split coil humbucker

[spongepuppet]

Just wondering how other tele players feel about this.
i have a USA standard tele and plan to put a seymor little 59 in the bridge but get it dont so i can have either a push/pull pot or a toggle switch to go between single coil and humbucking. after some tele players attitudes on this.

[eryque]

I haven't used the Lil 59 bridge pickup but I had its neck position counterpart for a while, and IMHO the split-coil sound out of that pickup is uninspiring at best. Very flat, not a lot of overtones. The only time I ever remember liking the split coil sound out of that pickup was once on stage at an open mic, I just couldn't find a rhythm sound that felt right, until I switched back to just the '59 in split mode. It sounded flat and awful, but fit perfectly right into the mix.

Now, in bucker mode it sounded pretty danged good, but the full-size version sounded better. I don't know if the bridge pickup is the same way.

[teledude66]

i've got a hot rails that i split ...i like it others have said they didn't like it but its ok with my setup we do a really strange mix of originals and heavy stuff to country ...but i am also thinkin of a more mild pickup but it will still be a splitting bucker ...i drilled a lil hole between th vol an tone pot and put a mini switch it works well for switching ease :D

[e-merlin]

To get a good split sound you need a fairly hot humbucker. Otherwise, it will sound weak and anemic.

[tschommer]

I had a Lil' 59 in my bridge position for a while. I liked it quite a bit for a good distortion sound but I never got a good clean sound out of it when it when my switch was in the lead position even when split. I think one of the great pickers that frequents this board Jeff Miller uses a Lil' 59 when not using a Variax tele. He gets a great twangy Tele sound by using an out of phase wiring set up I think. I don't know if he ever posted a wiring diagram here but he may have on the TeleModers forum.

http://telemodders.com/

[Andi]

When I was getting the Phat Cat put in my Tele, I asked my tech guy what he thought of putting a tap in the li'l '59. I became interested in the idea originally after reading an interview with (Gretsch-endorsed)Elliot Easton

Honestly, I think half of me just wanted another cool button to add to the looks!

Well, in the end he highly advised against it, mostly for output reasons, but also added what eryque said about it probably ending up being quite flat and tonally weak, and also added a somewhat stern "Go for standard setup, hardware and pu'ps if you want a smokin' tele bridge sound."

Cool.

[eryque]

I'm a really big fan of neck humbuckers, and I don't know if I'd ever own a tele with a bridge humbucker cuz I've grown to like the normal bridge sound so much.

I've only heard one pickup that sounded good as a split coil, and that was the stock pickup that came in my California Fat Tele. In single coil mode it sounds a lot like a tele neck pickup, as a humbucker it's so-so. I think that one day I'll try a project with two tele neck pickups mashed right together as a humbucker, I think that would be pretty danged cool :-) And, of course, it will have a good single-coil sound!

[psykobilly]

i have a 91 tele plus that came with a lace sensor dually in the bridge, two reds. i later replaced one of the reds with a blue when one of the reds went south. i now have a joe barden two tone in the bridge and it smokes. gets a better than decent tele sound with the coil split with the two tone wiring, and that humbucker tone. priceless. not really traditional, but for "modern country", it is a very versatile choice to have a bucker in the bridge since so much is played dirty. don't know if this helps, but thanx for the chance to talk about on of my favorite guitars. :)

[jjmantele]

I also pondered this dilemma when building my guitar. At the time I had only a bridge pup so I wanted sound options. To maximize the tapped mode's volume, I put the adjustable poles (SD '59) towards the neck and set them fairly high. I also had to change the wiring since the SD "recommended" wiring would have the non-adjustable coil as active when tapped.

With this setup the volume when tapped is close to the double coil volume. I love the tone when tapped for clean playing. "Stratty" acoustic kinda sound. Mixes very nicely with the neck pup too.

I'm sorta glad the neck can't be tapped since I'd have too many possible sounds to have switches for. :?

I see from the SD site that the Little '59 has 12 adjustable poles. Go for it!

[moonshiner]

I actually did this last night to two SD humbuckers... man... did it sound good... the mod was pretty easy too... 2 single pole switches and off to the races...

[TwinReverb]

the Fralin Unbucker is a wonderful pup, at least in my Keef inspired tele 8). It can be split in such a way that the split sound is great! The coils of this puppy are wound uneven so that the split sound is better than with a regular humbucker.

Try it!

[Wild Rice Chris]

I had a Lil '59 with an unmarked old Dimarzio in the neck of my '98 MIM standard, with a mini-switch to split both PUs. It sounded great, but I did sell the guitar, so draw your own conclusions...

[edhead]

I have a split coil in the bridge postion. Was already on the tele when I got it. It's a Velvet Hammer 54, and it sounds pretty good as a single coil. The switch is wired single coil (bridge), humbucker (bridge), humbucker (neck, a T top Les Paul humbucker).

Very rarely use the bridge humbucker, 90% of the time is the single coil position.

That being said, I still wish I had an original pickup at the bridge.

edhead