What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

[TaterSpots]

Greetings!

I recently bought an Ibanez RG8 with the stock pickups replaced for $300. Turns out the pickups are Seymour Duncan Pegasus (bridge) and Sentient (neck). Looked them up and sure enough you're able to coil split them, but as of right now they're only set up with the standard 3-way switch configuration (bridge, bridge + neck, neck). I thought now would be a good chance to delve into the world of custom pickup wiring. I've already done research on the type of tools that would be needed for the job and how certain components like 3/5-way switches and push/pull pots work.

My main question is what are my limitations? I want to have access to dual coil configurations but also single coil.

Bridge single coil, neck single coil, both inner coils, both outer coils, bridge inner coil + neck outer coil, bridge outer coil + neck inner coil.

Is it possible to get all of these configurations in a 3-way switch 1 volume 1 tone while still having the regular 3-way pickup setup that I mentioned before (bridge, bridge + neck, neck)? Would I need to replace the 3-way with a 5-way? Instead of just replacing the tone pot with a push pull would I need to replace the volume pot as well?Should I also look into parallel setups?

I've tried searching for wiring diagrams relevant to this setup but can't find any. If any of you have wiring diagrams that show what I described or instead have a wiring recommendation I would be really thankful to see either.

If I'm not describing my question properly then I'm very sorry. Just ask me to specify more. Any help that I'm able to get is very appreciated!

 

[regan]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

The player,

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

The player,

Lmfao!

 

[Gtrjunior]

What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

In all seriousness a HH split configuration is going to cover a TON of ground.
Many players can get by with far less.

 

[regan]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

If I were you I'd just split the neck pup 1st & see how you like the sound of a split HB (personally I don't like it), & go from there, if you like it split the bridge later.

I wouldn't worry about inner vs outer coils at this point you're looking too deeply into it the tone difference will be tiny.

If you wire every possibility up straightaway it's unlikely you'll get it working 1st time & you'll be presented with a myriad of all too similar sounding options. Do one mod at at a time & get acquainted with it's sound & application before moving on.

My guitars pickups are either straight humbuckers or single coils no taps splits etc cos that's how they sound best (IMHO)

 

[jeremy]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

i use split coil HH setups on some guitars. how much you use it/how good the splits sound to you will depend on a ton of things. if it were me, id either put a push/pull pot in to split both pups at once or get a 5way super switch to get some different options.

 

[Mincer]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

I'd recommend Triple Shot rings, and you can have many sounds with an elegant way to get to them.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

You are going to have to add extra switching somewhere, whether its in the form of a super switch or push pulls or separate 3 way toggles you will have to add something somewhere.

If it was me I would put 1 push pull knob in. With that you can wire it to split both pickups at the same time, this will give you 3 new sounds. You can rewire it to see which coil you like active or even do series parallel. If you like this and want more possibilities you can also put one on your tone know that will give you the ability to split the pickups separately.

Triple shot rings will do all this easily and are nice pieces of kit, my dislike of them comes from i tend to swap pickup positions a lot on the fly and the dip switches for me are hard to manipulate between notes. but they may be perfect for you.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

The easiest way to get the most options would be two Triple Shots, plus convert to a 4-way blade switch, which offers everything your three way provides, plus an extra position that puts the two pickups (however you have set them using the Triple shots) in series.

Triple Shots are slow and cumbersome, such that they are not practical to use in the middle of a song while playing live. But they do give you a lot of stuff to choose from with very little wiring effort, and only minimal mods to your stock electronics.

 

[Bowtomecha]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

You should use alligator clips and try out the different combinations. Some will sound somewhat redundant for the most part. Then get an idea of the best ones to use. You might like split coils at home but not on stage. There are videos of all different combinations. With an eight string, you probably have a limited amount of controls and holes for them. Push/pull pots will only give you two settings each, you can swap out the tone pot for a 3 way switch or keep it for a spin a split. If it’s that important to have different combinations at your hands, you’ll might want a freeway toggle or blade switch. A particular dimarzio or Ernie Ball switch and a push pull can get you some interesting combinations too.

 

[Demanic]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

You are going to have to add extra switching somewhere, whether its in the form of a super switch or push pulls or separate 3 way toggles you will have to add something somewhere.

If it was me I would put 1 push pull knob in. With that you can wire it to split both pickups at the same time, this will give you 3 new sounds. You can rewire it to see which coil you like active or even do series parallel. If you like this and want more possibilities you can also put one on your tone know that will give you the ability to split the pickups separately.

Triple shot rings will do all this easily and are nice pieces of kit, my dislike of them comes from i tend to swap pickup positions a lot on the fly and the dip switches for me are hard to manipulate between notes. but they may be perfect for you.

How about a Freeway switch?
Oh, and consider series/parallel instead of split. Parallel sounds similar to split, but no hum.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

How about a Freeway switch?
Oh, and consider series/parallel instead of split. Parallel sounds similar to split, but no hum.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

Sure no reason why not, I was just giving one way to do it.

I agree on parallel i find its more useful than split.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

I think HH is often times more versatile than HSH. You can get a lot more use out of the 2,3, and 4 positions when you don't feel forced to include the middle pickup for traditional Strat sounds.

My main Strat is wired so that I can get these tones:
5-Smooth neck humbucker
4-Bluesy Strat single coil
3-Quacky Strat #4 sound
2-Teleish bridge sound
1-EVH brown sound.

If I had a middle pickup, I wouldn't have any room on the switch for it.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

+1 on a 5-way superswitch. Five positions can give you a pretty broad tonal palette and using it in the middle of a song is fast & intuitive. You'd need to make some choices about what you want in the 2,3, & 4 positions based on your personal preferences and the character of the pickups.

There's also the megaswitch-P, which is configured to give the same coil selections as a PRS 5-way. No decisions needed, and a more straightforward install. To have full noise rejection in all positions, it does require reversing the magnet in one pickup.

The simplest mod would be a pull-pot (to split both) working with your present three-way. This arrangement is very popular, for good reason. I several guitars set up this way and it's plenty useful.

Still, I prefer being able to go back & forth between cleaner and hotter using just a flip of the pickup selector. Since your guitar doesn't have separate volumes for the two pickups, this would require replacing both pots with push-pulls for the individual pickups, or a more complex switch. Or as recommended above, you could start with just splitting the neck pickup and see how you like that in practice.

Some have suggested parallel instead of split; this too could be done with two push-pulls. Noise rejection is a consideration especially if you're a high gain player. Parallel sounds can vary a lot from one humbucker model to another - it'll be cleaner than series, but often is not as chimey as true split tone.

Another variation is partial split, where resistors are used in the ground shunt so that part of the affected coil remains. This was pioneered ages ago by Bill Lawrence and has been used with great success in some PRS models.

Many of us began at least one mod with ideas about maximum-flexibilty wiring, only to find that in practice it wasn't worth it. Much of the extra capability is redundant & unnecessary, and a simple (and most importantly, intuitive) arrangement is far more practical when playing.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

How about a Freeway switch?
Oh, and consider series/parallel instead of split. Parallel sounds similar to split, but no hum.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

+1 Freeway
And + 3467 for parallel to self Remains humbucking and IMHO it's as good or better than split.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Juanhanglo]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

I agree with those above that said triple shot rings would give the most variety of sounds.

Ibanez offers a cool 5 way switch that does the following:
Neck bucker
Neck bucker parallel
Both buckers
inner coils
Bridge bucker.

There is no noise or hum in any position and you don't have to flip magnets.

Just another option

 

[Despair]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

Hard call which way to go. If you want ALL the options, I'd look at Triple Shots.

If you want a useful subset that stays entirely hum-cancelling, I'd do something like a push/pull for series/parallel, and a Free-Way 3X3-04 (gives 6 switch positions, first three are B, B+N in parallel, N as usual. Next 3 are outer coils in parallel, inner coils in series, inner coils in parallel. Covers all the PRS/Music Man HH variations, without any omissions.) I haven't found wiring diagrams for that, but I haven't gotten around to contacting the company, either. That model may require importing from their partner who helped developed the particular variant, but I'd expect you could do the same thing with a bit more effort with one of their other 3X3 options.

They also make 10-way blades. Seem to be 5 positions on left, 5 on right, rather than a nightmare of fiddly 10 notches in a single row that'd be harder to rapidly move around on. I'm very tempted to put one in a superstrat, to get some of the oddballs (standard 5-way on left, then N+B series, N+M series, N+B parallel, M+B series, N+M+B parallel). Some tele and some Brian May modes. With a less cluttered pickguard.

 

[Gstring]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

Most of which can be said has been said . For the all singing/all dancing option Triple shots with a push pull for series and a push pull for Out of Phase is probably the way to go but the huge number of similar sounds will probably drive you crazy and lessen your enjoyment of your instrument. Plus ,as Edgecrusher says, not everybody is an ardent fan of the triple shot.

Although it does not answer your question a very useful alternative wiring for a 2 pot guitar is Artie's coil swap with the coil cut option as detailed in various posts in this forum. Not sure exactly how well it will work for your particular pick ups. Usually the more difference in the spec of the neck and bridge results in more distinct tonal differnces in the coil swap mode.

The last time I did a multi sound for a 2 pot guitar we used the coil swap but added 2 mini on-on-o DPDT switches to give cut/series/parallel options for each pup . This also enabled things like neck slug in parallel with bridge screw. The 2nd push pull was used to get combined series/OOPs which was quite a distinctive seperate sound. This seemed to work very well and is probably a good option if you don't mind mini switches.

Having said that, I have in recent years been going back to more simple wiring s e.g a single push pull giving combined coil cuts and relying more on getting "different" tones from the amp effects and additional pedals. Plus of course regular practice;Especially I would think,if I had an 8 string guitar like yours!

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

I’m of the mindset that a couple/few useful options are better than every possibility possible.
I typically use standard wiring options in my guitars. Even the ones with coil splitting seldom get used.
Of course that’s jmo. Nothing wrong with options, provided you find them useful.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: What are the limitations of a HH coil-splittable configuration?

Triple shot rings will do all this easily and are nice pieces of kit, my dislike of them comes from i tend to swap pickup positions a lot on the fly and the dip switches for me are hard to manipulate between notes. but they may be perfect for you.

I agree that Triple Shots are not the most graceful to manage in live-performance situations, so i like to use them as an intermediary step only towards the final goal, i.e. install them temporarily as an easy way to try out numerous options, decide which 3-6 of all those options i find useful and effective on that particular guitar, then remove the triple shots and dream up a permanent alternate wiring scheme that achieves those 3-6 "finalist" options in a more live-performance friendly setup, whether that means use of push-pulls, rotary switch, freeway switch, and/or megaswitch, etc.