Posted by Fergus Morris on November 3, 2009 at 11:44am
Now this isn't something I actually have any plans right now to try, but something I am just curious about. Can you get two single coils, say from a strat, put them back to back so they are of opposite polarity, wire them together and have a humbucker. With my very (very) limited knowledge about pickups I don't see why this wouldn't work. Am I missing out on some big concept on how humbuckers work? I found some discussions about this on 'proper' guitar forums, and everyone says that It would sound rubbish but people on those forums are often such snobs when it comes to these things..... If it is possible it is certainly something I have never seen done before. Enlighten me!
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Oh. Ooops. Just looked it up and they only started using 5-way switches in 1977. I did not know that!
Tim said:
no that was a later development but a lot of modern strats and even teles are reverse wound. and a lot of guys will say they dont sound right. so if you buy a "vintage"set of strat pickups they arn't reverse wound
Fergus Morris said:
Isn't that the normal strat pickup setup? Leo Fender was pretty smart.......
Diydc said:
Ted Crocker said:
In many 3 pickup strat type guitars the middle pickup is actually reverse wind/reverse polarity so when the switch is in positions 2 and 4 (neck/middle or middle/bridge) the pickup combinations are humbucking. If you have pickups like this, the middle and one of the others can be installed normally and will be hum canceling. It's easy to check magnetic polarity with a compass.
Ted
Cheers ted, that`s a great tip, will try it on a strat set I have in the cellar....
no that was a later development but a lot of modern strats and even teles are reverse wound. and a lot of guys will say they dont sound right. so if you buy a "vintage"set of strat pickups they arn't reverse wound
Fergus Morris said:
Isn't that the normal strat pickup setup? Leo Fender was pretty smart.......
Diydc said:
Ted Crocker said:
In many 3 pickup strat type guitars the middle pickup is actually reverse wind/reverse polarity so when the switch is in positions 2 and 4 (neck/middle or middle/bridge) the pickup combinations are humbucking. If you have pickups like this, the middle and one of the others can be installed normally and will be hum canceling. It's easy to check magnetic polarity with a compass.
Ted
Cheers ted, that`s a great tip, will try it on a strat set I have in the cellar....
Isn't that the normal strat pickup setup? Leo Fender was pretty smart.......
Diydc said:
Ted Crocker said:
In many 3 pickup strat type guitars the middle pickup is actually reverse wind/reverse polarity so when the switch is in positions 2 and 4 (neck/middle or middle/bridge) the pickup combinations are humbucking. If you have pickups like this, the middle and one of the others can be installed normally and will be hum canceling. It's easy to check magnetic polarity with a compass.
Ted
Cheers ted, that`s a great tip, will try it on a strat set I have in the cellar....
In many 3 pickup strat type guitars the middle pickup is actually reverse wind/reverse polarity so when the switch is in positions 2 and 4 (neck/middle or middle/bridge) the pickup combinations are humbucking. If you have pickups like this, the middle and one of the others can be installed normally and will be hum canceling. It's easy to check magnetic polarity with a compass.
Ted
Cheers ted, that`s a great tip, will try it on a strat set I have in the cellar....
the main augument i have hear form people agianst using single coils as a humbucker is the sound tends to get muddied up. they is just too much wire or something going on there. but lace is doing it with luck so why cant you
I know very very very little about pickups and so on ... but i say .. when somebody wondering or thinking sometimes probably even silly questions ... it is still right way to learn something.
Few times ago i start discoussion " Wind two winding wire same time ? "
Flip one upside down (reverse polarity) and reverse the leads. Reversing the leads will produce the same effect as reversing the windings. Then you can have them side by side or possibly one on top of the other.
I don't see why it would sound bad (although it would look a little funny). Guitars often have their separate pickups wound this way so you get hum cancelling when two pickups are switched on. They don't even have to be right next to each other, just in proximity.
If you have the right kind of pickup (not a Strat pickup) you can actually just reverse the magnets. If you try to remove the magnets on a Strat pickup you will end up breaking the coil, because the coil is wound directly on the magnets.
Thank you both. I was just curious but now I know, the only reason I saw given for why this wouldn't work on a similar post I saw on another site was "No you can't because the coils have to be stuck together and require a whole crap load of work." This didn't seem quite satisfactory or accurate, thank you, now I understand a bit more about humbuckers.
Replies
Tim said:
Tim said:
Fergus Morris said:
Diydc said:
Cheers ted, that`s a great tip, will try it on a strat set I have in the cellar....
Few times ago i start discoussion " Wind two winding wire same time ? "
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/class101/forum/topics/wind-two-...
I got very good answers (from Ted and others) and hope i learn something, but i might be still test it ... what happend, maybe pickup burn :)
I don't see why it would sound bad (although it would look a little funny). Guitars often have their separate pickups wound this way so you get hum cancelling when two pickups are switched on. They don't even have to be right next to each other, just in proximity.
If you have the right kind of pickup (not a Strat pickup) you can actually just reverse the magnets. If you try to remove the magnets on a Strat pickup you will end up breaking the coil, because the coil is wound directly on the magnets.
Skeesix
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