Custom build ideas need help!

[stankybudz]

Ok so a DM dp417 area in the neck, vintage rails in the middle wired in series for higher output, and dmsdin the bridge! Im ready! arty07:

 

[Cagey]

Alright so its ok to have noiseless pups and non noiseless on same axe? 

Humbucker = noiseless = humbucker = noiseless = ad infinitum

But, yeah, you can also mix 'n' match.

"Humbucker" was a trade name Gibson gave to Seth Lover's design back when he came up with what many call the "PAF" (Patent Applied For) pickups. It was a noiseless pickup in that it eliminated the hum that plagued all electric guitar pickups at the time.

It wasn't exactly new technology, so he probably should never have been issued the patent. All he did was apply a CMNR (Common Mode Noise Rejection) scheme to guitar pickups. The radio/TV industry had been using the scheme for many years prior to that.

The dummies should have applied for a trademark on "PAF", since it's widely used now even though it means almost nothing. It just refers to Seth's original configuration...

Which just means it has two "standard" coils mounted next to each other with reversed polarity pole pieces in coils that are wound inverse to each other and wired in series. Now, everybody who makes something like that can call it a PAF-style if they want to. Doesn't mean it'll sound like one of Seth's sloppy offerings, but kids'll buy anything if they think their heroes played with them.

Anyway, just about anything "noiseless" these days can be called a "humbucker" because they use the same scheme. The Hot Rails, for instance...

...is the same thing only the coils are much smaller and they use strips of metal instead of screws or slugs for poles. Makes it so you can fit it into a single coils mounting space. You can also use series-wired inverse-wound double coils with reversed polarity pole pieces that are stacked...

Also noiseless. Also "humbucking".

Lotsa variations exist.

 

[stankybudz]

Man that was very helpful thank you!

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Wait, there's more! The two coils don't have to be wired in series to achieve hum-cancelling; parallel works too. Two pickups that take advantage of this are the Duckbuckers and the Vintage Rails:

These pickups come with four-conductor wiring like a regular humbucker, but are designed to be wired in parallel rather than series. This gives you single coil-like tone at the correct volume to match with other single coils.

The great thing about this is that you can say, screw what they're designed for, I'm going to wire them in series. They're still voiced similarly to a single coil, but now they're about twice as loud. It's the best strategy for matching volume in an HSS-style guitar that I've seen yet.

 

[stankybudz]

So if I decide to wire them in series, I take it that all 3 would be wired in series, correct?

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Well, you have to be a bit careful here. I'm talking about wiring the coils of one pickup in series. The individual pickup Re still normally wired in parallel with each other.

I don't know what neck pickup you're using, but the series/parallel thing doesn't apply to many Tele pickups unless they're the Rails style.