share a volume or tone control since they need to use different values (500K for passive, 25K for EMG).

[WhoGivesAPluck]

Re: Using the Red/White humbucker wires + Push pull to use single coil mode

My previous post didn't make it clear, but both pickups will work fine by themselves provided that they have dedicated volume and/or tone controls. If there are two control pots on your guitar, one could be the passive pickup's volume, and the other could be for your EMG. Take the output of each pot to your pickup switch, and it'll work fine as long as you don't combine the pickups. What you can't do is have both pickups share a volume or tone control since they need to use different values (500K for passive, 25K for EMG).

Ehh, too late I just bought another EMG 89