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Post by morbe on Jul 17, 2012 16:13:49 GMT -5
Sorry for the quick question. Im sure that this may have been already asked and answered. or there may even be a threads pertaining to this. If so could you please leave a link to the thread?
I have 4 single coil pickups from various Strat type guitars. Is it possible to take two of them, tape em together and wire them up like humbuckers? so that I can place them in a franken style guitar as humbuckers?
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Post by cynical1 on Jul 17, 2012 18:46:01 GMT -5
You can take them, tape them together and put them in a guitar...but if the polarity is the same they will not be hum cancelling.
To achieve this the middle Strat pickup is RWRP so that when it's combined with the neck or bridge pickup you achieve the hum cancelling scenario.
This is academic with stacked or blade single coil size humbuckers. I have a project...deep in my current stack of projects, that does what you're talking about, but with noise free single coil size pickups.
If the hum cancelling is not something you're concerned about then have at it.
HTC1
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Jul 17, 2012 19:27:15 GMT -5
Taking two strat single coils taping together and installing as a humbucker?  Like C1 already stated yeah it can be done, and will only be humcanceling if one of the pairs is rwrp. Also unless your building your own body or it has a huge universal cavity your gonna have to route it out to acomadate the new odd shaped pickup base. |
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Post by morbe on Jul 17, 2012 19:37:20 GMT -5
I plan to actually put them in a cavity that take humbuckers.
The (6) single coils are comming out of a Kramer ultra and an Amusment park POS. I had originally thought about the standard switch polarity in the middle pick up and had originally onlt planned to use the Bridge and Neck of each guitar. So there is hope! Im glad. I guess I will read more on this. and If I have to just break down and buy humbuckers no big deal. no use in trying to reinvent the wheel. I was just trying to recycle some of my scraps.
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Jul 17, 2012 20:05:44 GMT -5
and If I have to just break down and buy humbuckers no big deal. no use in trying to reinvent the wheel. I was just trying to recycle some of my scraps. No harm in that, and it is a frankie after all! Well good luck and keep us updated on your progress |
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Post by newey on Jul 17, 2012 23:20:31 GMT -5
If some of these are POS single coils, they will likely produce POS humbuckers. Why bother? I'm not a huge HB fan, but decent-sounding HBs of various flavors can be found in the $20-30 range. I bought a pair of Epiphone HBs, straight out of an Epi LP, for $20 off Ebay a while back, and they sound pretty doggone good in my flying pumpkin. Or, perhaps someone would be willing to trade you HBs for your SCs . . . So, you need to decide what your time, and the increase in your frustration level, is worth.  But, assuming you decide to forge onward despite my cautionary advice, consider: You have two sets (I assume of three each) from (presumably) two different manufacturers. Now, if you have been living right, and if the stars all align properly, and the light of guitar goodness shines down upon you, you may find that these two different manufacturers decided to put their respective "magnetic norths" oppositely-oriented from each other- in which case, you'll shout "Eureka"! You can then make three HBs by mating one brand's neck coil with the other's neck, mid with mid, bridge with bridge- and by reversing the wiring in one of each pair, you'll have 3 HBs quickly and easily. But if you've been dealt a dose of bad cosmic Karma, then the sets will be magnetically identical, and things get messier. You can use the mid pup from each set with either the neck or the bridge to make a HB. That's 2 HBs. But then, you're left with either pair of bridge coils, or a pair of necks (or perhaps one of each, no matter). To get another HB, you have to flip the magnets on one of the two coils. That may not be terribly hard to do, or perhaps it is tough- depends on the pickups you have. But without flipping one set of magnets, you can only get 2 HBs out of your 6 coils. sbgod has a point about the baseplates. Most, but not all, Strat SCs have a sort-of triangular baseplate. If yours do, then you're going to need to measure closely to be sure to fit them. At the least, you'll have to physically rotate one of the two coils, so that the "pointy ends" of the triangle stick out to opposite sides. Even on the "non-pointy" side, you may not be able to get the two coils to sit close enough together, since the two baseplates still have some width even on that side. So, fitment may be an issue. And, when we start talking about modifying the guitar, well, see my first point above about how much effort these things merit . . . Alternatively, I suppose you could modify the baseplates, although I've never heard of anyone doing that - you'd be the guinea pig! |
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Jul 18, 2012 0:22:23 GMT -5
That maybe the only way of going through with this, somehow and Very, VERY, CAREFULLY remove the bottom plates so the coils aren't damaged. Now you have two options either put two more top bobbins in its place and jam the wiring between the coils and attach them to a HB base plate, or!!! Buy some bobbin flat work material and fashion a custom base plate that accomodates both coils on one piece. Going either of those two ways your still going to lose the brass eyelets so your going to have to wire them directly and tuck the connections between the coils as a traditional HB is. |
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Post by morbe on Jul 18, 2012 7:18:24 GMT -5
All true, all true! It was merely an experimental thing. I think that I am going to get a cheap set of humbuckers. how ever i did have an old ibanez that added i a switch to allow you to split the pups and go into single coil mode. so much planning. i even thought about gutting a distortion pedal and building a guitar with effects included. but no worries i have two main guitars, i dont plan to have this expiriement replace any guitar. it merely an expirimental thing.
Ad for time and frustration? This is just side project. Something to do when I can't sleep at night.
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Post by andy on Jul 18, 2012 7:37:47 GMT -5
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Post by reTrEaD on Jul 18, 2012 11:54:20 GMT -5
Morbe, if someone suggests that you remove the flatwork from a coil that has already been wound, give them a one-fingered salute and tell them to pound sand. They're leading you down a path of unnecessary grief and problems. If you do need to reduce the footprint of a strat coil form, it won't be easy, but it is possible. But never, Never, NEVER remove the flatwork. Let's compare the traditional Strat pickup's footprint with a Jaguar pickup. Strat: Jaguar: A Strat pickup could be modified to incorporate the extra holes at each end for the leads. After the new leads were added and the coil wire end soldered to the new leads, the excess could be trimmed from the flatwork so it is a simple oval. If you're just toying with junkbox parts, I don't see any real harm in experimenting. But I wouldn't attempt this with anything of value, until you have some first hand experience with junk. That way if you have a problem that results in total loss, you've only lost some time and junk that likely would have only collected dust on the shelf. Never tried one, but I have been tempted. Instead of using a bar magnet, the polepieces ARE the magnets (just like a better quality SC). The one thing that puts me off a bit is the dimensions. The coil height is similar to a traditional humbucker. That's a good bit shorter than a true SC. Still, it is intriguing. |
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Post by 4real on Jul 18, 2012 17:02:17 GMT -5
Ahhh....yeah, been kind of done quite a few times...as I recall Chesh here did something like this in a strat for instance... But a simple ruler will guide you, not only are strat coils typically wider than and HB, they are also generally longer. Which does not matter if you are going to mount them in an especially routed scratchplate with plenty of room under, but not in a typical HB slot...so that's something to try first. Of course, each pair will need to be rwrp so check that magnetically to see if you have suitable pairs. Modifying the bass plates and arranging an alternative for the coil wire area is going to be tricky, these wires are insanely thin, where it has been done with a strat kind of thing, one can just put them back to back and mount in a sctrach plate. No...NEVER try and remove the 'flatwork'. Most cheap SC's are going to be molded bobbins anyway, so the it's not flatwork but one piece. Regardless, this is what is holding the magnets and so the wire on a SC and so if it is flat work, the entire structure will collapse in on itself. If it is, potentially one could perhaps remove the magnets (to reverse them) with a vice but if it is, again, will damage the wire inside the coil. You could modify or remove the mounting 'ears' with care and mount both to a diy base plate of your own design...but there are the dimension issues and everything else you need to consider. ... Now, even if you do accommodate all these things, i's not quite 'two single coils' anymore. When you put two magnets of reverse polarity close together as in an HB arrangement, the magnetic field of both are radically changed. Opposite poles near each other are going to be very strongly attracted to themselves. Instead of a they usual 'throw' and shape of a single coil, the lines of magnetisim will want to be flowing largely through each others cores/poles and so far less 'throw' to the string and little to the sides...a different shape of the sensing field and so a differ effect...not necessarily a bad effect, but not the same. So, wiring it as a split for instance, does not give you the same thing as the single coil on their own, the passive magnetic effects are there regardless of whether the coils are connected (one of many reasons a split HB don't quite sound like a SC). ... There are and have been HB like pups made with magnetic poles though. My tele's old fender wide rang (the original, not the current ones that are just HBs in a different cover) ahve screw magnets, But a large part of this design is that the pickup is huge compared to a normal HB, the coils a wide and thin like a p-90 and so a bit further apart and a lot wider too, like a p-90 than a normal HB...  There are various HB's that have this kind of construction with magnetic poles as well about, rare though...PRS has a 5 SC pickup guitar, though the same things apply about the magnetic field effects with any of these. Again, not to suggest that the result is necessarily 'bad' just different for that. Noise cancelling pups will also potentially suffer and certainly change for sticking them close together. But again, does not mean they will sound 'bad' I have a magnet right next to my SCN in my tele from teh sustain, so of course, this alters the passive field of the whole structure a little. If you do have rwrp pairs, well save them for say a strat with a bathtub route and install them in a custom made 'plate...or till you come up with a better scheme to put them to use perhaps! |
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Like C1 already stated yeah it can be done, and will only be humcanceling if one of the pairs is rwrp. Also unless your building your own body or it has a huge universal cavity your gonna have to route it out to acomadate the new odd shaped pickup base. 
