strat tone from a split coil humbucker? help!

my current build will have only one pickup, in the middle position..

there are hundreds of humbuckers with coil tapping capacity but i've yet to find

one that delivers a fairly decent strat tone....anyone here have any insights?

thanks, as always.
mj

Seymour Duncan StagMag... That is the perfect pickup for what you want. I have a Single H Squier Tele thats Series/Single/Parallel and its very Stratty

Bill Lawrence's L600 (part of Wilde's "custom series" now) uses 2 rows of Alnico pole pieces and has none of the design or production flaws most humbuckers have that destroy highend (metal cover, brass baseplate, poorly chosen core material, shorts in the coil). You might find the coil tap to be clearer than many Strat pickups! I'm not sure what inductance to recommend as I wouldn't try this setup myself (I don't like split coils, I prefer lower inductance pickups that can get the full frequency range to the amp anyways), but the L600 may be your best chance.

The "Fender Sound", be it tele or strat, is achieved by six separate magnets, one for each string. This was thought up by Leo himself; you can read about it in the various historical books out there. No standard humbucker with a bar magnet is going to have "that sound", whether wired series, parallel, or split into separate coils. Many have tried; all have failed.

Yeah, its the way the field goes thru the coil. The first 2 posts mentioning designs that address the nonsingle coil sound of a split HB will work better than a normal HB split. If you haven't routed it yet I suggest the 8th harmonic as the HBs center. I've done single p/up builds and thats the best of the neck and bridge tone. Strong fundamental, great harmonics, nice non piercing highs.

i've tried hb's with pole pieces vs. bar magnets and the coil tapped sound still sucked....

has anyone ever put a p90 and a strat pup next to each other and wired together?

trying to get the most bang with the most minimal presentation.....

Duncan P-rail ? With 2 different p/ups the magnetic fields interact when close or side by side. I think the P-rail takes this into account. 2 Strats ,one RWRP sound muddy, or at least humbuckery, while 2 w the same pole up sound fairly normal if a little different. So if you use a discrete P90 and Strat be sure to try a Strat of both pole configurations. They'll sound noticably different.

Yeah, its the way the field goes thru the coil. The first 2 posts mentioning designs that address the nonsingle coil sound of a split HB will work better than a normal HB split. If you haven't routed it yet I su ggest the 8th harmonic as the HBs center. I've done single p/up builds and thats the best of the neck and bridge tone. Strong fundamental, great harmonics, nice non piercing highs.

Plus if your patient you can find a used stagmag for about $35-$40. Im not familiar with the Lawrence pups enough to know a price.

The stag with a 500k pot (cant remember what size cap i used) dirty there isnt a whole lot of difference in tone from single/hb but clean its noticable.

Im not familiar with the Lawrence pups enough to know a price.

$60 and shipping.


You'll also want to use either 250k pots for the single-coil position or be able to switch in the resistor, unless you want to just manually turn the pots down. You don't want to leave the pots open and get a sharp resonance, or the position will sound edgy and possibly "thin" in comparison.

You'll also want to use either 250k pots for the single-coil position or be able to switch in the resistor, unless you want to just manually turn the pots down. You don't want to leave the pots open and get a sharp resonance, or the position will sound edgy and possibly "thin" in comparison.

I have P-Rails and there's quite a large volume difference between the 3 positions (rail, p90, and humbucker). Luckily, I play with a compressor which evens it out. Also, the humbucker position is pretty muddy. Obviously it won't be as bright as the other positions, but it's actually disappointingly muddy sounding. Will putting a resistor in like you said fix either of these problems?

I think that unfortunately, the volume discrepancy is too difficult to solve. Are you using 500k pots? Adding the resistor to the single selections will take a bit of the edge out, which will make it easier to balance the positions tonally on the same amp settings, which basically allows you to turn up your highs a little more for the benefit of the humbucker position without getting a sharp resonance (icepick!) in the ear in the single selection. Something I would try, since muddiness (clearly a lack of highend) is a problem for you, is using a low capacitance cable. The inductance is considerably higher in the humbucker position. Inductance interacts more with cable capacitance and gets a lower resonance, above which the highs drops off, so if you switch to a lower capacitance cable (either a brand rated lower per foot or using a much shorter cable of the same brand) you're likely to get less mud out of the humbucker position. It won't make the single selections "brighter" either.

Bummer. I think I'll keep my setup the way it is for know. I'm using good cable, so I don't really need to worry about that. Actually, with using my compressor, it's kind of funny because if I have my volume knob all the way up, it kind of overloads the comp and I get what I'll call a normal tone, but as I back off my guitar volume, it brightens up. I'm assuming it's cuz the comp isn't squeezing any more. Just kind of ironic, cuz usually people complain about their guitar getting muddy as they turn down their volume. :)

It's not whether you use a "good" cable. It's really just the capacitance of the cable is that matters. Many high end cables are notoriously high capacitance. It's actually ridiculous, but so goes the music business. At least try a low-C able at some point, and listen to the difference.

You may have a trble bleed circuit on the volume knob, so you don't loose treble when you turn down. Compressors also have the effect of removing high end, because the louder bass in the sound triggers them, and the highs drop down in comparison. It's the reason Tom Sholtz incorporated a custom tailored treble boost into his compression algorithms for his "Rockman" line (those things were really amazing for their time). Try a low-C cable, and/or turn it up at the amp.

Duncan Jazz sounds great split.