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Have you tried wiring your single coil pick ups in series? I'm under the impression that this is not all that common. Google search brings only one mention of it in the entire history of the jazz guitar forum (try: "series wiring" site:Jazz Guitar Online - Free Jazz Guitar Lessons, Tabs, Chords & Charts).
For those who aren't familiar with this, by series wiring your single coils, you technically turn them into humbuckers.
Why is it not more common to do this simple mod? Standard 2 & 4 positions of Strats are parallel wired. Modern middle pickups are reverse wired and polarized ie. already ripe for this mod. I get that it'll be hotter than regular humbucker and single coils will point to different part of the strings, but demos indicate it's still a very usable sound especially for jazz (a little muffled and lots of mids). I'm gonna try wiring one of my strats in series this weekend.
What are your thoughts and experiences regarding this mod?Last edited by Tal_175; 06-27-2019 at 03:09 PM.
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06-27-2019 10:56 AM
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There are some Fender strat models with an "S-1" switch that does this. I tried one (I forgot which variant) that I guy I know had. It was not a great sounding strat overall (played it side by side with my American Standard, which was better in any and all ways), so whatever value the feature had didn't really register with me. Some of the Tele demos sound good, though. It will be interesting to hear how it works out for you, so have it at, and post a demo.
Originally Posted by Tal_175
John
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I have a 2005 Fender American Deluxe with the S-1 switch and SCN pickups. The S-1 will fatten the sound a bit although the SCNs seem thicker than normal single coils anyway. As a result, I rarely use the S-1 switch. Originally Posted by John A.
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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.
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Ditto. IME, it's useful for a bit of added volume, but noticeably lacks character by giving up some sparkly tele tone. Not a bad thing - just a generic Fender sound. Originally Posted by Rhythmisking
Last edited by Hammertone; 04-19-2022 at 04:12 PM.
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I have a Hot Rod 57 Stratocaster with the SCN pickups.
While they sound good in their own way, they don't have that Stratocaster glassiness of real single coils.
I tried to like them for a while, but they just don't do it.. They sound a bit like P90s.
I've just put Pure Vintage 65 pickups in that guitar and it's night and day.
I'd like to try one of these humbucker stratocasters one day
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I wired my jazz bass like that and there was a noticeable difference for the better. Haven’t done it on a guitar though.
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I have a chambered mahogany jazzmaster/tele hybrid with a vintage vibes cc pickup in the neck and a vv humbucker-sized p-90-ish pickup in the bridge, with a four-way switch. The serial position is louder and not unpleasant, maybe a bit like a beefier sounding 335 kind of sound, but it doesn’t get much use. It’s not as articulate as the parallel or single pickup positions.
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Looks like I need to get Fender 5 way superswitch to do the series wiring:
Fender 5-Position Strat/Tele 'Super Switch' - Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
The stock Strat switch apparently won't work as in the "in-between" positions lugs are shared. Luckily my local store carries them.
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Leo Fender's last 'Strat' designs were made during his G&L days. He addressed the thin sound of single coils by inventing MFD (Magnetic Field Design) pickups.
Magnetic Field Design Guitar and Bass Pickups | G&L Musical Instruments
I have a set on my G&L S-500 and its the best sounding Strat style guitar I've ever played. Perfect fro jazz or any other music style.
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My Strat has Lindy Fralin pickups. I suspect that the wiring system is the one the OP is describing because in the 2 and 4 positions my guitar is hum cancelling. This means that the middle pickup is wired in series with the bridge and neck pickups, right? Humbuckers with a big string sampling area.
Still sounds _very_ Stratty, but the guitar is dead quiet on the 2 and 4 settings.
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I don't know how your Strat is wired, but it doesn't have to be wired in series to be hum canceling. As long as the middle pickup is reverse wound and reverse magnetic polarity compared to the other pickups, the combined 2/4 positions will be hum canceling. These days many (most?) have RW/RP middle pickup (mine does, and it's an '89 that came that way stock). Most (regardless of winding/polarity) are wired in parallel with the neck and bridge pickups; series wiring is unusual. Originally Posted by Greentone
John
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That's true. Most modern strats have middle pickup in RWRP configuration for hum cancelling in 2 and 4 positions. One of my strats is vintage wired and has vintage style pickups, it doesn't have hum cancelling. The other is modern and has hum cancelling but it's parallel wired. That's the one I'm considering modding so 2 & 4 are series wired. Originally Posted by John A.
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I mod'ed a strat once using a 7 way switch so I could get both Parallel and in series for the neck and Middle It was a different sound not like a HumBucker but not like a single coil ether.
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I have the S1 switch with N3 pups. Works great for Travis-style picking, not so great for most other styles. I usually juat use the neck pup.
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Makes sense. N3's are already humbuckers of sorts. They are already hotter, fatter and darker then regular singles coils. I think series wiring has potential to work better with weaker pickups. Originally Posted by Alder Statesman
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Turns out there is another way of of doing the series mod for strats that's really cool. In this wiring scheme, there is no need to buy a new switch or a push-pull pot. Stock components work. It's generally called "series blend mod". What's really cool about it is that one of the tone controls become a mixer for the bridge and neck pickups. So, say in neck position, as you turn the tone knob you add middle pickup in series! ie you fatten the neck pickup gradually. When fully turned you get both wired in series equally.
I've attached wiring diagrams of this mod if anybody is interested (they are both the same with slight different graphics I believe).
Here is a demo of a similar wiring:
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Hope I’m not hijacking the thread but has anyone ever wired P90’s in series? Might pit a DPDT in my Hamer for some variances in tone.
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Here is a demo of the same mod I found on youtube that uses the clean tones. This comparison probably gives a better idea between series and normal wiring for most of us:
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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. Originally Posted by zcostilla
Last edited by Tal_175; 06-29-2019 at 07:35 AM.
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I had a baja tele with the S1 wiring. Did not care for the pickups. Harsh. With those, series was OK, not enough to make the overall sound more palatable. With the warmer tele p/us I much prefer, I never felt the need.
By contrast, the best series wired middle position sound was with a Jerry Jones baritone, lipstick p/us. On that guitar, it sounded so good, so right, I never used other positions.
Haven't experimented, but I've always assumed it comes down to the p/us used. Some would sound great with series wiring, others not. I asked a luthier buddy about that. He said the one p/u he would not wire that way was P-90s. Got too loud, too fat.
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My Tele has 3 Barden pickups and the neck and bridge are wired to a 4 way switch. This gives me series or parallel combinations. The middle pickup (heresy, I know
) is wired to its own volume pot so I can turn it on and off as needed. This wiring setup could be easily done with a Strat, too.
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I have usually had toggles for switching but never tried two pickups in Series.
I think it is probably better ( For Jazz or Phatt Cleans ) to combine a neck and middle to avoid the widely different brightness of a bridge and neck PU.
'What if there is no middle PU ?'
Not sure but what happens if -
There is a Tone for just the Bridge PU and that tone is rolled down-
Series should still cause higher output (generally phatter ) AND higher impedence ( generally rolls off high end organically ) ...but you would still have the rolloff of just the bridge PU to avoid the widely different frequency responses.
Will that work ?
It works with 2Pickups in Parallel - not sure about in series.
I'd like to know though.
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They will only become humbuckers if one of the pickups has both reversed magnetic poles and reverse winding connections. Also, while PAF-type humbuckers are wired in series, parallel wiring also provides a humbucking effect. Originally Posted by Tal_175
Unless the two single coil pickups are right next to each other I wouldn’t expect them to sound a lot like a PAF-style pickup.
Here’s Fralin’s series/parallel switch for Telecasters.
Fralin Pickups - 4 Way Switching For Telecaster
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Originally Posted by KirkP
I guess you didn't read my next sentence in OP right next to the one your quoted
"Modern middle pickups are reverse wired and polarized ie. already ripe for this mod. "
Well technically 2 & 4 positions of stocks strats turn adjacent pickups into "humbuckers" as middle pick ups are RWRP in all modern strats. But when people say humbuckers they typically mean specific pickup design, not just humbucking effect in my opinion. For that reason even true humbuckers like noiseless pickups aren't called humbuckers by manufacturers to avoid confusion. Because to be called an humbucker, it must be intended to sound like an humbucker.
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