Members V Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 So, I've been using split coil pickus lately and I don't understand why they are not a standard pickup type. A split coil is when you have a single coil sized pickup and you wind 3 poles opposite to the other 3, so it's basically a humbucker that sounds like a single coil. I think fralin makes a blade pickup version but the ones I have been using are made by a guy named travis morris and are pole piece type pickups. Basically its a noiseless single coil sound with no drawbacks I've noticed so why isn't this a normal pickup type for fender and others? You also have the added plus of being able to output 3 strings to a second output if you want (which was my original reason for having some made) or, if you want to stay in mono, you can do what I'm doing with my next set. You can route your bridge pickup bass strings to your neck pickup treble strings and vice versa, giving you bri/ck and ne/dge as two additional options via a push/pull or a switch. All of those positions are still noiseless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y0UNGBL00D Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 i split my 500T in my SG. edit: oh, nm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChuckNorris1982 Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 I've never tried them myself, but I'm very interested. I love my neck and middle SCs but the buzzing in our practice room drives me nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sparkfriction Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 i use also Split Coils - but it is hard to blance both on the guitar and i need an booster to compansate the volume drop in split mode... it is a nice to have feature imo, but not the same as a real singlecoil fited guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Loobs Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 i use also Split Coils - but it is hard to blance both on the guitar and i need an booster to compansate the volume drop in split mode... it is a nice to have feature imo, but not the same as a real singlecoil fited guitar. He's talking about something different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ultradust Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 i use also Split Coils - but it is hard to blance both on the guitar and i need an booster to compansate the volume drop in split mode... it is a nice to have feature imo, but not the same as a real singlecoil fited guitar. Just to piggyback on that, humbucker has to be significantly hot enough to have enough juice on tap when split. However, overwound humbuckers aren't exactly the best sounding if one still needs a proper PAF tone. My Yamaha SG1000 is a decent exception in my collection, but I can "get" why they're relatively uncommon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 because it doesn't sound like a single coil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members english_bob Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 So is that what G&L Z-coils, Fender electric XII and P-Bass pickups are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Coil splitting - when you take a humbucker and drop out one of the coils, leaving a single coil pickup. Many aftermarket pickups have wires that allow you to access each coil separately; you can then combine them or use them individually with the right switching on the guitar. A split coil pickup is similar to what you find on a post '57 Precision Bass. It's similar to a humbucker, except instead of using two coils that span across all four strings, each coil only covers two strings, and then those two coils are wired up relative to each other in a manner similar to a regular humbucker... but of course, you can rewire those coils in different ways for various different sounds. Yes, you'll find similar types of pickups in Mustang basses, Electric XII's and Customs / Mavericks. And FWIW, I agree with Robo - while it's a useful way to design a pickup, it doesn't sound like a single coil to me either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted September 8, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 I dunno, it sounds like a single coil to me except that it doesn't hum (which I suppose is part of the single coil sound). I wonder how much of the single coil sound is expecting to hear that hum. Or maybe it's my specific pickups? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 I've got a Tele with DiMarzio humbuckers - both with coil splits, and the Air Norton in the neck sounds particularly great in single coil mode, which is how I use it most of the time. On a number of my other guitars, instead of the coil split, I opted for wiring it for series/parallel switching. The parallel setting is somewhere between a single coil and a humbucker in tone and sounds great. However, on one of my guitars - a PRS Santana SE with a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge, I installed mini toggle for 3 way switching - series/parallel/single, which gives you the most versatility of all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pewtershmit Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 because it doesn't sound like a single coil this. plus its double the amount of work to manufacture. plus that 60 cycle hum is {censored}ing rock and roll. Jim Hendy didn't have noiseless {censored} and he still made chicks hot and bothered with his chops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 So is that what G&L Z-coils, Fender electric XII and P-Bass pickups are? Yes. This is not about coil taps on humbuckers. I've always wanted a guitar with just one z-coil pickup in the middle position. And a strat with 3 z-coils so I could do stereo. Bri/ck and ne/dge are my new favorite words to describe what could be done with a stereo guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted September 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 9, 2011 this. plus its double the amount of work to manufacture.plus that 60 cycle hum is {censored}ing rock and roll. Jim Hendy didn't have noiseless {censored} and he still made chicks hot and bothered with his chops. Yeah, 60 cycle hum is great unless you live in an aartment where you pick up massive rf noise even on some humbuckers. Seriously, though, I swapped a strat pickup made by the same guy out for his split coil (which only cost 45 bucks so it can't be THAT hard to make) and they're near identical except for the hum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CicadaSilence Posted September 9, 2011 Members Share Posted September 9, 2011 I've got a set of Fralins in my main guitar; a Twangmaster and a P-92. Both are split singles in a humbucker format. I love the clean tone of the Twangmaster, but when disorted, there's definitely some sort of weirdness going on. It sounds like the middle position on a two pickup guitar, because that's essentially what's going on. I've learned to embrace it, but I can see it being an issue for some. I love single coil tones, hate humbuckers, and can't stand buzz/hum, so it's split coils for me. I'm thinking of trying a set of Barden Two-Tones, but ceramic pickups squick me out. And they're hella expensive... Q-Tuners seem interesting as well, but perhaps too hi-fi for my tastes. And again; expensive. Also, 60 cycle hum is stupid and if you like it you're stupid there I said it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coma Larkin Posted September 9, 2011 Members Share Posted September 9, 2011 If that's what P-92 is then, yes, I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Moustache_Bash Posted September 9, 2011 Members Share Posted September 9, 2011 Or maybe it's my specific pickups? Must be this. 'Cuz with bass, a P pickup and a J pickup are a world apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted September 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 9, 2011 Must be this. 'Cuz with bass, a P pickup and a J pickup are a world apart. Yeah, true but there's also a big difference between a j and a p besides the coil setup. For one thing, js are generally placed differently than a p and even more importantly a j pickup has 8 poles while a p has two. Besides that the p is also offset while the j is straight across the strings. What I'm talking about is two pickups that were in the same orientation with the same winding pattern and pole pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Moustache_Bash Posted September 9, 2011 Members Share Posted September 9, 2011 Oh, I think I know what you're talking about now. I was thinking you were using something like the Fender XII pickup or something. My mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sparkfriction Posted September 9, 2011 Members Share Posted September 9, 2011 ah thanks guys, i tought about Humbuckers with split option - sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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