splitting humbuckers

[feet]

i'm kinda liking that old dynasonic/charlie christian type sound from an archtop. as a sad, desperate measure to keep me from buying another guitar, i thought about splitting humbuckers. i've done it on a solid body and it is somewhat satisfying.

since i've never tried a guitar like that, i don't know if i'll like it enough to justify it. but i also don't want to tear up an existing guitar for no reason either, if the splitting/tapping/paralleling/whatever won't yield a useable, pleasant sound.

so know i ask: have any of you done it? is it worthwhile? what's the best/least worse way to go about it? push/pull? flippy switch? whatever circuit witchery hofner did to dial in a single tone sound?

[helios]

Hello,
Splitting a regular humbucker can sound thin. The best kind of humbucker to split is an unbalanced design. The Lollar Imperial, Gibson Burstbucker, and Fralin Unbucker, are all unbalanced. I've used the Yamaha push-push splitters with good success, but having done this, I don't use split mode very much, as unbalanced humbuckers tend to sound more like single coil anyway, by nature of their design.

Here is a quote from the Lindy Fralin website:

"In our Unbucker, we wind the screw coil stronger than the slug coil. This makes the pickup sound a little more single coil, but the best reason to do this is for coil tapping. When tapped the stronger coil is active as opposed to half a pickup. Our best selling set of these is 7.5K neck (4.5-3) and 8.5 Bridge (5-3.5) 3 conductor lead with a Vintage Hot reverse middle in-between. (Humb.-single-Humb.).
Combining the two coils gives a total ohm reading or approximate output to compare to normal humbuckers."

[rpguitar]

I think it's worthwhile. I've got a Lollar high wind Imperial, a Barden Two Tone, and a Duncan Alnico II Pro that say so. It can be tough to set optimal pickup height, though. Usually I adjust for the full humbucker sound and let the split tone fall whereever that lies. I prefer to use small DPDT toggles. I dislike push/pull pots. Just a personal preference, that's all.

[hans halmackenreuter]

I have a split coil option on my sa2000s and I use it very often. and than I tried to make a splitcoil mod on my solidbody, but the result was horrible. Now I wonder if this differing result may also have something to do with the magnets of the humbuckers, since my sa2000s has got alnico V and my solid body has got alnico II. Does this have an impact for split coil adventuers?

[SamBooka]

Hello,
Splitting a regular humbucker can sound thin. The best kind of humbucker to split is an unbalanced design. The Lollar Imperial, Gibson Burstbucker, and Fralin Unbucker, are all unbalanced. I've used the Yamaha push-push splitters with good success, but having done this, I don't use split mode very much, as unbalanced humbuckers tend to sound more like single coil anyway, by nature of their design.

Here is a quote from the Lindy Fralin website:

"In our Unbucker, we wind the screw coil stronger than the slug coil. This makes the pickup sound a little more single coil, but the best reason to do this is for coil tapping. When tapped the stronger coil is active as opposed to half a pickup. Our best selling set of these is 7.5K neck (4.5-3) and 8.5 Bridge (5-3.5) 3 conductor lead with a Vintage Hot reverse middle in-between. (Humb.-single-Humb.).
Combining the two coils gives a total ohm reading or approximate output to compare to normal humbuckers."

Can you explain why unbalanced PUs sound better split? I havent split many HBs...

[Spook410]

I thought about this and posted a question about it. After a good discussion in the forum I decided against it.

[helios]

"Can you explain why unbalanced PUs sound better split? I havent split many HBs..."

Hello,
In a typical humbucker of say 8 ohms, both coils are 4 ohms. In an unbalanced humbucker, the screw coil may be 4.5 ohms, and the slug coil may be 3.5 ohms (4.5 + 3.5 = 8 ohms). If the screw coil is tapped on the unbalanced humbucker, at 4.5 ohms, it'll have a little more girth than the normal humbucker because the active tapped coil has more windings (4.5 ohms, as opposed to 4 ohms in this example).
Since the coils are mismatched on the unbalanced humbucker, it'll also make slightly more unwanted noise in when both coils utilized, since there isn't complete cancellation. I don't happen to notice the extra noise. I have a Lollar Imperial on one guitar, and a Fralin Unbucker on another. I like them both.

[Jazz_175]

"Can you explain why unbalanced PUs sound better split? I havent split many HBs..."

Hello,
In a typical humbucker of say 8 ohms, both coils are 4 ohms. In an unbalanced humbucker, the screw coil may be 4.5 ohms, and the slug coil may be 3.5 ohms (4.5 + 3.5 = 8 ohms). If the screw coil is tapped on the unbalanced humbucker, at 4.5 ohms, it'll have a little more girth than the normal humbucker because the active tapped coil has more windings (4.5 ohms, as opposed to 4 ohms in this example).
Since the coils are mismatched on the unbalanced humbucker, it'll also make slightly more unwanted noise in when both coils utilized, since there isn't complete cancellation. I don't happen to notice the extra noise. I have a Lollar Imperial on one guitar, and a Fralin Unbucker on another. I like them both.

Good explanation, could you also please clarify why the two coils making a PU humbucker are called screw and slug coils respectively.
What is the screw coil? the one on the neck side or the one on the bridge side?

[LtKojak]

What is the screw coil?

My guess is the coil that has the screws.



HTH,

[Jazz_175]

Ah ok, now I understand

[SamBooka]

I see...

[feet]

I think it's worthwhile. I've got a Lollar high wind Imperial, a Barden Two Tone, and a Duncan Alnico II Pro that say so. It can be tough to set optimal pickup height, though. Usually I adjust for the full humbucker sound and let the split tone fall whereever that lies. I prefer to use small DPDT toggles. I dislike push/pull pots. Just a personal preference, that's all.

this is more or less the method i used on my old solidbody. duncan alnico ii pro, flippy switch for full/split/parallel. the guitar was too thin for a push/pull pot, so an extra hole had to be drilled for it. its setup for humbucker play but sounds good-ish to me split. mind you, i don't play or own any single coils, this is as close as i get.

Hello,
Splitting a regular humbucker can sound thin. The best kind of humbucker to split is an unbalanced design. The Lollar Imperial, Gibson Burstbucker, and Fralin Unbucker, are all unbalanced. I've used the Yamaha push-push splitters with good success, but having done this, I don't use split mode very much, as unbalanced humbuckers tend to sound more like single coil anyway, by nature of their design.

i hadn't heard this about unbalanced humbuckers, but have noticed pafs being brighter and clearer than you'd expect them to be, especially in the middle position.

though in this case, i'm kind of after sounds akin to the ones found here

Pretty, Pretty Pickup tonefiend archives

to give you a vague idea. i was thinking of having pups commissioned anyway, but could a humbucker be conjured that sounds exactly as it should (and will be used that way about 80% of the time) and still get in that ballpark when split? or should i just break down and do things the right way?

and alternative splitting methods are welcome. don't really want to put extra holes in an archtop but i'm not familar with the alpha push pulls (as opposed to the rs stuff i always use and love) and the yamahas mentioned above are no longer extant.

[helios]

"i hadn't heard this about unbalanced humbuckers, but have noticed pafs being brighter and clearer than you'd expect them to be, especially in the middle position."


Some of the PAF mojo has been attributed to slightly unbalanced coils due to manually operated winding machines of the day (at least according to internet myth & folklore).
Personally, I like unmatched coils (Lollar Imperial, Fralin Unbucker etc), as they tend to have greater clarity, and sound less muddy than a balanced humbucker-plus the split mode is more usable. Again, the down side is more unwanted noise.

[Jazz_175]

Just to add more confusion, as I understand there is a difference between
Coil Splitting and Coil Tapping.
This is explained in a Tech Tip by Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars
"
Coil splitting refers to disabling one of the two coils of a humbucking pickup by shunting that coil’s output to electrical ground.
Coil tapping is most often used to describe a single coil pickup which has a coil start and more than one coil end (output tap).

"
He then goes on with a deeper explanation.
I thought we were talking about Coil Splitting, but what Helios mentioned from the Fralin Website says Coil Tapping.

[SamBooka]

until a couple of years ago I didnt pay much attention to splitting vs tapping because tapped pickup were sooooooooooooooo rare.

the two terms were interchangable.. maybe not technically correct but close enough fo govt work.

[feet]

ive always read them as interchangeable terms even though i knew they weren't exactly the same thing. nor did i know which was which. no one does, apparently. what does this biltoft character know, anyway?

nomenclature aside, any more ideas or experiences?

[0zoro]

In addition to the delema of how and what to split, there is the concideration of the job itself. I have replaced humbuckers on a couple of guitars, but really got over my head when attempting to replace them in a 335. Very cramped working room, short wires, having to pull pots, switches, and mic to their desginated place with the use of string etc. Be sure you know what yu get into before staring the job, and then all the best 0zoro

[Jazz_175]

what does this biltoft character know, anyway?

nomenclature aside, any more ideas or experiences?

Peter Biltoft is here.
Vintage Vibe Guitars
If you are intersted I can send you the whole Tech Tip "Coil Splitting vs Coil Tap" e-mail.
You can find other Tech Tips in his Tech Tips section.