pickup output and switces

[makispoll]

hi to everyone and happy new year!
I have a question about pickups' output. When splitting a humbucker to single coil does it's output becomes the half? For example I want to buy a dimarzio chopper T which has 260mV outpout in full mode. Does the output became 130 mV in split-coil mode?Then I want to put a switch for switching between series/parallel and one for switching between single coil/humbucker. I will use the first switch when in series and when in parallel wiring I will use the chopper in full mode.

So I will have:

In series wiring:
1)neck
2.1)neck+humbucker bridge
2.2)neck+singlecoil bridge
3.1)humbucker bridge
3.2)singlecoil bridge

Parallel wiring:
1)neck
2)neck+humbucker bridge
3.1)humbucker bridge
3.2)singlecoil bridge


Do you think this will work? Does anybody has this istalled on his guitar?

[gfxbss]

if you have a humbucker split, it will have half of the current. i dont notice much of a difference in mine unless i have the phase switch on.... you can check out my schem here.

guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=1165809595

[JohnH]

gfxbss is right, but better to say that voltage is halved. Halving the voltage of the signal is a definite but not very large step down in volume. It's much less a change that a perceived halving of volume, due to the wierd way that rearing responds logarithmically. Along with this, the coil cuts give you more upper frequencies.

John

[UnklMickey]

makispoll said:

...When splitting a humbucker to single coil does it's output becomes the half? ...

hi Makispoll,

Welcome to GuitarNuts2.

it all depends on what the HB is connected to.

if it just feeds the volume control (250k~500k), the full HB will give almost double the voltage of one of it's coils.

but, i suspect the loading of a SC in parallel with the HB will change things quite a bit.

there should be some increase in voltage, but probably not double the voltage you get from one coil of the HB.

more important, would be the effect on tone and hum-canceling.

and, as John mentioned, doubling the voltage makes a noticable difference, but NOT double the volume.


cheers,

unk

[makispoll]

I asked you about hb-sc output because I want to have a balanced sound when I switch to the 2nd pisition (neck+bridge). Chopper T has much more output than the Twang king and I was thinging that when I switch to 2nd pisition I should switch the Chopper T to SC. According to what you say even if the chopper t is splitted the output will be high and when in neck+bridge position the bridge pup will 'overcome" the neck's pup sound. Do you thing that these two pickups do not match? Besides I know that Richie Kotzen's signature Fender telecaster has these two pickups.

[UnklMickey]

makispoll said:

...Do you thing that these two pickups do not match? ...

i don't have a clue!

if you look at the output specs from DiMarzio, there is a big difference in the voltages.

but, are these rated according to the same amount of string influence? or are they "normalized" by location?

(if 2 identical pickups: the one at the neck will sound louder, because the string amplitude is much greater there.)

and what does balanced mean, in terms of a Tele?

Fender (and many other knock-offs) puts wimpy underwound, covered pickups at the neck.

and beefy overwound pickups at the bridge.

so if you switch from bridge to neck, the volume drops noticably. (unless you keep the neck pup high, and drop the bridge pup.)

yet the 2 sound good together.

so i'd definitely split the Chopper T, but not so much for trying to match the output..........to improve the hum-canceling.

and i'd split it when neck and bridge are in parallel AND in series.

and i wouldn't bother splitting it when used alone. (although i probably WOULD have the 2 coils of the Chopper T in parallel, as an option, when used alone.)

of course, you'll have to figure out WHICH coil to use when split.

[ChrisK]

See below.