Series wiring and neck pickup output
- Thread starter Wayne27
- Start date
A neck pickup in series with another pickup instead of parallel.
Oh yeah, it would be louder than parallel. But 'louder' isn't 'better' in this case. You would have a huge increase in mids, I'd bet.
Would it only increase the output in certain pickup postions like 2 or 4 on a strat?
Yes, when 2 pickups are being used.
freefrog
Well-known member
As implied by jeremy and Mincer : series wiring will only increase the output in positions 2 and 4 IF other positions do NOT put pickups in series.
Let's share below the spectrum of a Strat played in chords direct to the board. Pickups were Duncan SSL1's in this case. The orange line is the spectrum of bridge and middle pickups in series. Blue lines are either the same pickups in parallel (upper pic), either the bridge pickup alone (bottom pic).
Got the picture? ;-)
My 1982 Strat has a special 2 position switch (stock!!) from the factory that allows some series combinations. It is indeed louder, as you can see from frog's chart, but it is also super thick. It doesn't sound particularly Stratty, and it certainly doesn't sound like a humbucker. It is pretty thick as lower and middle frequencies are emphasized. I can't think offhand of a famous song that uses that sound.
on one of my main strats i have a antiquity ii jaguar set of pups, kinda like a flat pole surfer set. so each pup is like 6.5k or so, like a vintage strat. i have a switch to put the bridge and middle pups in series. i like it a lot for slide, but dont use it too much for anything else. as dave said, it doesnt sound like a humbucker. it sounds like two strat pups in parallel with more output, less top end and a big bump in the low mids. if you have hotter pups, then itll be even darker and thicker.
MikeS
Bengalsologist
I have a strat with switching options to make positions 2 and 4 operate in series or parallel. Similar to what Mincer and Jeremy said, there's higher output, a lot more girth in the lows and low mids. The "quack" associated with traditional notch tones is gone. There's a fatness that trends towards humbucker territory, but the spacing of the coils produces a sound unlike a humbucker. I use these series tones in the same way I would use a boost, for those times when I want a little more oomph.
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