Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

[Demanic]

Every time I see a post from someone who is wiring a push/pull to split a humbucker, I can't help but wonder why the person doesn't choose to wire it to be able to switch from series to parallel wiring instead, keeping the hum cancelling qualities of the pickup. Anyone care to explain their preference and why? Just curious.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

A lot of people are under the misconception that splitting a humbucker creates a single coil sound and that sound is better clean than parallel. However my experience has been completely the opposite and I have found that a humbucker in parallel sounds much better. There aren't many humbuckers I have liked the sound of split.

 

[CTN]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

i have series/parallel switching for both humbuckers on my Jolly Roger strat.

I use the parallel sound for when i want a bit less output than series mode, with a bit more treble presence. There is a slight single-coil sorta tonality to parallel mode, but it's not a full out authentic single coil sound.

On the Duncan custom it really works well to take the pickup from a hot, ballsy, modern pickup to something with a more vintage kind of response and output level with clarity to match.
On the Lil '59, the parallel mode has a bit more clarity and treble presence, and again, the output is lower. Because i have that in the neck position on the jolly roger, parallel mode has more of a single coil sound than the Custom in parallel. I primarily use parallel mode on the lil '59 when the series sound is too fat and warm for whatever i'm playing.

I also have a hot rails hard-wired in parallel mode on my Polaris. it's a nice strong, articulate, sizzly single coil kinda sound, with a bit more girth in the mids and lows. I think because it's already a pretty bright pickup (perhaps brighter than the little '59), parallel mode has more of that single coil kind of attack and presence than the little '59.

In my MIJ strat I once had a DMZ fast track 2 hard wired in parallel in the neck slot as well. Similar kinda story as with the hot rails but overall a bit warmer and less articulate. the FT2 is a slightly warmer pickup than the Hot rails though, so that's to be expected.

In my red squier strat, when i overhaul it later this summer i plan to put two full size humbuckers in, each with series/split parallel switching for the best of all worlds.

 

[DreX]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

Hum canceling always seems to chop of some of the very high frequencies, regardless of series or paralell. it's gives the pickup a bit less presence. Also I like that you can split two humbuckers at once with a single push pull.

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

I have a couple guitars with 3 way switches for the series/split/parallel options and I have to say that the split selection has more output and is a little "more" then the cleaner parallel option. Kinda works better in the 2 and 4 spots for my HSH Strat. The obvious reason is more output that is just what people go for quite often , screw the hum cancelling etc... Have to say I probably use parallel more than split in the HH V but those are hotter pickups and the cleaner ,crisper option is a good change.

 

[koshikas]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

well i ve read on this forum and other about what criteria necessitates a parallel or split approach in humbuckers. needless to say there are so varied opinions on what is right, because the derived sounds are subjective. the only conclusive thing that i ve realized reading and then trying out for myself is that you need medium to high output pickups for either approach to sound decent and workable. i ve also read that if the humbucker in question is medium-high output, putting the coils in parallel yields best pseudo single coil sounds results with hum-cancelling. leaving the hum-cancelling advantage and concentrating on purely the sounds achieved, what i ve experienced is that there is no formula to predict whether a split or parallel wiring will get u better single coil sounds until u try it out and let the beholder decide which sounds better.

 

[jimijames]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

I have a humbucker with a tapped screw coil, so bear in mind my opinion will be slightly different. That being said I will opine as well on a pickup I had before which was wired the same way except without the option to run the screw coil at 2 different outputs.

The tapped humbucker is 7.1k in series, and 6k split... In parallel I can roll in any or all of the tap. The reason you would split vs. series/parallel a humbucker is purely related to sound IMO... No matter how large the difference between the coils there is always some frequency loss when you introduce another coil to the equation. This doesn't make it sound better or worse, just different. I can't get that sweet-yet-clangy SRV neck pickup sound in series or parallel, but split it's right there. I can't get that smooth, sing-y santana tone, or that fat and clear sound jimmy page got with it split or parallel.

Parallel I think is better for a volume-drop clean sound when you're playing on the edge of breakup for some added dynamic color. Split IMO is better for when you absolutely need that extra treble content, one example being that twangy country bass (but then again gretsch does it really well with humbuckers so what do I know)

Honestly, in my guitar I think it's overkill... The differences I'm beginning to realize are so minute that it's not really worth all the trouble of wiring the guitar, plus ordering a custom pickup that has a tapped screw or slug coil.

Although, if I were to do it all over again, I would probably still get a tapped humbucker, just with the slug coil tapped. IMO slug coil > screw coil when it comes to tapping humbuckers.

 

[DreX]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

Honestly, in my guitar I think it's overkill... The differences I'm beginning to realize are so minute that it's not really worth all the trouble of wiring the guitar, plus ordering a custom pickup that has a tapped screw or slug coil.

I hate trying something uncommon only to discover why it's uncommon.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

I have a humbucker with a tapped screw coil, so bear in mind my opinion will be slightly different. That being said I will opine as well on a pickup I had before which was wired the same way except without the option to run the screw coil at 2 different outputs.

The tapped humbucker is 7.1k in series, and 6k split... In parallel I can roll in any or all of the tap. The reason you would split vs. series/parallel a humbucker is purely related to sound IMO... No matter how large the difference between the coils there is always some frequency loss when you introduce another coil to the equation. This doesn't make it sound better or worse, just different. I can't get that sweet-yet-clangy SRV neck pickup sound in series or parallel, but split it's right there. I can't get that smooth, sing-y santana tone, or that fat and clear sound jimmy page got with it split or parallel.

Parallel I think is better for a volume-drop clean sound when you're playing on the edge of breakup for some added dynamic color. Split IMO is better for when you absolutely need that extra treble content, one example being that twangy country bass (but then again gretsch does it really well with humbuckers so what do I know)

Honestly, in my guitar I think it's overkill... The differences I'm beginning to realize are so minute that it's not really worth all the trouble of wiring the guitar, plus ordering a custom pickup that has a tapped screw or slug coil.

Although, if I were to do it all over again, I would probably still get a tapped humbucker, just with the slug coil tapped. IMO slug coil > screw coil when it comes to tapping humbuckers.

See, I'm a huge fan of the Triple Shots for this reason. Sometimes I like the full blown humbucker, if I want more sizzle when I'm running high gain, I switch to parallel. I can also tap to single, either coil. So with the switch in the middle (three way) I can either tap both to outside, inside, or run them in series, slug/slug, screw/screw. I like it.. BTW the Alt 8 split is something to be heard.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

I much prefer coil cut. Parallel is too weak, sterile, and puny for me. In the bridge slot, it's just about useless (unless you have a pretty hot wind). Resistence-wise, coil cut is 50% of series, parallel is 25%. To me the best option is spin-a-split, which lets you dial in as much, or as little, of the second coil, and you get that great unbalanced coil sound which is part HB, part single coil. You get series all the way down to coil cut, and everything inbetween.

Some people are under the misconception that a split HB is not a single coil sound. It obviously is, it just doesn't sound like a Fender single coil beacuse it doesn't have pole piece magnets. Those people also tend to forget that P-90's are single coils too, and were on guitars several years before Leo introduced his. Gibson staple alnico PU's (1950's LP Customs) are another single coil (with pole piece magnets!). There's much more to single coils than Fender's.

 

[Artie]

Re: Spilting a humbucker vs. wiring it for series/parallel

Resistence-wise, coil cut is 50% of series, parallel is 25%.

I'm never going to break you of this, am I?

Anyway, the split/parallel mode is one of those things that's dependent on the guitar it's put into. A humbucker in a dual-HB'er axe will typically have 500k pots. In a Fat-Start, they'd be 250k pots. So the "load" that the pickup sees, (going into an amp with a 1M input impedance), on an LP, would start around 333k at the lower frequencies and then would start to drop to around 200k at the higher frequencies. The steepness and position of the curve would depend on the tone cap used. On a Fat Strat, the pickup would see a load of around 200k, that would drop to around 111k as the frequency increased. Since the parallel mode has twice the current capability, or "drive" of the single coil mode, it's less sensitive to the loading affect.

So, a parallel HB'er on a dual-HB'er axe might sound significantly different than that same HB'er on a Strat.