I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

PizzaMaker

PizzaMaker

New member
I think this confirms my final step into madness, but...

I know it is possible, with the right pickups, to make a humbucker from 2 single coils wired in series.

I know it is possible to get a single coil sized side by side (ie not stacked) humbucker.

Do you see where this is going?

Going by the above, it should be possible to make a "quadbucker" from 2 of these single coil sized humbuckers.

Has anyone tried this? How did it sound?

If not, what are the thoughts of the more learned people on here as to what would happen? Would doing this create a shift in the time/space continuum? Would it cause an electro-magnetic pulse that would wipe out my neighbourhood?

Could i possibly sound good?

Or would it just sound sh*t?

EDIT: I've just seen this has been done before by the likes of DiMarzio and Kramer. Has anyone played these?
 
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Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

PizzaMaker said:
I think this confirms my final step into madness, but...

Do you see where this is going?
Click to expand...

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Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

I have a pair of pickups that are similar to what you're referring to. They're Schallers, out of an older Goden SA. Each coil is a "stack", with 4-wires each. Then there's two stacks. So each pup has 8 wires plus ground. I haven't heard them yet because I haven't finalized the project, or wiring scheme, to use them in yet. I want to be able to maximize the possible switching combinations without getting too crazy with the controls.

The pups are also strange in that one stack is similar to the parallel-axis pole pieces, and one has a "wavey" rail.

Goden-Schaller-sm.jpg
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

Before Washburn bought them in Mooridian guitars the bridge pickup in guitars was made of two stacked coils. So esentually it was exactlly what you are talking about a quadbucker. The guitars sounded phenominal but the body style is not for everyone. To design the body Jim took a jigsaw to a strat body for the prototype.

mouradian.jpg
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

i've seen previous posts around these 'ere parts before discussing such things, with the general consensus of those who've tried being that it gets overly muddy. however, i'm planning (sometime in the distant future) an evh 5150 inspired build with a stack plus and prolly a jbjr both crammed together and 6 position rotary superswitch type to let me select combinations of the pups individually, together, and hybridised with options of series and parallelness - the finer details of exactly what combos i'll wire up will depend on my limited abilities with electronics and what sounds good when i try hacking it about. even if the full on series mode gets muddy, the number of different tones you could get out of what is ostensibly a single pup guitar could be quite impressive :)
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

A little ebay weirdness for your consideration.

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Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

heh, twas exactly that pup that made me think about doing the stack & jbjr :)
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

You really mess up the magnetic field with any of these things.

To experience it just pick up a Music Man Steve Morse model and change the height of one of the pickups while noodling on the other. Major sound change.
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

uOpt said:
You really mess up the magnetic field with any of these things.

To experience it just pick up a Music Man Steve Morse model and change the height of one of the pickups while noodling on the other. Major sound change.
Click to expand...

You just brought something up that I've never thought about before: How does the magnetic pull of one pickup affect the sound of the "other"? This opens a whole 'nother can-'o-worms in the "what pup should I buy" discussion. As in . . . "that 59' will work good in the neck with a C5. But not with a Dimebucker." :D
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

ArtieToo said:
You just brought something up that I've never thought about before: How does the magnetic pull of one pickup affect the sound of the "other"? This opens a whole 'nother can-'o-worms in the "what pup should I buy" discussion. As in . . . "that 59' will work good in the neck with a C5. But not with a Dimebucker." :D
Click to expand...

I think neck and bridge pickup are far enough apart to rule out that they influence each other in audible ways (although some say that a Peter Green style magnet flip affects single pickup use).

It gets interesting in the of a Stratocaster and its middle pickups.

rwrp-graph1.jpg


rwrp-graph2.jpg
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

I have a Little 59 and a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage 2 side by side in a humbucker route and they don't interfere with each other.
 
Re: I think I've crossed that line into insanity... The "Quadbucker"

The mere fact that a pickup has 4 coils doesn't really mean anything in and of itself. I see folks getting excited about "21k" but that also doesn't mean much because the wire gauge is probably so small (likely 44 or 45) that it's equivalent to a 14-16k pickup with 43 AWG -- so chances are you're getting roughly the same number of turns of wire, it's just distributed between 4 coils instead of 2.

It's like taking two 1-gallon jugs of milk out of your fridge and replacing them with 4 half-gallons and thinking you have more milk. Or if you do end up with more than 2 gallons total, chances are that milk will be a bit muddy unless the pickup has unusually wonderful aspects of its design or materials that can be had in ol' fashioned 2-coil designs.

The only significant potential positive difference I can see is the 4 sets of poles or 4 blades in the space of a standard bridge humbucker might give a different EQ curve to the pickup because it sees more/different harmonic nodes that might make a better sound...or it might not.

Chances are this insanity will take you in a long circular journey and drop you off more or less where you started.
 
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