How do you wire a HSS guitar with 250K pots, but series HBing sounds like 500K?

[Top-L]

(and vice versa)

I think this is the final frontier that passive pickups need to cross. Humbukcers are designed for 500K pots, they have a sound, but they lack air, even when split.

If I'm coil splitting, its because I want it to sound like a strat, with all the air and chime. When its humbucking, I want it to sound like it has 2x 500K pots in the circuit.

ALSO, can someone recommend a bridge HB that has a 100% credible single coil sound when split, but when in series sounds like a JB (or thereabouts?) Is there a way to use an active preamp to boost a split HB in said arrangement so I can use ANY humbucker and dial in the output of the split sound? That way I don't have to choose ridiculously hot pickups.

[Mincer]

A spin-a-split option might work. But I don't know, outside of a Stag Mag, what humbucker when split, sounds exactly like a single coil. Anything in the Custom family is close, though.

[eclecticsynergy]

JBs actually split quite well and they usually do quite well with a regular 250K volume pot too.
The model was originally intended for a humbucker Tele, after all..

There's really no way to make a 250K sound like a 500K, but it can be done the other way round.
The most common solution is to use a 500K volume pot, and use resistor wiring to make it behave like 250K for the singlecoils.
Here's a diagram:

https://postlmg.cc/rRJF2hj5

To split the bridge hum using a switch, you'd connect the red/white humbucker wire to one lug on the switch.
And connect the other lug of the switch to ground.


For the most Stralike split tone, you want a bright and fairly strong humbucker.
The Anderson H2 and H2+ split famously well.

In the Duncan lineup, the Stag Mag does split well, but it isn't fully humbucker-smooth when in series mode.
59/Custom hybrid has a good reputation for splitting nicely and it also balances well with vintage output singles.

[Clint 55]

Use a spin a split or partial split for the right heat level when split. None of the hbs truly sound like single coils when split except the stag mag. The JB does well. The PG sounds stratty in the neck but probably doesn't have enough output in the bridge for split unless partial split with a big value. Use the resistor trick mentioned above, or you can just go with 300k all around.

[Top-L]

JBs actually split quite well and they usually do quite well with a regular 250K volume pot too.
The model was originally intended for a humbucker Tele, after all..

There's really no way to make a 250K sound like a 500K, but it can be done the other way round.
The most common solution is to use a 500K volume pot, and use resistor wiring to make it behave like 250K for the singlecoils.
Here's a diagram:

https://postlmg.cc/rRJF2hj5

To split the bridge hum using a switch, you'd connect the red/white humbucker wire to one lug on the switch.
And connect the other lug of the switch to ground.


For the most Stralike split tone, you want a bright and fairly strong humbucker.
The Anderson H2 and H2+ split famously well.

In the Duncan lineup, the Stag Mag does split well, but it isn't fully humbucker-smooth when in series mode.
59/Custom hybrid has a good reputation for splitting nicely and it also balances well with vintage output singles.

Is there a variation of this circuit that would work with a H-H guitar and a 5-way?

Positions 2-4 would be split to single and sound like 250k.

But is this even worth doing? Most of the 5-way setups in H-H guitars use positions 2-4 to combine parallel coils. I'm concerned that I will go to the effort to rewire a guitar this way, then realize why most people do it the other way.

[eclecticsynergy]

Is there a variation of this circuit that would work with a H-H guitar and a 5-way?

Positions 2-4 would be split to single and sound like 250k.

But is this even worth doing? Most of the 5-way setups in H-H guitars use positions 2-4 to combine parallel coils. I'm concerned that I will go to the effort to rewire a guitar this way, then realize why most people do it the other way.

A split hum doesn't really behave like a singlecoil since it doesn't (except the StagMag) have rod magnets right up near the strings.
Prevailing opinion is, you don't need 250K loading in an HH guitar; that's mostly reserved for mixing hums with true singles.
Not impossible, just considered more trouble than it's worth for a negligible difference in tone, I think.

It could be done if you really wanted to.
IMO the easiest way would be with a three-way blade switch and two DPDTs, one to split each pickup.
It'd be simple to engage a loading resistor via the unused half of each DPDT.
One switch could split both at once, but you'd need a 3PDT switch to accommodate the loading resistor. They're available.
Frankly though, I don't think a loading resistor would reallybe helpful on an HH.

Perhaps you've got the 500K-to-250K loading trick confused with partial splits (aka resistor splits), which are an entirely different thing.
Resistor splits are a setup using resistors so that when splitting you don't silence the affected coil completely.
This is super helpful when splitting lower output hums; it was conceived by Bill Lawrence in the 70s and popularized by PRS in the 90s.
The spin-a-split suggested above is a version that lets you tweak adjust the amount while playing. But it also requires giving up a control knob.

On the 5-way switches (such as the Megaswitch P) that offer various parallel options, I like the PRS style inner-coils-parallel very much; it's usually position 4 and sounds quite Stratlike. When set up with the correct polarity it's also fully hum-cancelling, while split wiring is not.

Of course if you were to use a Superswitch instead, you could do nearly anything.
But the more elaborate the wiring you attempt, the trickier things become trying to configure it.