Coils in the Dimebucker - same, different

[pjd3]

Hey there, happy Saturday.

I wanted to see about confirming that the coils in the Dimebucker are identical to each other, wire type, # of windings, etc.

Reason I ask is that a guitar I built is meant to be used quite often with an Ebow. Using an Ebow in the neck position to me calls for using the coil that faces the bridge. So when the ser/par/cut coil switch is in "cut coil" mode, I would want the coil toward the neck to be the one that is cut, and not the other. Plus, if the coils were different, I would likely want to use the EBow with the coil that has the most windings or, the coil that may be considered "primary". Hope I'm making some sense here.

I chose the Dimebucker for this application partly because when looking for a pickup, I described the pickup I was looking for as one with a good deal of high frequency extension (not a pickup with a high frequency band pass hump). A surprisingly significant amount of folks recommended the Dimebucker as a good candidate, and, I sure cant say they were wrong.

Here is a link below to a track I used the guitar/Dimebucker in neck position with the Ebow - you hear it come in at 2:30. (and an ensemble of them at 6:05).

https://soundcloud.com/search?q=philster%20I%27m%20only%20one%20person

This track was a first experiment using granular synth with basic guitars. I was astonished at the types of sounds to be generated using layers of guitar chords and granular synth.

Thanks for stopping by and if you can fill me in on the status of the coils in the Dimebucker, I can go forward with confidence in the wiring of the ser/par/cutcoil switch.

Best,

Phil Donovan

[dave74]

Surely they are the same,,,,,,but I'm not smart on pickup designs so this makes two of us wanting to know. (???)

[pjd3]

Thanks Dave,

I'm about 90% sure that they are but, it would be good to hear it from others that have had their heads deeper in the pickup arena more than I. Of course, I can simply measure the DCR of each coil which I believe I have, but, just in case there isn't any other characteristic going on that is not obvious. Always second guessing myself !

Thank you,

Phil D

[freefrog]

would likely want to use the EBow with the coil that has the most windings or, the coil that may be considered "primary". Hope I'm making some sense here.

AFAIK, Duncan generally avoids "unbuckers" and prefers symetrical coils for a full humbucking effect. My subjective experience with the SH13 suggests the same. It's a Duncan variation on a Bill Lawrence design with symetrical coils, anyway [the SH13 having just a higher Q factor, reminding a standard single coil and favouring a focused response @ resonant peak. It's probably why it would appear as a good mate for an EBow...]

Now, with the mentioned design, the presence of a 4 conductors wire causes some subtle phase cancellation in the upper harmonics, beyond the main resonant frequency, when the pickup is wired in series. I'm not sure if it would interfere or not with an EBow but I know that it won't happen with a SH13 split or wired in parallel. So, intuitively, it's one of these two solutions that I'd try first with an EBow. YMMV.

Let us know how it turns for you. Good luck in your experiments. :-)

[freefrog]

Of course, I can simply measure the DCR of each coil which I believe I have, but, just in case there isn't any other characteristic going on that is not obvious. Always second guessing myself !

I sympathize with your prudence BTW. Two coils wound with different wire gauges and different numbers of turns might have the same DCR without having the same inductance nor output level... So DCR would be meaningless in such a situation. I don't think it's the case with the Dimebucker (I don't remember to have measured different inductances on its coils) but who knows?