2 fat single coils (neck/bridge) both wired on all the time?

[appar111]

I'm kicking some ideas around for a new pickguard for my strat and was thinking about using 2 fat sounding single coils for the neck and bridge position (Quarter Pounds, FS-1's, or SDS-1's), getting one RW/RP and wiring them both to be on all the time. No middle pickup, and no switch. I'm typically a "volume knob only" kinda guy and usually a "bridge pickup only", so this is my warped way of branching out

With two fuller sounding single coils and hum-cancelling in the middle, how would that sound with both running (i.e. the equivalent of the middle position sort of sound on a tele)? Sort of like one big ass humbucker? Or something different? Whenever I've used two single coils at bridge and neck before, it's only been w/ lower output stuff or a higher output bridge and a low output neck pickup.

 

[DreX]

Re: 2 fat single coils (neck/bridge) both wired on all the time?

Yeah, middle position of a Tele, but much louder and darker. It's not the best tone for anything, imo. I have a Tele with QPs that does both pickups in series as a switch option, so I speak from experience.

 

[appar111]

Re: 2 fat single coils (neck/bridge) both wired on all the time?

I wouldn't wire them in series with each other though... just the usual parallel, just w/ RW/RP on one so that it cancels hum. Or is that actually just series if one is RW/RP?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: 2 fat single coils (neck/bridge) both wired on all the time?

Wouldnt sound at all like a big humbucker... your reading different areas of the string the harmonic content would be different. This is one of those ideas that sounds better in your head and not so good in reality.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: 2 fat single coils (neck/bridge) both wired on all the time?

If you were to do two single coils one at the neck and one at the bridge you could use a blender pot to mix the two signals. You might be able to get some interesting sounds out of that? Then your controls could be volume, blender and tone.

 

[DreX]

Re: 2 fat single coils (neck/bridge) both wired on all the time?

I wouldn't wire them in series with each other though... just the usual parallel, just w/ RW/RP on one so that it cancels hum. Or is that actually just series if one is RW/RP?

Oh, then it's going to sound like the mid position of a Les Paul.

I'm a big fan of QP's, I have a set in a P-Bass, a Strat and a Tele. I think they really do come closer to having both the mids and high end detail of a full sized PAF, than a SC sized attempts at PAF, such as the Little '59, which I also love, but don't have as much harmonic richness to them. I suspect the magnetic reach of a 1/4 poles is wider than that of the small sized humbuckers, and I'd guess it's drawing in more harmonic content.

I just plugged the Strat in and activate the neck and bridge in parallel, and it's a lot like a Les Paul's mid position, more so than a Tele, because you're combining two warmer, higher output pickups with lots of mids.

The RW/RP won't make much, if any difference in the tone.

Like I said before though, it's a particular kind of sound that people don't use that often, because it's the complete opposite of aggressive. I think most guitarists just use that sound only once in a while, if ever, and it hasn't been a go-to tone since the the mid 20th century.

 

[appar111]

Re: 2 fat single coils (neck/bridge) both wired on all the time?

yeah, sounds like this might not be as good in reality as it is in my head. If I just went w/ a regular 3-way tele switch for it, that would be much more useful, but then I'd probably choose some singles that were hum-cancelling.

thanks for clarifying guys!

J.