2- vs. 4-Conductor Humbuckers

[JoeNeri]

I'm thinking of changing out the hb's on one of my guitars and see that most manufacturers of replacement pickups offer 2- and 4-conductor versions of their products.

What's the difference, and why would I need 2 vs. 4?

Thanks.

 

[DMAND]

The four-wire can be wired for coil splitting. The four-wire can also be wired for normal HB sound. The coils are wired together for connection of only two wires. The two-wire can only be wired for normal HB sound (or with phase reversal). Many manufacturers offer only four-wire HB and include a diagram on how to wire for two-wire connections. The coils are just wired together. In either case you receive the four-wire and just use the two-wire configuration. Many Vintage series HB are two-wire, most modern HBs are four-wire. If you currently have a set-up with coil splitting and want to keep that configuration, then you need to order four-wire pickups.

 

[copperheadroad]

4 conductor is more versatile
at times i have found the 2 conductor braided wire noisier & i have asked other winders about this most of them have not noticed a difference
4 conductor can be useful when mixing with other brand of pickups ....one builder winds clockwise ,& another winds counter-clockwise, Which can be out of phase = this can be easily corrected by switching wires with 4 conductor ,As fo 2 conductor wire you will have to take the tape off & de-solder the leads & rearrange them in the appropriate manner

 

[donh]

Humbuckers consist of two coils of wire, some magnetic stuff, a backplate and sometimes a cover. The two coils of wire are in series.

With a 2-wire, the series connection is hidden, the plus side is the center wire of the coax cable, and the shield of the coax is tied to the minus of the coil(s) and the backplate and cover. This allows you to hook it up in the typical simple manner.

With a 4-wire you get the nominal plus connection, an addition wire to where the coils are tied together, the minus side, and a fourth wire to the backplate and cover. This allows you to coil-tap, series or parallel your coils, series the pickup with another one on the same guitar, wire so the backplate and cover are out of the signal path, or to just run the wires together and use the typical simple connection scheme.

I hope this makes sense.

 

[Colt W. Knight]

I prefer 4.

If I do get the single conductor or two wire type, I shrink wrap the shielding so it doesn't ground out on the switch or pot lugs.

 

[JoeNeri]

Thanks!!!