Dummy coil for neck P90

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I’m contemplating the notion of adding a dummy coil to my Hamer Studio Custom which has a Phat Cat in the neck and 59/Custom in the bridge. I’ve seen diagrams for strats where it’s wired to the pickup switch and the output, but not sure how this would work with my setup.

Control layout is:
2 volumes
1 tone
3 way toggle

Would it be as simple as wiring a dummy coil to the volume jack for neck pickup and the pickup selector, or am I missing something?

FWIW, the PC isn’t necessarily noisy Perse, just trying to get things even quieter.

Thanks!


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[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Dummy coil for neck P90

A dummy coil will probably alter the tone of the pickup a lot. And not in a good way. They don’t work well passive, which is why they aren’t commonly used.


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[Mincer]

Re: Dummy coil for neck P90

I don't like the passive versions...but the active ones are great. Music Man uses the Silent Circuit, and that works very well with single coils- it uses a 9v battery.

 

[freefrog]

Re: Dummy coil for neck P90

I’m contemplating the notion of adding a dummy coil to my Hamer Studio Custom which has a Phat Cat in the neck and 59/Custom in the bridge. I’ve seen diagrams for strats where it’s wired to the pickup switch and the output, but not sure how this would work with my setup.

Control layout is:
2 volumes
1 tone
3 way toggle

Would it be as simple as wiring a dummy coil to the volume jack for neck pickup and the pickup selector, or am I missing something?

FWIW, the PC isn’t necessarily noisy Perse, just trying to get things even quieter.

Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've fitted a Hamer XT with a dummy coil hidden in the cavity (a P90 deprived of its magnets + poles).

Here are the two possible ways to wire it:

1- in parallel. It ends with something like 4.5k of DCR and the inductance of a Telecaster pickup, for a similar tone.

2- in series, for something like 18k and 14H. There's NO pickup on the market with such a high inductance and it darkens the sound.

In both cases, the dummy coil reduces the output level.

Personally, I've mounted the dummy in series BUT I've added a LRC circuit in parallel of both, in order to keep realistic DCR/ inductance readings. I've not avoided the drop in output. When I enable the dummy coil, it sounds more like a mini-humbucker than like a P90.

I've another guitar with a Kinman P90Hx and it's a much better solution for a P90 tone with noise cancellation.

There"s also acitve circuits whose schematics are available on the net but they require a battery in the cavity...

I won't mention the Ilitch air coil: IME, it works really well with Fender style single coils but alters the tone of P90's (because it requires too much wire to work).

Last but not least: a series dummy coil would work nicely with a P90 including AlNiCo rod magnets, like in the Gibson Blueshawk.

Good luck!