Do humbuckers in parallel sound Strat-y?

[Rex_Rocker]

I mean... in theory, they would? Maybe?

Would I get smoething Strat Positon 2 or 4 from a bridge or neck humbucker run in parallel, respectively?

I mean, obviously, not dead on. But maybe? Or is it its own thing?

Might be kind of a dumb or noob question, but I genuinely don't have much experience with parallel humbuckers.

 

[freefrog]

If the inductance of an humbucker in parallel is the same than with a single coil, it's in the ballpark. Not identical because of the wider magnetic windows but similar enough to me.
And even closer of course if the HB is a SC sized model.

For the record, my old Charvel has a switchable dummy coil to put in parallel with the bridge HB. I've tuned it to create to same overall inductance than with a SC when it's enabled. Works better than the coils of the bridge HB in parallel with each other in this case.

Side note: with its high Q factor, the Dimebucker in parallel is VERY Strat-y IME, at least in a Fender scale guitar with alder body...

 

[GuitarStv]

Nope.

They sound brighter. But especially the neck pickup is noticeably not stratty at all. Not even close. Bridge can sound a bit closer I find.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Well, certainly it depends upon what pup you're talking about.
But the simple answer is...no, it doesn't sound like a Strat pup. Some humbuckers (like the Quarter Pound) can sound very similar because they have some similar physical qualities like magnet poles instead of flat bar magnet under the poles.
Generally, putting a humbucker in parallel will make it sound brighter and more open/"acoustic", but it will not have the punch and attack that a Strat pup has.

 

[beaubrummels]

IME certain humbuckers split to slug coil sound more Strat-y than any other configuration.

 

[GuitarDoc]

IME certain humbuckers split to slug coil sound more Strat-y than any other configuration.

That can certainly be true!

 

[freefrog]

I'd carefully avoid any blanket stratement here...

If one puts a PG1N in parallel, it will have an inductance of 0.86H. So, obviously, it won't sound like a 2.6H Strat pickup. Il will be way brighter and thinner. Low DCR HB's sound more single coilish when split because each of their coils has an inductance close to a Fender SC.

To get a Fender style sound from a HB wired in parallel, it requires an inductance in series of 6 to 8H or more. Only "hot" HB's have such specs.

Hence my trick consisting to put a properly speced dummy coil in parallel with weaker HB's to give them the required LR specs and therefore, the desired tone or something close enough - and it works, even when I wire such a thing for a pro guitarist as I've already done it.


For the record, I share below two pics showing the electrically induced resonant peaks of a SH13 vs a Hot Rails in parallel, after the resonant peaks measured on a real 1962 Strat with its original PU's - I haven't found "stratiest" than this in my archives...

The SH13 in parallel has a lower pitched resonant frequency but this difference would be easy to neutralize thx to a properly tuned cable capacitance. And in any case, its high Q factor (IOW: its narrow pointy resonance) makes it well suited for Strat single coil emulation. The Hot Rails in parallel is not so close but its less faithful resonance is balanced by its more correct SC form factor. So it's still able IME to give something like a decent Telecaster imitation if positioned and wired with this idea in mind in a Fender scale instrument (been there, done that too, for a guitar periodically used on stage for 15 years and judged single coilish enough with the HR in parallel to play convincing country tracks)...

 

[Chistopher]

I used to be big on coil splits and series/parallel. But now I'm more of a "let your single coils be single coils and your humbuckers be humbuckers" kind of guy.

 

[Mincer]

Not to me, they don't, and even worse, they don't 'feel' like a Strat pickup. Splitting always sounded better to me.

 

[Supernautilus]

I used to be big on coil splits and series/parallel. But now I'm more of a "let your single coils be single coils and your humbuckers be humbuckers" kind of guy.

Same. I still do switching mods sometimes in specific situations. But in general I've cooled off a bit on series/split/parallel switching over time. In most cases it just make a humbucker sound weak. Especially vintage output ones.

 

[zionstrat]

I do a lot of parallel for the general public, they often perceive it is more strat-like, but as discussed, before it really just comes across as a thinner tone.

But it can be an incredibly useful tone... On power pups it often gives a alternative less crunchy rhythm.

In the mid-range, a lot of times it provides and an alternate voice, especially when you've got to stay humbucking

And my biggest surprise was a client that got me to parallel his mini humbucker... The math was predicting resistance in the 1.9 ballpark and I told him it probably wasn't worth trying.

Boy was I wrong. A paralleled mini humbucker sounds a heck of a lot like a telecaster neck in the middle position.
M
Bottom line, I do as many parallels as I do spin a splits and split coils and all of them can be extremely useful depending on the gear and the use.

 

[NotDemanic]

Not to me, they don't, and even worse, they don't 'feel' like a Strat pickup. Splitting always sounded better to me.

They don't, but they are a brighter, generally, version of whatever pickup is being run in parallel.
And they don't have as much noise as a single. In most cases. Probably just a bit more power than if you split them, too.

 

[Mincer]

They don't, but they are a brighter, generally, version of whatever pickup is being run in parallel.
And they don't have as much noise as a single. In most cases. Probably just a bit more power than if you split them, too.

Yeah, it isn't a bad sound. It just doesn't sound or feel like a single coil. It is hum-cancelling, though, which split isn't. Even though I don't like parallel coils, many do.

 

[marcello252]

I used to be big on coil splits and series/parallel. But now I'm more of a "let your single coils be single coils and your humbuckers be humbuckers" kind of guy.

+1

the only thing I did which works is a circuit like the one mounted in the early Yamaha Revstar series, a tailored low pass, it still remains a humbuckers and it gives you a usable 'lighter' sound.

 

[freefrog]

In another of these posts that nobody reads, let's share something that me, myself and I find interesting...

The response of a Hot Rails bridge in parallel, versus the Telecaster bridge pickup emulation in a Variax.

Then the response of a Cool Rails bridge (but intentionally mounted in the neck slot) also in parallel, VS the Telecaster neck pickup emulation of the same Variax.

Both played in chords direct to the board through a 1M input.

The funny thing is how Telecaster sounds in the Variax are no more used, since HR and CR in parallel sound practically the same.

I don't share the same comparison between Rails in parallel and real Tele single coils although I've a whole collection of pics about that. Reason: as I use a relatively short / low capacitance cable for such tests, real single coils are brighter in any case that Rails in parallel. The Variax is another story, since it obviously emulates digitally passive pickups played through a longer/ more capacitive cable (of 1nF approximatively).

Impossible to find a similar spectrum with the SH13 in parallel: I have it somewhere but I'd have too many pics to explore. This contribution at least should or might put things in perspective, while illustrating my testimonial in post 7...

 

[marcello252]

The response of a Hot Rails bridge in parallel, versus the Telecaster bridge pickup emulation in a Variax..

you're pushing me to try a cool rails or a dmz pro track (I don't like Hrs)

 

[freefrog]

Not found our tests about the SH13 in parallel but I share below something else: a SSL1 bridge in a Strat VS a Duncan Custom in parallel in a Super Strat...

Both played in chords direct to the board through the usual 1M input and the same cable.

Fundamental notes (up to 1130Hz approximatively) and super high harmonics are different: the guitar with the Custom was fitted with thinner strings because of a Floyd Rose trem, thinning itself the bass and midrange and focusing the response of the high mids (a normal Strat trem would affect frequencies differently, of course).

Harmonics are largely similar from 2 to 10 khz, as is the output level. Hence a strat-y tone from the Custom in parallel. It's due to its high inductance in series, making the inductance in parallel similar to the value of a Fender SC, as explained in post 7.

 

[marcello252]

so a little more mids and a little less bass, it seems like the common perceived A2 effect

 

[freefrog]

It was a Custom with ceramic magnet, not a Custom Custom with A2... and the EQing profile of fundamental notes is really defined by the guitar with its hardware (Fender scale Super Strat with Floyd Rose).

Below is the EQing of this guitar with a Custom 5 vs the regular Custom with ceramic - both wired in parallel.



And below is the Custom 5 in series VS parallel, for the record:

 

[GuitarDoc]

"let your single coils be single coils and your humbuckers be humbuckers" kind of guy.

That's fine if you want to pick up a different guitar every time you want a different sound. But the point of splitting or parallel is so you can get multiple sounds from one guitar.