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Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

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  • Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

    Hi, new member here. Hope you guys can help me out.
    I have a strat with a hot rails in the bridge, and single coils in mid and neck. Currently, the hot rails in standard series wiring is in phase with the single coils.
    I want to split the hot rails with a push pull switch but can only pick 1 of the 2 coils to split off and I would prefer it if it ended up RWRP with the middle pick up to get a hum cancelling effect. My plan is to split off the hot rails coil that has the opposite magnetic field as the middle pick up.
    Would that result in RWRP with middle or could I end up with an out of phase or non-hum cancelling configuration?

  • #2
    Re: Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

    Never mind. I already figured it out. I got confused because single coils can have 4 configurations (N/S and clockwise/anti-clockwise). But I just realized that, if one neglects the order of coils within the humbucker, there are only 2 basic configurations. Which means my plan should work.

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    • #3
      Re: Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

      Oh, cool! Let us know if your plan does, indeed, work. And let us know how you like the sound.
      Administrator of the SDUGF

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      • #4
        Re: Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

        The plan did work out.
        I've split the humbucker both ways (was actually a Pro Track, not a Hot Rails) and they pair up noise-cancelling with middle and neck. Split it has similar volume as my single coils middle and neck PUs and they seem to pairs nicely for sort of a SSS strat feel. I have yet to listen to the split settings through a quality amp so not entirely sure about tone.

        I kinda made a complicated wiring scheme with the Pro Track in parallel/series, a clean coil split but also sort of coil blend using a 250k pot and wiring it after the first coil. My idea was to use the pot to reduce the contribution of 1 coil in parallel mode so that I could dial in something like 1 coil plus a touch of the other to beef up the tone. It didn't work exactly as I expected. The 250k pot doesn't reduce volume that much, maybe only by 75% or so, so I can't go from 100 parallel to 100% split coil. I initially thought it would silence one of the coils. I probably need an electronics primer...
        The upside is that it works as an independent volume control for the Pro Track and possibly could be used to balance volume when switching between pickups.

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        • #5
          Re: Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

          I tried this with a few SC pickups (SSL-5, SSL-1, Peavey ceramic bar-type and Twangbanger)

          I didn't like the results much though. Middyness of Hotrails just seemed too much for any combination for good parallel tone. Great for grinding Scorpions tunes when in series though, with twangbanger in bridge! Had that perfect dry growl for the style.

          I tried that with neck and bridge HR. Neck was too thin split for anything. Got overpowered.
          "So understand/Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years/Face up, make your stand/And realize you're living in the golden years"
          Iron Maiden - Wasted Years

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          • #6
            Re: Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

            Yeah, the Hot Rails is just one of those pickups, that is great as is, and doesn't seem to do much else very well. I am sure it wasn't designed as a versatile pickup, though, as much as a very specific pickup type.
            Administrator of the SDUGF

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            • #7
              Re: Splitting a hot rails and get RWRP with single coil

              The main reason I split the Pro Track was to get low noise combinations with neck and middle. That part worked well. The tones are nice and quacky and I'm getting about a 3/4 reduction in noise compared to single coil alone.
              In split coil mode by itself it sounds about on par with a low-end no-name single coil. Usable in a pinch. But I have the Pro track in parallel mode for single coil like bridge tones so that's not much of an issue for me.
              The Pro Track has been reported to work better than the Hot Rails in split mode and that seems to be the case.

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