Will a Classic Stack STK-S4n work in the middle with TV Jones Pickups

[dimmy]

I'm in the process of building a guitar with TV Jones Classic (N) and TV Jones Classic Plus (B). I'd love to purchase a Strat pickup for the middle position, with the aim of getting some of the Strat's in-between sounds.

After reading about pickup polarity, wind direction, and phase, I'm still a little confused. I can determine the polarity as well as the phase of the TV Jones Pickups (N to the strings (closest to neck)). When lifting the metal ruler away from the pickup, the reading on the multimeter jumps up. So, what do I need to look for in a Classic Stack STK-S4n to make it will work?

Do I need the Classic Stack to be have 'north to strings' magnets so I can use it with a split bridge (the South to strings coil). Also does the resistance reading need to rise when I pull the ruler away from the strings?

Short of buying a pickup to try, how can I determine if the phase will be the same as the TV Jones pickups (ie resistance reading will jump when I pull a metal ruler from the magnet)?

I've already made the mistake of buying another pickup that had a North to string polarity, but the phase was opposite to the TV Jones...

 

[Teleplayer]

Since you already have another single coil pickup with 'north to string' polarity, why can't you swap the connection of the wires to reverse the phase?

If you buy the STK-S4n you will be in the same situation, but its more complex to swap the phase because it only has 3 wires.

 

[jeremy]

you have a north up single coil, but its out of phase, so swap the wires and it should be in phase. youll never get humcancelling with a humbucker and single coil unless you split the bucker, but you should be able to get things in phase. as far as which cs+ to get, i can tell you which is north up vs south up but i dont know winding direction, nor do i know enough about how a tv jones pup is wired to help much there

 

[zionstrat]

What a wonderful concept. I love to stick a strat middle pickups in many builds for pseudo quack tones but I've never had the chance to do it with filtertrons and can't wait to hear what you get!

 

[Teleplayer]

I don't think the pickups even need to be split for this to deliver useful, interesting tones. You can just add the stacked single coil middle pickup using a simple 5-way switch. I'd try that first before doing anything complicated.

 

[dimmy]

Since you already have another single coil pickup with 'north to string' polarity, why can't you swap the connection of the wires to reverse the phase?

If you buy the STK-S4n you will be in the same situation, but its more complex to swap the phase because it only has 3 wires.

Could you expand on why it's more difficult to swap the phase because there are 3 wire? The reason I am asking is I had purchased a noiseless pickup from an Aussie pickup maker and in comms, he told me I picked up the wrong pickup and needed a 3 conductor one. Hence in my haste, I got rid of it.

 

[dimmy]

you have a north up single coil, but its out of phase, so swap the wires and it should be in phase. youll never get humcancelling with a humbucker and single coil unless you split the bucker, but you should be able to get things in phase. as far as which cs+ to get, i can tell you which is north up vs south up but i dont know winding direction, nor do i know enough about how a tv jones pup is wired to help much there

Yes, I was planning to split the bridge TV Jones Classic to the south coil, but not split the neck as the output is considerably lower. I guess if I can switch the Classic Stack's wires to change phase, then I should be in luck. Fingers crossed the Classic Stack will not over power the TV Jones.

 

[Teleplayer]

Could you expand on why it's more difficult to swap the phase because there are 3 wire? The reason I am asking is I had purchased a noiseless pickup from an Aussie pickup maker and in comms, he told me I picked up the wrong pickup and needed a 3 conductor one. Hence in my haste, I got rid of it.

For pickup splitting you need either 3-wire, or 4-wire. I assume the Aussie pickup maker sold you a product with "single + ground" connection that does not allow for coil split.

The 4-wire is the most flexible option because it allows you to access the top and bottom coils individually. In this case, there are 4 possible ways to connect the humbucker for series connection. All of them produce the same tone, but you normally have the bottom coil on the ground side so it can be conveniently switched off when you want to the coil split. Assuming you want the bottom coil on the ground side, there are two ways to make the connection, so it allows you to choose either positive phase or negative phase by swapping the connection polarity of each individual coil.

With 3-wire connection such as Duncan stack-plus if you reverse the connection polarity, you end up with the bottom coil on the hot-side, and the top coil being connected to ground. That will be a problem when using normal coil-split wiring diagrams. The coil-split would bypass the top coil and kill the signal. (It is possible to solve it by switching the centre-tap (red wire) of the stack-plus to the hot switch connection instead of ground). However it may be better to wire the duncan Stack-Plus with the normal wiring that appears on the instruction sheet, but change polarity of each individual coil of the TV-jones instead. The 4-wire connection of TV jones makes that possible. That will allow you to use the standard wiring diagram for coil splits, once you figure out where each wire of the TV-jones should be connected to. Perhaps its not easy to figure out if you are doing it for the first time.

 

[dimmy]

For pickup splitting you need either 3-wire, or 4-wire. I assume the Aussie pickup maker sold you a product with "single + ground" connection that does not allow for coil split.

The 4-wire is the most flexible option because it allows you to access the top and bottom coils individually. In this case, there are 4 possible ways to connect the humbucker for series connection. All of them produce the same tone, but you normally have the bottom coil on the ground side so it can be conveniently switched off when you want to the coil split. Assuming you want the bottom coil on the ground side, there are two ways to make the connection, so it allows you to choose either positive phase or negative phase by swapping the connection polarity of each individual coil.

With 3-wire connection such as Duncan stack-plus if you reverse the connection polarity, you end up with the bottom coil on the hot-side, and the top coil being connected to ground. That will be a problem when using normal coil-split wiring diagrams. The coil-split would bypass the top coil and kill the signal. (It is possible to solve it by switching the centre-tap (red wire) of the stack-plus to the hot switch connection instead of ground). However it may be better to wire the duncan Stack-Plus with the normal wiring that appears on the instruction sheet, but change polarity of each individual coil of the TV-jones instead. The 4-wire connection of TV jones makes that possible. That will allow you to use the standard wiring diagram for coil splits, once you figure out where each wire of the TV-jones should be connected to. Perhaps its not easy to figure out if you are doing it for the first time.

Teleplayer, thank you for your detailed response.