Would this work?

[Wanderer]

In an effort to get both single coil (basically "Fender") tones and Humbucking (basically "Gibson") tones in a single guitar, many have tried a H-S-H approach, where the Humbucking Pickups at the bridge and neck positions are split to provide single coils as needed. How about using a single coil pickup side by side with a single coil sized but humbucker sounding pickup in both the bridge and neck positions. For example, use a Duncan Lil 59 next to the regular single coil at the bridge (the combination would be about the size of a regular side by side coil humbucker) and a similiar arrangement at the neck. In essence. you would actually have a 5 pickup guitar in the example above. I guess you would want to use pickups that have low string pull. Any thoughts on this approach?

[Jim Collins]

I believe this is what the Rio Grande Tallboy is -- two single coils side by side, fitting a humbucker mounting.

One of the major differences between normal humbuckers and Fender style single coils is that the pole pieces in the Fender single coils are magnet, and they are not, in a normal humbucker. Instead, the magnet is a bar magnet that sits underneath the coils, between the two rows of pole pieces. From what I gather, the Tallboy is a pickup whose pole pieces are actually magnets.

I've never used this pickup, myself, but I've heard positive things about it.

[Jef]

I think it's a good idea, but some pickups may require some modification to the baseplate in order to fit close to each other. It won't bee too difficlt to do if you disconnect the wires very carefully.