Humbucker question

A

ACR4V3N

New member
Would it be possible to take a hybrid humbucker and wire it to shut off a coil? I dont mean coil splitting, I mean shut off one of the coils so that only one of the coils is working. If so, would it sound noticably different, like a single coil, or like a handicapped humbucker?
 
Re: Humbucker question

Isn't having only one coil producing sound the same as a coil split...?
 
Re: Humbucker question

ACR4V3N said:
From my understanding, coil spliting is having both coils act as single coils.
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I'm not sure what you mean by both coils acting as single-coils. That's essentially what they're doing in normal operation, they're just doing it together. Do you mean putting in a switch to make them out of phase with each other rather than working together to cancel hum?

This is from Wiki:

Some guitars which have humbucking pickups feature coil splits, which allow the pickups to act as "pseudo-single" coils by either short-circuiting or bypassing one coil. The electrical circuit of the pickup is reduced to that of a true single coil while the magnetic circuit retains its original closed loop configuration. Usually, this feature is activated using a miniature toggle switch or push-pull switch on the tone potentiometer. Some guitars (e.g. the Peavey T-60 and the Fender Classic Player Jaguar HH) make use of a variable coil split circuit that allows the guitarist to dial a variable amount of signal from the second coil, from pure single-coil to full humbucker and everything in-between.
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Re: Humbucker question

Anyway, assuming that's what you want to do then it's entirely possible as long as you have a four-conductor humbucker.

This diagram should be very helpful:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=1hum_1vol_1tone_split

How it will sound when split will depend entirely on the pickup itself. Generally high to mid output buckers sound better when split because they can still output enough power to sound like a decent single coil. Low output PAF-a-likes can sound a little thin and weak.

What pickup are you using? You say it's a hybrid? Are you using a standard one slug/one screw coil arrangement? You can decide which coil you keep working when it's split and this can vary the sound you get as well.
 
Re: Humbucker question

parallel
would have both coils working
sounds something like single coil
is humbucking

coil split
bypasses one coil to create a single coil like sound
purists say it isn't the same and it isn't ( its a bit darker )
very similar tho

series
the standard way of wiring a humbucker
sounds like a humbucker
wired
start-northcoil-finish--finish-south coil-start

series out of phase with itself
not humbucking
both coils in seires but wired
start-northcoil-finish--start-south coil-finish
 
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