Which humbucker would you choose to coil split?

[tubelessone]

Hello all, I have a Charvel which I love to death, it has a full shred in the bridge which is ok, I'm not 100% on it.
The guitar has a coil split, it's great when I don't want to change guitars to my strat, but of course it doesn't sound like my SSS strat when I split the coils. Sounds pretty thin.
In your experience, is there a humbucker that would sound nice coil split?
I am thinking about a JB.

 

[Axelman8]

Im using SD stk s4 sss noiseless pickups and sounds great on my strat when I coil split.
IMHO for Humbuckers SD's are a great choise, but Dimarzio paf are excellent PU'S to split.

 

[Riccardo Ros]

I could be "old fashioned" but I like a lot the combination DiMarzio Air Norton + Tone Zone. I found them really versatile and I like also the single coil split and the parallel wiring

 

[Rex]

The guitar has a coil split... Sounds pretty thin.

The problem with splitting coils is that the pot values are wrong. Most single-coil pickups like to see 250K pots. But when you split a humbucker, you’re still using the same 500K pots.

 

[tubelessone]

The problem with splitting coils is that the pot values are wrong. Most single-coil pickups like to see 250K pots. But when you split a humbucker, you’re still using the same 500K pots.

So more resistance equals lower output? That makes sense.

 

[JoKeR III]

Before changing pickups, look into the partial coil split used by makers like PRS. It adds a resistor in series with the coil being 'turned off' to add more output to the split tone. Works really well IME.

 

[tubelessone]

Before changing pickups, look into the partial coil split used by makers like PRS. It adds a resistor in series with the coil being 'turned off' to add more output to the split tone. Works really well IME.

This sounds very interesting!
So partial-split like method 3 here?
https://www.fralinpickups.com/2021/01/27/5-powerful-ways-to-coil-split-your-humbucker/

There's also this.
https://forums.prsguitars.com/threa...-humbucker-using-the-partial-split-mod.55381/

Looks like I might have a winter project in the works. By project I mean buy the stuff and have my tech do it. I can solder, but I've killed a pickup set before due to my bad technique LOL, so I usually just have someone do that for me. Ok false, I have replaced pups in a few guitars since then. But still, for more intricate work, I don't trust myself

I'm still left with the fact that for regular humbucker tones, I like a JB or a Pearly Gates.

 

[Rex]

So more resistance equals lower output? That makes sense.

Not really. It’s more that, with a lower resistance, the pickup’s resonant peak gets softened. That works well for single-coil pickups, which can sound spiky and thin with higher-resistance pots.

 

[tubelessone]

Not really. It’s more that, with a lower resistance, the pickup’s resonant peak gets softened. That works well for single-coil pickups, which can sound spiky and thin with higher-resistance pots.

thanks for the clarification, cool stuff

 

[skolacki]

Not really. It’s more that, with a lower resistance, the pickup’s resonant peak gets softened. That works well for single-coil pickups, which can sound spiky and thin with higher-resistance pots.

Definitely true. My Ibanez AZ2204N is HSS and the singles run on the 500k volume. Spikey yes. They sound nice but need to be rolled off.

 

[tubelessone]

Definitely true. My Ibanez AZ2204N is HSS and the singles run on the 500k volume. Spikey yes. They sound nice but need to be rolled off.

That explains the sound of my Charvel's split bridge pickup, it's definitely a little ice picky, so, I use it for the chorused 80s stuff like The Cure or Modern English.

 

[JoKeR III]

This sounds very interesting!
So partial-split like method 3 here?
https://www.fralinpickups.com/2021/01/27/5-powerful-ways-to-coil-split-your-humbucker/

There's also this.
https://forums.prsguitars.com/threa...-humbucker-using-the-partial-split-mod.55381/

Looks like I might have a winter project in the works. By project I mean buy the stuff and have my tech do it. I can solder, but I've killed a pickup set before due to my bad technique LOL, so I usually just have someone do that for me. Ok false, I have replaced pups in a few guitars since then. But still, for more intricate work, I don't trust myself

I'm still left with the fact that for regular humbucker tones, I like a JB or a Pearly Gates.

Yes, the partial split mod. Can be done on any 4 conductor humbucker.

 

[skolacki]

That explains the sound of my Charvel's split bridge pickup, it's definitely a little ice picky, so, I use it for the chorused 80s stuff like The Cure or Modern English.

I owned a PRS SE Paul’s guitar for a little while. The split worked really well especially on the neck. It had the resistor in series with the split as mentioned above. Look into that, it works.

 

[Andy Eagle]

The problem with splitting coils is that the pot values are wrong. Most single-coil pickups like to see 250K pots. But when you split a humbucker, you’re still using the same 500K pots.

You can easily fix this.

Now they both see the right value.

 

[sb-SG]

^ that's double helpful to see @Andy Eagle

FWIW I hunted around for a good HB to split against 2 single coils (BKP Triptych) and had several people all highly recommend the same manufacturers Polymath as a suitable companion that whilst capable of the chuggy stuff also married up with the singles nicely. Time will tell - I'll confirm or otherwise in a year (!) when it finally arrives.

 

[joegtr]

I have 2 Charvels with Fishman Fluence Classic Humbuckers. While they do have true coil split I hardly ever use it. This is because it sounds a bit thin on its own and it is a true split so the noise comes back. One reason I am in love with the Fluence pickups is because you don't lose high end when you turn the volume down on the guitar. This is a very different experience from a treble bleed circuit which adds high end back and sounds much better to me. The classic Humbuckers have a pleasing PAF bite to them which is retained when you turn down the guitar volume, producing a sound similar to a lower output single coil, which for me works better than any tapped humbucker.

 

[Joshua_L]

My JB splits very well. In fact I prefer it splitted lol.

 

[don_joe]

Check out the BK Polymath. I never had that many options with a pair of pickups.

 

[Rex]

You can easily fix this.
View attachment 130042
Now they both see the right value.

Clever. I did a similar but different thing with an Ibanez 540S with an HSH configuration. I used a Fender S-1 switch to put the entire guitar into SSS mode, with the proper load. Still stuck with a 500K tone pot, though.

Question: if you had the option, would you choose different values for the treble bleed circuit for the single-coil settings?

 

[Alex C]

The problem with splitting coils is that the pot values are wrong. Most single-coil pickups like to see 250K pots. But when you split a humbucker, you’re still using the same 500K pots.

Here's how I dealt with this a few years ago, and what I've also implemented in a few other guitars since then. (But now I see that you were involved in that original thread, so maybe you've already seen this.)

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...-500k-for-humbuckers-diagram-included.126090/