Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

H

howlinwolf

New member
Hi

I have a Big Apple Strat with 2 Seymour Duncan split coil humbuckers in it, and am looking for ways to make the split coils sound more like real single coils when I do actually have the pickups in the split coil mode. Anyone know any good ways to achieve this tone? I was looking into the pickup booster stompbox offered by Seymour Duncan. Do you think it would give me a more true single coil sound from my split coil hums? Of course any other ways would be welcome also. Thanks for any help.
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

The stronger the pickup the better the split tones. Vintage Strat pickups are about 6 - 6.4K. An 8K humbucker splits into a 4K single coil...pretty weak. A 16K JB splits into an 8K single coil...pretty strong. But no split humbucker will ever sound exactly like a vintage Strat single coil because they are built very differantly. Lew
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

Hi Lewguitar

Thanks for the help and info. but aside from getting new JBs installed in my axe (can't afford that) would using the SD pickup booster stompbox do the trick to boost the split coil sound just enough to make them sound a bit closer to true single coils?
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

If you don't care about the brighter humbucker sound, you should try a stag mag!
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

howlinwolf said:
Hi Lewguitar

Thanks for the help and info. but aside from getting new JBs installed in my axe (can't afford that) would using the SD pickup booster stompbox do the trick to boost the split coil sound just enough to make them sound a bit closer to true single coils?
Click to expand...

I doubt it.

The problem is that Strat single coils are comprised of six magnets with the wire wound directly around them.

A humbucker has two coils each with the wire wound around steel screws or slugs that are NOT magnets...the magnet is under the pickup so the wire is not wound around the magnet.

In a Strat pickup the top pole of the magnet/polepiece is about 1/8" away from the strings.

In a humbucker the magnet is always about 1" away from the strings because it is under the coils and the poles don't face the strings....the poles are the long thin sides of the flat magnet.

Even when the humbucker is split into a single coil these two designs sound very differant from each other.

Lew
 
Last edited:
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

If the humbucker's poles are the right size, you COULD replace one side of them with Alnico 5 rods. I did this on a DiMarzio IBZUSA F1 and it worked well; when split it's "more fendery". I look on eBay for cheap pickups to disassemble for parts.

You can also buy a custom wound pickup like this called a dualtone from SK Guitars. Or, there are pups where both coils are designed this way, like the aforementioned Stag Mag or Rio Grande's Tallboy or Muy Grandes.

The Stag Mag is the cheapest of these, but only works for me at the neck. I wish they'd do "half mag/half JB" - that would rock...
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

You just can't have BOTH. Redesign the humbucker to sound more like a Fender single coil and you lose the classic humbucker tone.

If you want both sounds just split a set of 59N & JB or Jazz & JB humbuckers and live with the compromise.

Really, you need two guitars: one guitar with humbuckers and one guitar with Strat single coils.

This is an old quest that has been going on for about 35 years...there's no way to do it without compromise.
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

My guitars are wired similar to the big apple strat, splitting the humbuckers in some positions. I use AP-II and JB instead of what is in the big apple strat. I didn't like how piercingly bright the split positions were, so I wired a 4 pole 5 way switch to connect an additional resistor in parallel with the tone pot in these positions. This effectively replaces the tone pot with a lower one for the positions you select. After experimenting, I ended up liking the sound of a 330K resistor in parallel with a 500K tone pot with the split positions. This makes the tone pot about 200k in these positions.

It still doesn't sound like a real single coil, but for me it made the positions a lot more useable.
 
Last edited:
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

Lewguitar said:
....
This is an old quest that has been going on for about 35 years...there's no way to do it without compromise.
Click to expand...

:bigok::clap:
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

Lewguitar said:
You just can't have BOTH. Redesign the humbucker to sound more like a Fender single coil and you lose the classic humbucker tone.

If you want both sounds just split a set of 59N & JB or Jazz & JB humbuckers and live with the compromise.

Really, you need two guitars: one guitar with humbuckers and one guitar with Strat single coils.

This is an old quest that has been going on for about 35 years...there's no way to do it without compromise.
Click to expand...
This is true. But if you are open to compromise, there are different places to rest on that "continuum". I like the humbucking sound of the SK pickup just fine. It's a little bit bright, but it works for me. An a2 fan or old PAF fan may not agree. The large increase in realism of strat position 4 was well worth the slight (IMO) decrease in realism in bridge bucker mode. This is partly due to the fact that I usually play the strat positions clean and the bucker ones fuzzy, and I use an amp modeler that allows me to vary the EQ on every preset. A different playing style or amp rig will likely give different results.

Howlinwolf, another big part of the equation is pickup position, and you won't get a strat sound from the normal 2 bucker placement. You need a center single coil.
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

i like the sound of combining the 'top' coil from the neck humbucker with the 'bottom' coil of the bridge humbucker (the so called 'outer' coils) and the 'bottom' coil of the neck humbucker with the 'top' coil of the bridge humbucker (the so called 'inner' coils) for interesting 'single-coil-esque' tones .. if you wire them and flip the magnet as needed, these combos can even retain humcancelling!!

good luck
t4d
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

One thing you could do is wire up a series switch along with the coil split switch. If you have two 8k humbuckers, you'll get 4k when split, which is pretty weak as Lew mentioned. If you combine them in series, you'll have an 8k single coil tone. It still won't sound identical to a real single coil, but it will solve the weak output problem when the pickups are split.

Ryan
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

A split JB does a convincing Fender single coil.
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

Thanks very much everyone for all the great ideas! Right now I have a 59 hum in the neck and a Pearly Gates plus in the bridge position, both of which have a tone I don't like very much (59 too muddy/bass- PG too harsh/brittle terrible for cleans, don't want Texas sizzle tone) and am thinking of replacing anyway.

I may just try the Jazz in the neck and JB in the bridge combo if that would work, and it sounds like it just might. I suppose I could dig up the cash if they're really worth it.

I like hums that will sound good when played clean with a brighter tone, not so muddy or with too much bass. I don't need the split coils to sound exactly like single coils, I know that's not possible, I'm just trying to get as close as possible.

Jester700, that also sounds like a good idea to use some of those pickups you mentioned and I don't mind having brighter sounding hums. But I'm not too familiar with those pickup manufacturers (Dualtone, Stag Mag, & Rio Grande) how would I go about finding them? Would it be best to just Google those key words-"Dualtone, Stag Mag, & Rio Grand" to find more info about them?

Also I was thinking of putting a single coil between the hums, I'm pretty sure the guitar is already setup to put one in, I would just have to cut the hole in the pick guard and wire it up. Thanks again to all for the help.
 
Re: Looking for tips to make my splitcoil hums sound more like singlecoils

Rio Grande: www.riograndepickups.com
Stag-Mag: www.seymourduncan.com


I don't know about the Dualtone. I had a Muy Grande in the bridge and a Tallboy(both from Rio Grande) in the neck of my Carvin and they sounded cool, kind of a compromise between 'buckers and singles, though they did lean more towards the single coil side of things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top