Series/Parallel from a pot

[mwbjr13]

I know Ive been asking alot of questions but heres a good one. Can I get a series/parallel humbcker using a standard pot?

 

[Cagey]

Yes, if you have a pot with a DPDT switch on it, such as one of these...

Wiring diagrams for a variety of configurations of such a switch are here.

 

[mwbjr13]

I dont want a push/push set up I want to be able to use the pot almost as a blend between series and parallel.

Kind of like this but series/parallel not humbucker/single.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=1h_1v_1sas

 

[Cagey]

Then, no.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

What would happen when you've got the pot on 5? What does half series and half parallel mean?

 

[Cagey]

It would be in paries. Or, serallel. Be sorta like Schroedinger's cat - wired, but not wired  :laughing7:

 

[swarfrat]

It would be in paries. Or, serallel. Be sorta like Schroedinger's cat - wired, but not wired  :laughing7:

But all weird

No it's physically impossible to blend between series and parallel. It's a discrete either or proposition.

 

[drewfx]

I'm thinking it might somewhat work using (something like) a linear dual ganged pot of the appropriate resistance, but would have to play with it in practice to see how it worked in the middle of the pot's range.

 

[line6man]

You're not understanding how the switching works to think there would be some way to do both at the same time.

What you can do, however, is a volume pot for one coil to go from parallel to single coil, or a pot to vary the impedance across one coil for series to single coil.

 

[reluctant-builder]

It's a discrete either or proposition.

Ah, a wonderful use of discrete. Heroic. I applaud you, sir. :hello2:

 

[swarfrat]

Actually it's not impossible, well - almost. You can do it if you don't mind having a resistance  loading the point between the two coils in series mode.
Note: this was purely an exercise to put off mowing the grass. It's not guaranteed to work, and I  think it's a waste of time. It's also not likely to be hum cancelling at any point in between, but that may be the heat stroke talking.

 

[drewfx]

Actually it's not impossible, well - almost. You can do it if you don't mind having a resistance  loading the point between the two coils in series mode.
Note: this was purely an exercise to put off mowing the grass. It's not guaranteed to work, and I  think it's a waste of time. It's also not likely to be hum cancelling at any point in between, but that may be the heat stroke talking.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of - the problem is a small pot loads things down too much and a bigger pot likely adds too much series resistance in the in between positions to be useful.

 

[mwbjr13]

Ok thats good to know but how does this work?
http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/silhouette-bass.html

Check out the diagram section and notice that a pot is used for this purpose. Or at least it appears.

 

[drewfx]

Ok thats good to know but how does this work?
http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/silhouette-bass.html

Check out the diagram section and notice that a pot is used for this purpose. Or at least it appears.

It says "2-way rotary series/parallel selector" which implies a 2-way rotary switch.

 

[mwbjr13]

Ok...I missed that entirely lol

 

[Johnfv]

I rarely use tone controls so what I have done on a few guitars is convert a tone pot to a variable split for a 4 wire humbucker (a very simple mod). The variable split allows you to blend in the 2nd coil so you get a broad range from full series humbucker to fully split single coil - some of the "in between" tones are excellent. In addition, with the combined pot/dpdt switch you can do series/parallel/split with variable split on the pot. I've done a few that way also...

 

[Cagey]

I rarely use tone controls so what I have done on a few guitars is convert a tone pot to a variable split for a 4 wire humbucker (a very simple mod). The variable split allows you to blend in the 2nd coil so you get a broad range from full series humbucker to fully split single coil - some of the "in between" tones are excellent. In addition, with the combined pot/dpdt switch you can do series/parallel/split with variable split on the pot. I've done a few that way also...

That's an interesting idea. I rarely use tone controls either, and I have a couple builds coming up with too many holes in the body. Maybe I'll try that on for size. Which pot do you use? I would think it would have to be a somewhat high value, like maybe a 1 meg audio taper, or your humbucker's series connection will be too close to ground. Don't wanna have an effect on the thing when you're adjusted so it's just a 'bucker, right?

 

[Johnfv]

I've mostly used whatever pot is there but I believe you are actually better off with a lower value for the variable split. You can end up with all the "good stuff" being in the last few mm of turns in the pot, I believe a 250K or lower is better in this case. YMMV and please tell me if you find something better

 

[Cagey]

Well, we'll see what happens. I think it's a good idea, and worth experimenting with.