Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

[jumpinjackf1ash]

Hi I have a Les Paul with SD Jazz/JB combo and I wired each pickup to its own on/on/on switch to set each pickup as series/split/parallel independently. I used the SD wiring diagram "Other Guitars - Series/Split/Parallel" diagram for both pickups. I now understand that i have selected the same coil to be split for each pickup so that when i split and combine them there is no noise cancelling.

Which coil is used when the pickup is split with this wiring diagram?

Which coil is the north coil and which one is the south coil? The slug coil or the adjustable coil?

How can I wire the pickups to the toggle switches in order to get hum cancelling in the middle position?

Which coils sound better split and mixed with these pickups? The inside (slug coil) or outside (adjustable coil) ?

Sorry for all these questions haha I'm just really interested in all this stuff. My thanks to any who reply or help me!

 

[Artie]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

If you short the red/white wire to green, (same as ground), you get the stud coil. If you short them to black, you get the screw coil. To get noise-cancelling, short the bridge red/white ground and the neck red/white to black.

There's another method where you short both to ground, but it requires a mag flip on the neck pup. If you want to go that route, I can post the diagram.

I've never been completely sure if "north" on a pup refers to the upper coil when sitting on a stand or the magnetic north coil.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

Morning Jack!

The stud coil is the coil left on by the series/split/parallel switch.

The stud coil is north.

You can get the screw coil to be left on by connecting the red/white wires to black instead of ground but I am not sure if doing this is possible with a dpdt on/on/on switch without messing up the parallel wiring. I'll look into it and see if I can find a solution.

The stud coil on the vridge pickup sounds better split to me because there is more string movement over the coil farther from the bridge. That being said, my LP with splits leaves the bridge screw coil and the and the neck stud coil on.

 

[Artie]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

You can get the screw coil to be left on by connecting the red/white wires to black instead of ground but I am not sure if doing this is possible with a dpdt on/on/on switch without messing up the parallel wiring.

I didn't notice that part of the question. (Its early.)

Like this:

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

We were posting at the same time.

I was hoping you'd be earning your keep on this one. It's too early for me to think about much more than my next cup of coffee!

 

[Artie]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

I'm holding out for some bacon and eggs.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

I gave up on holding out. I'll be cooking shortly.

Besides, she over cooks the bacon.

 

[Artie]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

I'll be over shortly.

 

[jumpinjackf1ash]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

so since i have both pickups wired with the same diagram each coil when split is using the slug coil?

in order to get noise cancelling i need to have one pickup be slug and one pickup be screw when split and mixed?



PS thanks a lot for the replies guys

 

[jumpinjackf1ash]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

hmm...so i was testing which coils were active when they were split just by tapping on the magnets lightly with a sall screwdriver and it sounds to me like the screw coils are the ones in use when split. maybe this isn't really a good test? haha

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

If your pickups are wired green to pots and black to ground and you are grounding the red/white wires the pickups will split to the screw coils.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

If your pickups are wired green to pots and black to ground and you are grounding the red/white wires the pickups will split to the screw coils.

How does that work with the neck PU being flipped over and the pole pieces on the opposire side (pointing towards the neck instead of the bridge & tailpiece)? Doesn't grounding out the red/white wires make the slug coil on with the neck HB?

 

[jumpinjackf1ash]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

i'm not really sure. thats what i asked but im still kind of in the dark. i know i just have to reverse the wires on one of my toggle switches. im just not sure which one and where to put the wires

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

How does that work with the neck PU being flipped over and the pole pieces on the opposire side (pointing towards the neck instead of the bridge & tailpiece)? Doesn't grounding out the red/white wires make the slug coil on with the neck HB?

black - start lead north coil (stud)
white - finish lead north coil
green - start lead south coil (screw)
red - finish lead south coil

The two coils in a humbucker are wound the same from the start lead to finish lead. The RW condition is created by connecting the finish leads of the two coils. The RP condition is created by the magnets poles contacting one coil or the other.

If you are using black as hot and green as ground and you ground the red/white leads you have effectively connected the red, white and green wires, shorting out the south coil (screw) and leaving only the north coil in the circuit. Black to white is now your signal path.

If you wire your pickups green to hot and black to ground and then connect the red/white wires to ground for splitting you have now connected the red, white and black wires which shorts the north coil (stud) leaving the south coil active and your signal path will be green to red.

Wiring one humbucker black to hot and the other green to hot creates an out of phase condition so this is not a solution for splitting two humbuckers to opposite coils for hum cancelling purposes. To do this what you have to do is connect one humbucker to split by grounding the red/white wires and the other humbucker you use the switch to connect the red/white wires to that humbuckers hot lead (black).

So one switch will short the red/white to the green leaving the black (north start) and white (north finish) in the circuit and the other switch will short black to white/red leaving the red lead hot (south finish) and the green (south start) grounded.

Connect the two pickups coils together and you get black hot - white - red -green. You have now made a humbucker from one coil of each pickup by splitting to opposite coils and connecting them with the 3 way switch in the guitar.

Physical orientation of the pickups or the distance between the two pickups or coils makes no difference. It is an electrical and magnetic phenomina that creates the rw/rp condition, not a physical one.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

i'm not really sure. thats what i asked but im still kind of in the dark. i know i just have to reverse the wires on one of my toggle switches. im just not sure which one and where to put the wires

At this point you need to open the guitar and take a look around to determine how it is wired. If you can take a pic of the wiring cavity and in particular the dtdp switches and then post it here I can probably determine how your guitar is wired and what you need to do to create hum cancellation when both pickups are split.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

So how is it going?

 

[frankencat]

Re: Les Paul Coil Split Noise Cancelling?

black - start lead north coil (stud)
white - finish lead north coil
green - start lead south coil (screw)
red - finish lead south coil

The two coils in a humbucker are wound the same from the start lead to finish lead. The RW condition is created by connecting the finish leads of the two coils. The RP condition is created by the magnets poles contacting one coil or the other.

If you are using black as hot and green as ground and you ground the red/white leads you have effectively connected the red, white and green wires, shorting out the south coil (screw) and leaving only the north coil in the circuit. Black to white is now your signal path.

If you wire your pickups green to hot and black to ground and then connect the red/white wires to ground for splitting you have now connected the red, white and black wires which shorts the north coil (stud) leaving the south coil active and your signal path will be green to red.

Wiring one humbucker black to hot and the other green to hot creates an out of phase condition so this is not a solution for splitting two humbuckers to opposite coils for hum cancelling purposes. To do this what you have to do is connect one humbucker to split by grounding the red/white wires and the other humbucker you use the switch to connect the red/white wires to that humbuckers hot lead (black).

So one switch will short the red/white to the green leaving the black (north start) and white (north finish) in the circuit and the other switch will short black to white/red leaving the red lead hot (south finish) and the green (south start) grounded.

Connect the two pickups coils together and you get black hot - white - red -green. You have now made a humbucker from one coil of each pickup by splitting to opposite coils and connecting them with the 3 way switch in the guitar.

Physical orientation of the pickups or the distance between the two pickups or coils makes no difference. It is an electrical and magnetic phenomina that creates the rw/rp condition, not a physical one.

To summarize, this wiring works for me for 2 humbuckers, split with noise cancelling.
Pickup 1: green+black to tap switch (switch to ground), red is hot, white and shield to ground.
Pickup 2: red+white to tap switch (switch to ground), black is hot, green and shield to ground.
If they are out of phase then flip the red and white on Pickup 1.
-Slamo