What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

[MS15]

Hi Forum !

I'm looking to coil split a 335 and am open to suggestions as to which pickups you'd recommend. The pots, wiring etc. will be top notch so it's really a question of which pickup split sounds good to you. I already have one 335 with 57 Classics coil split which I like a lot. I have Duncan Antiquities in a 345 which sound amazing left " unvaritoned " but the varitone 5&6 positions don't get it there for me - it may be the varitone & may need to start a new thread about changing the values of a varitone. The Seths sound really close to the Ants and wonder how they'd sound split .I'm in the jazz blues classic rock vein. Advice please. THX!

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

Welcome Aboard!
Whole Lotta HUmbucker set for two reasons:
1. They sound amazing in 335s.
2. They work well with all kinds of split/parallell options. (look up Jummy Page wiring)

ps. Ive never really liked varitones in an other spot than "bypass".

 

[MS15]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

Thanks - the JP wiring is what I have in my other 335. Are the WLBuckers wax potted ?

 

[hydro]

What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

I have WLH in my 335. They are not set up for coil split but I can vouch that they sound great in a 335.

Oh and yes the WLH are wax potted

 

[MS15]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

Thanks - that's 2 out of 2 for Pagey

 

[Mincer]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

The Whole Lotta Humbuckers are wax potted. As far as what sounds great split, it is generally the higher output humbuckers that have the most robust split tone. That doesn't mean vintage output ones can't be split or don't sound good- you just end up with a weaker sound.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

it may be the varitone & may need to start a new thread about changing the values of a varitone. The Seths sound really close to the Ants and wonder how they'd sound split .I'm in the jazz blues classic rock vein. Advice please. THX!

The Gibson Vari-Tone is a weird and whacky thing. I used to hate it with a passion until I realised that, through an overdriven valve amplifier, one of the settings can honk like the ol' Michael Schenker cocked wah pedal sound.

It took an old magazine interview with one of the Sixties session guitar legends for me to appreciate that even those Vari-Tone settings that sound terrible in isolation may work well in the context of a full band arrangement.

 

[blueman335]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

For neck HB,s if you don't use the tone control on them (I never have yet, as they're warm enough as it is), you can wire the neck tone control for spin-a-split, which is vastly superior to coil split. Spin-a-split turns the tone control into a 2nd volume control, but for one coil only. That allows you to get a whole variety of unbalanced coil tones (unbalanced/mismatched coils are both HB and single coil, giving more clarity and definition). No parts needed, only takes a few minutes. All you do is wire the tone pot like the volume pot. There's diagrams online, maybe even here.

 

[GuildX700]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

The problem with Gibson's and splitting coils is they do not shield anything these days in their guitars from what I've seen.

A 335 with coil splits must be one big humming monster in single coil mode if it's not shielded.

I recently got a Les Paul Deluxe II which comes stock with coil splits and a 10db active boost. For pickups it has 490R & Burstbucker PRO.

Amazing guitar, the best LP I've owned in 40 years, BUT, the coil splitting was worthless stock as there was zero shielding, the hum in split mode was unbearable.

So I did the WHOLE guitar right, painted ALL the cavities & route tunnels with 3 coats of shield paint, put copper foil on the cavity covers, wrapped the uncovered Gibson humbuckers coils with copper foil (and then covered it with the proper black tape again), I made sure all of the shielding was continuously grounded, plus there was a 4" length of un-shielded wires from the pickups to the pickup selector switch so I shielded that wiring as well.

The difference was night and day, the guitar is now dead quiet in single coil mode even with the 10DB boot activated.


Long story short, IMO unless you're willing to do a proper shielding job, split coils on an unshielded Gibson is just one big humming mess.

That being said as was mentioned, the higher output buckers yield the best sound split, low output ones simple do not have enough omph to offer much in single coil mode in my experience. I've been fooling around with splitting coils for well over 30 years now, I've found many low output buckers simply are better off with a series/parallel switch instead.

 

[tone4days]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

Alnico 2 pro and JB (b) ... be sure to do a mag flip on one of them and wire it for the PRS 5-way variations

 

[Aceman]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

A key to spit tone is to define the single coil tone you want first - then find the bucker that give that split.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

Since iam a sucker for the p90 single coil sound, i would say a pair of p-rails. nice split tones, nice parallels und good humbuckings. Great stuff for your jimi page wirings.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

+1 for P-Rails. I have 'em in an Ibanez semi hollow and the tonal variations are great!


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[LtKojak]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

The Seths sound really close to the Ants and wonder how they'd sound split .I'm in the jazz blues classic rock vein. Advice please. THX!

I've converted all my HB p'ups to 4-con wire and installed'em on a coil-splitting harness.

After over five years of performances, I still have to find a song/project to make good use of it.

My two pence worth of experience.

 

[Mincer]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

Hi Forum !

I'm looking to coil split a 335 and am open to suggestions as to which pickups you'd recommend. The pots, wiring etc. will be top notch so it's really a question of which pickup split sounds good to you. I already have one 335 with 57 Classics coil split which I like a lot. I have Duncan Antiquities in a 345 which sound amazing left " unvaritoned " but the varitone 5&6 positions don't get it there for me - it may be the varitone & may need to start a new thread about changing the values of a varitone. The Seths sound really close to the Ants and wonder how they'd sound split .I'm in the jazz blues classic rock vein. Advice please. THX!

While I love the Seths or Ants in a 335, you won't get many responses about them being split since the end user would have to do that him/herself. And there isn't a lot who have, who are also on this board. I use split humbuckers a lot, but others don't like the sound. It isn't a bad/good thing. I still say a WLH set would be really cool in that 335.

 

[BRHGM]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

Lt Kojack is right. You are likely to just use one tone rather than all of them in a 335. I have a pair of PRails in my 335 and you guessed it, I only use the P90 splits. The rail sounds too thin and the humbucker is just ok. I should have gone with another combination such as Seths, 59s or WLH or Phat cats, even PGs would be a better choice. That said the P90 sound is pretty good.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

off the topic, but for all 335 users:
its since years i fought with my 335 sound. Whatever pickups i put in, it was a too spikey and fast attack. Lots of pickups like PG, Stormy Mondays, old 59, seth, ants and of course a new harness with paper in oil. but i missed the laid back, hollow, warm, woody reedy vibe i found on a 70ies blues record of a local band. Recently i read of a guy who changed the hardware to brass esp. the tailpiece. This was the first step forward. Last thing was a bridge with plastic/nylon/graphite string posts that made my day. now its dripping blues....

 

[blueman335]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

I've converted all my HB p'ups to 4-con wire and installed'em on a coil-splitting harness.

After over five years of performances, I still have to find a song/project to make good use of it.

My two pence worth of experience.

I don't use coil cut very often myself, but use spin-a-split on my neck HB's every time I play. I can dial it so it's subtle, or dial it further to add high end and thin out mids. Have you tried spin-a-split?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What Pup Would You Coil Split in A 335 ?

I wouldn't do it.

You need a hot humbucker like a JB if you want satisfying single coil sounds when you split it. An 8k will sound thin, weak and plinky when split.

But 335's sound best with vintage style humbuckers which are around 8k...or a little more or a little less.

So I'd save the coil splitting for another guitar and let the 335 be a 335.