How to get the most "Quack" on a H-H guitar?
- Thread starter Reee
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beaubrummels
Well-known member
I think adding a phase option and having two volumes to mix would also increase the quack options.
Jack_TriPpEr
New member
*Some* amount of quack can be achieved by inner coils of humbuckers in parallel, but it will never be much compared to two single coils - either neck & middle, or middle & neck. Strong quack requires the close physical proximity that only a middle position pup can provide. I just went thru a project finding that out for myself, where i even had 2 bonafide singlecoils installed in a HH guitar and even then, the quack was only subtle. I also tried Half Out Of Phase wiring that is reported to add quack, but i found that the tone it added was more of an acoustic-like strum sound, not a quack.
beaubrummels
Well-known member
I agree with this. It's like the Telecaster middle position.
It works better with some pickups than others. But to me, it is 'close enough'.
Jack_TriPpEr
New member
Yep, that's one of the earliest PRS 5 way wirings. Stewmac hosts a diagram for that, setup specifically for a rotary pickup selector which is predominantly the format that PRS used that 5 way config in. See below.
https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-i...nd-wiring/wiring-kit-for-paul-reed-smith.html
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Jack_TriPpEr
New member
I thought so too with my recent project, until i brought home a Strat w a middle pup to compare Positions 2 and 4 against my SS guitar setup. I also asked my wife to be an objective listener. Even she said that the difference in quack factor was significant btw the two guitars. My SS was setup with a Dimarzio Area 67 in the neck and a Area 58 in the bridge. And I was only using the main coils of each Dimarzio pup (i.e. the smaller hum-canceling coil of each pup was not active). But maybe like you say i might have gotten more quack if the pickups were different.
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Jack_TriPpEr
New member
A few members report in this thread at The Gear Page forum that keeping the two coils that are being combined in parallel as NON-hum-canceling yields more quack vs. the two being hum-canceling. At least, for singlecoil type pups. I'm assuming that holds true for splitcoils of two humbuckers.
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...1597731/page-2
And, magnet flipping isn't the only option to achieve hum-canceling inner coils. Intead, one pup can be rotated 180 degrees and then you wire the coilsplit specifically for the two inner coils.
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Jack_TriPpEr
New member
Wiring a humbuckers' 2 coils in parallel has a "hollow" type sound to me... i don't hear "quack" in that configuration, personally.
To your original question, you will get some quack when you wire the two inner coils of an HH in parallel. I was just trying to make you aware that - per my experience - the amount of quack will be far less than when a middle position pup is present, like in a Strat's Positions 2 and 4. So split inner coils will yield the most quack that a HH guitar can provide, in my opinion.
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allright, quack aside, would a neck in parallel come closest to the 2 position on a strat? the split inners does quack but seems to be a bit more like a tele, i'm looking for that polite, almost acoustic-y 2 position sound that i had on a Jackson DK2, it was a 24 fret guitar with duncan STK-1's in the neck and middle, that 2 position sounded glorious!
btw: is the STK1 strat pickup discontinued? shame because i really liked that one!
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frankfalbo
In Fluence Y'all
That’s one of the payoffs with P-Rails, the inner coils are physically a little closer to one another, and the string window (aperture) is narrower than a humbucker slug coil. Together they produce decent quack.
Artie
Peaveyologist
That's an interesting discussion, but, (IMHO), it lacks some science. With the exception of one thing. Remember, an RWRP single flips the polarity twice. Which brings it back to "normal", so to speak. It's only the signal picked up out of the air that's affected. Their IS however, one bit of science here. On a non-RWRP pup, all three singles are magnetizing the strings with the same polarity. With an RWRP middle, the middle magnet is opposing the N & B. That, in and of itself, could contribute to a slightly stronger overall output . . . thus, more "quack."
I'd like to perform this experiment myself, but right now, I think all my Strats have gone noiseless. I do have a pre-wired DD SC-101 set, but I'd need to find another SC-101 neck to match. I doubt that a non-RWRP SC-101 middle exists.
i think that whole thing doesn't make sense considering all the stratty tones we love are 2 and 4 positions which are noiseless by default, TGP can be a weird place
Jack_TriPpEr
New member
Ah, ok. You could try the Neck humbucker in parallel. But i would suspect outer coil of Neck humbucker in parallel with inner coil of Bridge humbucker would be closest.
Since it sounds like you're going to be trying various coil combinations at first, I recommend you buy and use a set of Seymour Duncan Triple Shot pup mounting rings that gives you access to all four modes of each humbucker (in series, in parallel, inner coil, and outer coil). https://www.seymourduncan.com/single...ct/triple-shot
Once you figure out which 5 pup combinations you want, you could remove them, switch back to normal pickup rings, and then wire up a 5 way superswitch to give you quicker, more ergonomic on-the-fly access to those 5 positions you decided on. I or a few other members here could help with the how-to on the wiring if you need it. Then the rings are available to you to do some experimentation on another guitar in your collection. Or, you could keep them installed if you don't mind the extra hand movements required to throw the two switches per pup on-the-fly.
The STK1 is still in production: https://www.seymourduncan.com/single...ack-plus-strat
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Artie
Peaveyologist
i think that whole thing doesn't make sense considering all the stratty tones we love are 2 and 4 positions which are noiseless by default, TGP can be a weird place
But that's just it. They are only noiseless with an RWRP middle. With a non-RWRP middle, a Strat has NO noiseless positions.
