Series vs Parallel Wiring

[guitarplayer]

Does anyone know if there are any tonal differences between the two and which one is the standard way to wire a pickup?

[stevie_bees]

Re: Series vs Parallel Wiring

Most guitars are wired in parallel, although more and more are offering series switching on a switch as standard.

[Robert S.]

Re: Series vs Parallel Wiring

Most humbuckers coils are connected in series, most guitars have the pickups wired in parallel at the switch.

[Jester700]

Re: Series vs Parallel Wiring

BTW, yes, there are sonic differences. Series is generally higher output and warmer (more mids, less highs). I don't see the point in connecting 2 buckers in series, but some people do. I DO like 2 singles in series a lot for crunch sounds.

[guitarplayer]

Re: Series vs Parallel Wiring

I forgot to be more specific. I was wondering what the tonal differences were when a humbuckers coils were wired in series vs parallel.

[madstrummer]

Re: Series vs Parallel Wiring

parallel sounds thinner, brighter, and with a crisp attack and like 1/4 as much output.
series sounds fatter, warmer, and much more output-- the typical humbucker sound.

If you wire up your guitar with a parallel switch on one of the humbuckers do it on the neck... Sounds good with distortion. Very articulate.

don't even waste your time with parallel on the bridge, but that is just my opinion. Maybe a super high ohm pup like a JB would sound OK this way, but most won't IMO. Again this has a lot to do with your setup. If you have tons of searing high gain, then parallel wiring is a good way to cut thru the crud.
Parallel for cleans just sucks. Quite possibly, useless.

[markmann]

Re: Series vs Parallel Wiring

I forgot to be more specific. I was wondering what the tonal differences were when a humbuckers coils were wired in series vs parallel.

It depends on the pup but typically a bucker in series has a strong thick and mid focused tone that sounds good through most any amp. When wired parallel it will sound more like a single coil but retains some of the bucker tone when compared to an actual single.

FYI, my Les Paul is wired for series/parallel/cut and I prefer the parallel setting for the neck pup and series for the bridge. Combinations of cut and parallel using the neck and bridge yield some very Strat-like tones. In some cases I like the parallel tone better than my Strat.

It doesn't surprise me when people that generally use buckers in series say they don't like parallel. Like single coils, buckers in parallel require more tweaking to achieve desired tone and are more finicky about what amp is used as well as guitar and amp tone controls. If you've ever spent time with a guitar with singles and are used to tone tweaking then you'll have no problem finding excellent tone.