Does coil spliting work better on humbuckers with high output?

[Wayne27]

I heard that lower output humbuckers loose a ton of volume when coil split is used. Does the same happen to ones with high output?

 

[uOpt]

The drop is about the same.

 

[Mincer]

Splitting can work well no matter what the output of the series humbucker is. It really depends on the tone of the original pickup- some pickups sound better split than others to me, but that is never about the output.

 

[Artie]

The voltage output is half. What the human ear perceives is -3 dB. Barely perceptual.

 

[Securb]

I have a split on my Dimebucker and Fralin High Output. Both sound amazing split and the volume drop is minimal—not something an audience would notice.

 

[Artie]

. . . not something an audience would notice.

Yup. They just want to hear the song. That's a good thang.

 

[freefrog]

Each on his own but IME / IMHO, no, coil splitting doesn't work better with hi-gain pickups: splitting a humbucker with an inductance of 8H leaves the user with a single coil of approximatively 4H (questions of mutual inductance aside: I simplify in order to be clear). That's twice the inductance of a Fender CS 69 single coil so it doesn't sound Fenderish. But it's powerful enough to get annoyingly noisy.

For this reason, I prefer hi-gain pickups in parallel for SC tones and keep coil splitting for lower gain classic Gibson style humbuckers - a typical P.A.F. clone exhibiting around 4H of inductance and giving around 2H once split, which allows a resonant frequency and therefore a tone closer to those of real single coils.

Mileages may vary. HTH nevertheless.

 

[Supernautilus]

I'm with Mr Frog.

If people like splitting low gain pups, that's cool. It's not my place to tell people what's wrong or right. But I've done a ton of experimenting and it's rare that a vintage output pickup sounds good split to my ears. I have only two guitars with switching right now. One with a SH-4 and the other with SH-14. Both have 3-way series/split/parallel wiring. They sound good. But I don't bother with anything lower gain than that. Just not worth it to me personally.

 

[freefrog]

I'm with Mr Frog.

Except that you don't like splitting low gain pickups and that I recommend this solution. :laugh2:

It surely illustrates the variety and relativity of personal experiences, tastes and opinions.

Now, I also think that it shows the limitations of generalizations: the current market being crowded by so many low gain / hi-gain humbuckers (sometimes with very different designs) , there's a probability of good/bad sounding split options in each range... ;-)


Footnote to my previous answer - Actually, I DO HAVE a guitar with 2 hi-gain HB's and split option: that's all I could obtain from a single push-pull pot mastering two humbuckers. On this basis, I confirm that splitting a hi-gain HB doesn"t sound single coilish enough but easily delivers too much noise (albeit my pickups in this instrument are Bill Lawrence L500's, rather less noisy than other products in HB mode).

 

[Securb]

I agree with Freefrog that splitting a high-output humbucker sounds nothing like a Fenderish single; however, in my experience, I do get a usable tone. My Fralin Pure PAF gets very Stratty when split, as does my Pearly Gates; both are in the neck position. Splitting a high-output humbucker can give you some interesting tonal options, but it will never sound anything like a Strat. For the record, I do get a slight 60-cycle hum on my high-output pickups when split, but nothing super annoying or louder than a traditional single coil. Also, when splitting a humbucker, 99% of the time, I use it for a clean tone, so there is no audible noise.

 

[IMENATOR]

Not sure this will help you, just let me share my two cents using HSH and using auto split for notch positions, trying to get strat quack. I tried SSL-1 middle and Jazz neck, both arelady bright and when doing the split and combined it had lot of treble and scooped, not bad just a sound that has its own time and place. Currently using Alnico ii Pro neck and SSL-6 middle, less treble and more mids, not when split and combined the quack EQ is more balanced, there is treble but also there is mids, it is more usable for my taste.

 

[IMENATOR]

Splitting can work well no matter what the output of the series humbucker is. It really depends on the tone of the original pickup- some pickups sound better split than others to me, but that is never about the output.

I agree. At least for me , using a split humbucker means I need to back the gain or use a different channel at the amp because I need a more open and articulated sound.

 

[xxxplorer]

I have one guitar that splits. And I never play it lol. As I get older I want my stuff to do what it does well. Not attempt to be something else

 

[Supernautilus]

Except that you don't like splitting low gain pickups and that I recommend this solution. :laugh2:

It surely illustrates the variety and relativity of personal experiences, tastes and opinions.

Now, I also think that it shows the limitations of generalizations: the current market being crowded by so many low gain / hi-gain humbuckers (sometimes with very different designs) , there's a probability of good/bad sounding split options in each range... ;-)


Footnote to my previous answer - Actually, I DO HAVE a guitar with 2 hi-gain HB's and split option: that's all I could obtain from a single push-pull pot mastering two humbuckers. On this basis, I confirm that splitting a hi-gain HB doesn"t sound single coilish enough but easily delivers too much noise (albeit my pickups in this instrument are Bill Lawrence L500's, rather less noisy than other products in HB mode).

Oh my bad, I completely misread your post. Serves me right for reading too fast lol.

 

[ErikH]

I have one guitar that splits. And I never play it lol. As I get older I want my stuff to do what it does well. Not attempt to be something else

Haha, same. Except my one guitar that does split gets lots of play time (LP Trad Pro). The split tones are useable but I never use them unless I play that one in Church with the Worship group. The rest of the time, full humbucker mode. Even my HSS Strats don't split the humbucker in the notch position.

 

[Aceman]

I'm gonna disagree a little on this.

When you get singles, say neck and middle, to match a hot Humbucker, they are usually hotter than normal. So if you split a hot one, you can wind up with a quieter single than the neck/middle pickups.

Also, if you split a quiet PAF, it can get below normal singles to my ears.

But the only times I have ever noticed are in the extreme cases. I will say, that I like louder hum buckers in general. So, I love a Split DiMarzio X2N, and to me, it has a Texas Special single vibe to it then. Texas Specials are about the only singles I dig. I'm a Humbucker guy. I can't believe that isn't because of the hotness of the X2N.

But independently - a split Humbucker sounds like a single coil. But as mentioned, it may not (or may) sound like a Strat. Also note, that because of the proximity of the other coil, it likely will have a little less hum than a true single coil.

 

[jeremy]

i am a single coil guy and ive never loved the texas specials, somethings weird and gritty about the upper mids.

i like split buckers. it can be a useful sound, especially live, but it never sounds like a good strat pup or anything like that. i like both higher output, like a jb, or more vintage output, like a pearly gates, split. the jb split still has strong output and a fairly full sound, the pgb split is pretty bright and thin but can be cool for some parts. most neck buckers sound ok split.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

The reason people say this is because hotter hums have heavier winds.
But when we say 'works better,' there really are two issues at play - output and tone.
Vintage output hums have lightly wound coils and tend to be pretty weak and thin when split.
One coil of a hotter hum will have more output and mids, yet less sparkle and chime

The other thing is that the design is fundamentally different between humbuckers and Fender type singlecoils .
A Strat pickup uses six rod magnets inside the coil, and one pole of each is quite close to the strings.
This produces a strong and very focused magnetic field for the strings to vibrate in.
Hums use a single magnet lying flat beneath the coils; its magnetism is extended upward through studs and screws.
But the field the strings move in is differently shaped, far more diffuse as well as being weaker.

A few humbucker designs use rod magnets in place of slugs - understandably these tend to split very well.
But their series tone is also sharper because of it. They are less smooth and less forgiving in character than typical humbuckers

 

[hamerfan]

Okay, with every humbucker it sounds like a Single Coil. For me it was the question, with what humbucker does it sound more like a serious stratocaster pickup? In this case i tend to say alnico humbucker with a higher wound coil. Otherwise its too pling-pling.

 

[Mincer]

Okay, with every humbucker it sounds like a Single Coil. For me it was the question, with what humbucker does it sound more like a serious stratocaster pickup? In this case i tend to say alnico humbucker with a higher wound coil. Otherwise its too pling-pling.

The StagMag is the obvious first choice here.