Anyone have a dual HB guitar with parallel switching?

I recently had a Musicman JP16. My favorite tone on that guitar was the middle position with the tone knob/switch pushed out.
In the middle position that gives you the 2 middle coils in parallel! Very sweet single coil type sound!
Below is a link to the diagram for the pickups and switches. Scroll down & Look under the Controls area.

https://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/jp16
Yep, I already have that sound on all my HH guitars ;)
 
Last edited:
I never liked running 2 pickups in series. Unless it's Brian May doing it ;)

Well. Results may vary.
There are some that I like.

Running neck and middle in series on a Strat is something close to the sound of a neck humbucker. Maybe a bit too fat, but the Axe-Fx has enough EQ blocks to iron that out and then it's an all new sound for a Strat. Not like a Paula, but very close to the neck of a PRS Custom 22.
Try an American Deluxe 2010-2015, they have it built-in.

Running two split humbuckers in series on a PRS sounds like a different version of the bridge humbucker...you can't have enough bridge humbuckers, right?
For many years the ones with a 5 way rotary switch had it built-in.
 
I recently had a Musicman JP16. My favorite tone on that guitar was the middle position with the tone knob/switch pushed out.
In the middle position that gives you the 2 middle coils in parallel! Very sweet single coil type sound!
Below is a link to the diagram for the pickups and switches. Scroll down & Look under the Controls area.

https://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/jp16
yeah, the middle position with both fully on is a waste IMO. Ive done the center parallel mod on a couple Ibanez guitars. Goes well with the "quack" of position 2.

https://d2emr0qhzqfj88.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/diagrams/RGT320.pdf
 
Thanks for all the replies guys! The thing is, I don't need any help on wiring etc. I'm just interested in sound clips as described in the OP. What I'm looking for is a tele-ish middle tone out of 2 humbuckers, that isn't the inner or outer coils in parallel :)
 
Thanks for all the replies guys! The thing is, I don't need any help on wiring etc. I'm just interested in sound clips as described in the OP. What I'm looking for is a tele-ish middle tone out of 2 humbuckers, that isn't the inner or outer coils in parallel :)
If I think about it the next time I am at my gear then I will do it.

I've got a Suhr Modern that I had updated by Suhr with individual push pots that allow the neck/bridge to be series or parallel and the middle position is both pickups.

Amp was CAE#+ Clean with an RCB, IRs are G12H3055 from ML Sound Lab.
 
Last edited:
Ok - here you go:

toomuchfiction.com/mp3/sp/series-parallel.mp3

A couple arpeggiated chords with Neck + Bridge in series, then Neck parallel + bridge series, then neck series + bridge parallel.

Then a similar lick thru all 3 settings and then a different one with the same.

Suhr Modern with roasted swamp ash and maple top. Thorbbucker neck, Thornbucker+ bridge.
 
Last edited:
Ok - here you go:

toomuchfiction.com/mp3/sp/series-parallel.mp3

A couple arpeggiated chords with Neck + Bridge in series, then Neck parallel + bridge series, then neck series + bridge parallel.

Then a similar lick thru all 3 settings and then a different one with the same.

Suhe Modern with roasted swamp ash and maple top. Thorbbucker neck, Thornbucker+ bridge.
Thanks man! You're an absolute life saver :D After listning to them several times, the middle part (neck parallel & bridge series) sounds the best to me. In other words, the most tele-like and the most usable.

Interesting, I would have thought that the neck series & bridge parallel would yield the most "cluck".
 
Last edited:
Thanks man! You're an absolute life saver :D After listning to them several times, the middle part (neck parallel & bridge series) sounds the best to me. In other words, the most tele-like and the most usable.

Interesting, I would have thought that the neck series & bridge parallel would yield the most "cluck".
Cool - glad it was useful for you. That was also the quietest combination volume-wise.
 
Thanks man! You're an absolute life saver :D After listning to them several times, the middle part (neck parallel & bridge series) sounds the best to me. In other words, the most tele-like and the most usable.

Interesting, I would have thought that the neck series & bridge parallel would yield the most "cluck".
I have found the same setup to be my favorite as well - neck parallel + bridge series. I think it has to do with the impedance loading the pickups put on each other. There is something it does to the midrange in that setting that is similar to the stock Tele sound. The lower-output pickup (i.e., the one in parallel) loads down the output of the other, and the resulting combined sound is not dominated by the higher output pickup - indeed a bit of the opposite happens. The standard Tele pickups are similarly mismatched, with the bridge unit being higher output than the neck one.

To me, neck series + bridge parallel sounds brighter, with more bite in the treble and less of that midrange thing that the Tele has going on. It gets closer to the modded Tele sound, with the neck humbucker and bridge single coil.
 
I prefer the response of neck series + bridge parallel better, myself... But, hey, that's why we got options ;)
 
@guitarnerdswe
Sorry this took so dang long. I believe you wanted it done clean...to me the differences really shine when edge of breakup and more distorted. I'm using the clean scene in Burgs Dumbles V2. The rear pickup is a Dimarzio super distortion and sadly I don't remember which DImarzio I have in the neck position. When I say middle, I mean both bridge and neck together. The pickups are:
Bridge series
Bridge Parallel
Middle both series
Middle bridge parallel neck series
Middle bridge series neck parallel
Middle both parallel

 
@guitarnerdswe
Sorry this took so dang long. I believe you wanted it done clean...to me the differences really shine when edge of breakup and more distorted. I'm using the clean scene in Burgs Dumbles V2. The rear pickup is a Dimarzio super distortion and sadly I don't remember which DImarzio I have in the neck position. When I say middle, I mean both bridge and neck together. The pickups are:
Bridge series
Bridge Parallel
Middle both series
Middle bridge parallel neck series
Middle bridge series neck parallel
Middle both parallel


Awesome! I don't know if it's your pickups, but both pickups in parallel mode sounded way nicer than expected. Usually, that tone is very bright and hifi, but yours was much more pleasing. Might be a candidate. I still prefer the bridge series/neck parallel over the other way around though.

Btw, am I the only one who hears bridge series/neck parallel as a cross between the middle position on a tele, AND the neck/middle combo on a strat? I would never expect it to yield the tone it does. Really cool.
 
I forgot to mention that I have a graphtech piezo floyd on my Warlock, so the tone is slightly altered by the graphtech preamp. I am VERY happy with the parallel switch (a pushpull pot for each pickup)! I tried coil splitting on several guitars through the years and was NEVER happy with them. I went through a lot of neck pickups until I finally settled on this one. Next string change, I'll need to pull it so I can see which model Dimarzio I finally settled on.
 
I forgot to mention that I have a graphtech piezo floyd on my Warlock, so the tone is slightly altered by the graphtech preamp. I am VERY happy with the parallel switch (a pushpull pot for each pickup)! I tried coil splitting on several guitars through the years and was NEVER happy with them. I went through a lot of neck pickups until I finally settled on this one. Next string change, I'll need to pull it so I can see which model Dimarzio I finally settled on.
Cool! The neck pickup, does it have hex screws like the SD, or does it look like a traditional humbucker?
 
Back
Top Bottom