Series wiring - Fatten up Strats and Teles?

[mateo2006]

I recently put a 4-way switch in a tele that I put two Lollar CC neck-style pickups into the neck position.

The results were underwhelming would be ... generous.

It is a sound that is nothing like a conventional humbucker: fuzzy and indistinct. it is now the position that I NEVER use. I will revert back to a 3 way switch without the series option at the first possible chance.

I remember the old The Strat model stratocaster from the 1980s. I remember liking the series switch on that.

It must really depend on the pickups. The CCs are pretty powerful dark pickups already.

It also my be possible that putting a Neck and Middle or a Bridge and Middle in series yields better results than a neck and bridge.

Still, I can't see myself pursuing this option again.

[mateo2006]

The general principle I believe is the weaker and brighter the single coils, the better the results when wired in series. Single coils in even hot humbuckers are very weak. So P-90's are probably too hot to get good results with this mod. But there might be some usable tones to be had who knows.

I imagine that this is true.

[entresz]

My Gibson L6-S can go from series to parallel
I almost never use the series option - just too boomy, but lacking the mid range clarity of the neck pickup on its own.
This is with humbuckers - I would expect series wiring to sound much better with brighter sounding pickups.

[Edu The Giver]

I am about to do the mod with the blender pot, but my doubt is...how does it work when it's not fully clockwise or counter-clockwise but somewhere in the middle?

[wzpgsr]

I am about to do the mod with the blender pot, but my doubt is...how does it work when it's not fully clockwise or counter-clockwise but somewhere in the middle?

On my strat with the blender mod, if the neck pickup is selected, turning the blender pot will gradually mix in the bridge pickup from 0% to 100% depending on how far you turn the knob.

[stevo58]

I have a 4-way in my Tele. To my ears the series position is a bit Gretsch-like. It sounds fine but I rarely use it. Ob the other hand, there’s no reason to remove it.

in another Tele, with 2 Strat and one Tele pickup, I have a five-way and an S1. S1 depressed: straight Strat 5-way switching. Not depressed: Tele switching with neck/bridge serial, and middle/bridge serial.

On both guitars, >95% of my time is still spent on the neck or neck/bridge in parallel. I’m sure there’s something for me to learn from this, but I can’t quite suss it out.

steven

[David Dvorin]

FWIW, the old Fender Duo-Sonics have series wiring in the middle position (as do old Danelectros, I believe). My ‘56 sounds great in that position, driving my amp more and delivering a thicker, more compressed sound, which Jim Campilongo raves about for a jazzy tone in some interviews (ToneQuest?)…

The Duo-Sonics from this era have similar pickups to the strats of the same period (so I’m told), which are clear and round and not dull, and the series combines the neck (which is at an angle/slanted and situated further from the neck than strats) and the bridge (not slanted). Kinda a unique setup compared to other builds.

Bottom line is it offers something different that is perfectly suitable to some applications as another voice, and I like using it as a boost for solos or when I need a thicker sound. Love it!

[blille]

I put a four way switch in one of my Tele's to get the series combination. It has a certain fatness, and the output is quite hot, but it does NOT sound like a Tele with a humbucker in the neck or bridge. The individual coils are really far apart, so they are picking up hugely different harmonic content. The sound, besides being fatter and hotter, still has a bit of the parallel 'scooped' tone in it.

I'd think a Strat with either neck and middle, or bridge and neck put in series would be closer to a normal humbucker sound since the coils are closer...somewhat.

Agreed. I have a 4 way in my Nashville tele and with the middle pickup it’s much more usable.