Split Coil Humbucker Advice Needed

[denny]

I have decided to gut my Artcore and completely replace the electronics. The guitar is a standard 2 HB w/selector and 4 knobs. I want to replace the pickups with F-spaced or Trembucker adjustable-pole types with a master volume and tone.

I am seriously considering putting a couple of stacked-pole rotary switches in the two extra pot holes for coil splitting/phasing combinations.

My questions:

1) Out of all the combinations of split open coil, split shunted coil, split parallel, split series, blend pot, etc. which have you found most useful?

2) Does running the coils in the same pickup in parallel do anything worthwile?

3) Is there any reason a bridge HB can't be used "upside down" in the neck position?

4) Any thoughts as to pickup selection?

Any ideas on switching/blending/KABONGulating would be appreciated - but only two pickups and no active electronics. I am not looking for a particular sound as much as variety - from Chet Atkins to Ted Nugent and beyond, but the traditional jazz box tone is probably most important.

Yeah, I'm nuts, but my first electric guitar was a new Gibson L6-S, and now I know enough about electronics to be dangerous.

denny

[BB]

As a long time modder and re-wire freak, I've really come to appreciate "less is more" as the years fly by. While it was cool having a plethora of tones at my fingertips, I found myself gravitating more and more to the stock tones and using the other tones less and less. But thats just me.

I would suggest trying a Big D Vari-Tone ( or any of the other many Vari-Tones on the market ) before gutting your guitar to the point of no return. Over the years, I've learned the hard way to try the least intrusive mods first. If they don't do what you want, then take the next step. Of course, ymmv. I'm just speaking of my own experements in terror!

Our own deaf-eddie is a wealth of information in this area. Perhaps an email to him would shed a bit more light on your impending mods.

Good luck on your tone search. I hope you find what your after.

[denny]

I hear ya BB. I have had this guitar for about two years, and I have come to the conclusion that I don't really like the bridge pickup, and the interactive volume and tone knobs have got to go. It's so dang difficult to work on a hollowbody, I'm looking at all the options before I operate on the patient.

I haven't ruled out going the "normal" route like installing a set of Filtertrons for a Gretsch vibe, either.

Thanks,
denny

[JohnnyCrash]

I usually prefer the stock setups after all of these years of tinkering... BUT

I still have a freak Telecaster with 3 pickups, each with their own volume control. The switch is my "tone control"... sorta like the "dark switch" on the '52 Tele RI.

I like using "Swiss Army Guitars" for live gigs where you'll never know what you'll need.

Have fun on your Frankenstein!

[Wild Rice Chris]

One cool thing to do would be to run master volume, master tone, and series/single-coil/parallel pots (yes iyou can do that with a blend pot) for each pickup. You get the stock look, user-friendly layout, and 15 distinct pickup selections with blending possibilities between them.

If you's like to try it, I'll draw up a wiring diagram for you and point you towards the correct pots to do it.

Coils in parallel gives you a pseudo-strat sound without hum. Works better on some guitars than others.

Run that pickup upside-down!! Sounds great, better open-string harmonic response and a little brighter tone.

[denny]

Wild Rice Chris, that is a most excellent plan! Please enlighten me on the secret of the Magic Pots. I'm sending you a PM.

Thanks
denny

[Val-tone]

FWIW, I just got done re-wiring a Squier Cyclone with a Carvin twinblade strat-sized humbucker in the neck and a seymour duncan humbucker in the bridge. The volume and tone knobs are now both push-pull pots for series/parallel for each pickup. It's set up so when I pull up on the pot it's series, so most of the time it's parallel. I prefer the single-coil sound over humbuckers. The versatility is nice, another "arrow in the quiver," if you will.

It's okay, it's nice, but I do notice the difference between that setting and a regular single-coil. It doesn't seem as, well... "juicy?" They don't sound as "round," for lack of a better term, as a regular single-coil. I just finished it a week or so ago, so I'm still tinkering with it though.

Wild Rice Chris, if you read this, are you familiar on how a Mustang 3-way switch works? I have an upcoming project involving those and can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for. If you could help me out, that would be... helpful?

[Wild Rice Chris]

Originally Posted by denny

Wild Rice Chris, that is a most excellent plan! Please enlighten me on the secret of the Magic Pots. I'm sending you a PM.

Thanks
denny

The middle pot is it.

[denny]

Thanks for the great idea, Wild Rice Chris.

In other news, I think that since I have to make a jig to assemble the parts anyway, (before stuffing them down the pickup hole), I can use the jig, a solderless breadboard and use extension cables on the pickups to test some ideas outside the guitar.

It will probably be a few weeks before I'm ready to heat up the soldering iron. Need to do some more research on pickups.


Thanks again,
denny