Okay what if...? a humbucker coil split question

[KaiserSoze]

Hola.  I'm equipping a dual hb guitar and going for a very traditional paf tone.  I like the fralin pafs but am told that using them with a coil tap configuration is do-able but not the best result.  I can go to the high output hb model and it would work fine or maybe....

I have an old alembic strat-o-blaster circuit that installs at the input jack.  I can retrofit it and add an on-off switch that would boost the signal when I have it in single-coil mode.  That way I could have the pafs of 8 or 9K the way I want but could boost the signal at will so the single coil sound isn't so weak.  Would this work okay?  and would the circuit just add a boost to the humbuckers as well?  Thanks 

 

[bob7point7]

Any humbucker is going to be lower output when split. Very few really are going to get a 'single coil' sound. Your best bet is probably to go with the pickups that give the HB sound you want, then see what you get when you split them. You could wire one push-pull to split the pickups and another to add the boost circuit, but it may be easier to put that boost circuit into a pedal enclusure. This would eliminate the need for adding a battery to the guitar, and it would let you use it with any of your guitars (a clean boost is always a useful option). If you really want multiple sounds from one pickup you could check out the P-Rails, but they don't have a true PAF look or sound.

 

[line6man]

IIRC, the Alembic Strat-o-blaster is a FET-based gain boosting buffer?
If such is the case, keep in mind that you will be lowering the output impedance, and providing a constant input impedance on the pickups. This means the tone will not be affected by the parasitic capacitance of your cable, and will more-or-less sound the same through any rig. Some (Most?) people do like more loading on single coils, and if you already have a rather weak coil, you might not like the "hi-fi" sort of tone that generally comes from a buffered output. But of course, I may be wrong, and it would sound great. It's hard to say. :blob7:

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

FYI - I have a Lace Dually red/silver humbucker in my strat that I split and there's no perceptable level difference with it in dual or split (using either coil).  That's both by ear and by the level meter on my mixer.

 

[line6man]

FYI - I have a Lace Dually red/silver humbucker in my strat that I split and there's no perceptable level difference with it in dual or split (using either coil).  That's both by ear and by the level meter on my mixer.

Some pickups are funny like that.

I've heard of pickups that sound nearly the same in series, parallel and single coil modes. Most pickups give you big differences in tone and output, however.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

The tone is definitely significantly different - and depending on which half your using it's significantly different from each other (but they are two different coils in this case).  It's just the levels that don't change.

 

[pabloman]

It's called a dully because its basically two separate pickups. It's not the same as splitting a traditional humbucker.

 

[KaiserSoze]

Thanks. I'm not very technical with the electronics.  I really like a simple setup with a couple of great humbuckers, and a split with a useable single coil sound would just be a bonus.  I have the alembic parts and a push pull pot just sitting around so I think this will be one of those "try it and see" experiments. 

Does a higher output humbucker split better or is it just that the single coil is more powerful ?