Why this ohm reading?

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

The place to "describe and compare the tonality of different pickups." This is kinda like that . . .
Awhile back, I asked why the coil-cut switch on my Jay Turser Hawk12 has three positions. In my continuing quest for enlightenment, I checked all nine possible switch combinations, and got the following readings. The three readings for each pickup selector position are up (towards the neck)/center/down.

• Neck pup: 5.81K; 11.85K; 3.49K
  
• Both pups: 3.38K; 6.78K; 3.49K
  
• Bridge pup: 8.10K; 15.83K; 3.49K
  

Most of those make "mathematical sense" to me, as far as various things being in parallel. The apparent cut setting for the bridge pup is somewhat higher than I'd expect for "half a humbucker," and the neck cut is a little less, but I'm not complaining.
That 3.49K, however, puzzles me. It's a little more than half of what both pups cut-and-paralleled might be; the both/up reading comes closer to what I'd expect for that.
Any ideas?

And for the "describe and compare" portion of the program, I'd say that the bridge/up (cut?) setting seems to give me a kinda twangy tone that I really like. I put the DynaRoss compressor on it, and shoot for the sound of the instrumental from "Nowhere Man."

--
Doug C.

[UnklMickey]

is that a typo, or do you really read 3.49k when the coil cut switches are "down" in ALL positions of the selector?

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

unklmickey said:

is that a typo, or do you really read 3.49k when the coil cut switches are "down" in ALL positions of the selector?

Nope, that's what I got for N/both/B with that switch (just the one smaller toggle, mounted near the pup selector) in that position. Someone suggested once that its third position might be phase for something, but that reading doesn't quite square somehow.

I may pull the back panel off the Hawk12 and see what the wiring looks like. I'll have to post a photo, because it'll probably be Greek (maybe even Klingon) to me.

[UnklMickey]

looking in from the outside world, the 250k (or 500k) of the volume pot is always in parallel with whatever is selected, so that skews things slightly when you try to do a very accurate analysis of what the readings mean.

also HB don't always have identical coils on both halves. i would expect more often than not to see a disparity in the resistance of the two coils.

if you had a HB with two 7k coils:

• in series they would measure 14k
  
• split it would measure 7k
  
• in parallel they would measure 3.5k
  

so the first inclination is to think that in the down position, each HB has it's coils in parallel.

but if that were the case, putting them both in parallel would give us 1.75k

so things don't quite "add" up here.


what does it sound like with the coil-cut switch in the down position?

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

unklmickey said:

what does it sound like with the coil-cut switch in the down position?

Well, I just decided to try it one more time and see. "Never mind the meter," I sez, "Let's see what the ears think of all this." And y'know, that switch position just lets that puppy roar.
On either or both pickup(s), the top position on that switch is the quietest, center is louder than top (haven't put a percentage on that yet), and down is Full Tilt Bozo. I mean, it just rings. "You could go and have a bite an' ...aaaaaaaaa...you'd still be hearin' that one."

It's funny, but up until now I don't think I really noticed what was different about various switch combinations. The experimenting itself is kinda fun, and it's great when you know just how to configure things for a certain sound.

"Better tone through science."

[UnklMickey]

ministratmaine said:

...The three readings for each pickup selector position are up (towards the neck)/center/down.

• Neck pup: 5.81K; 11.85K; 3.49K
  
• Both pups: 3.38K; 6.78K; 3.49K
  
• Bridge pup: 8.10K; 15.83K; 3.49K

....

ministratmaine said:

...On either or both pickup(s), the top position on that switch is the quietest, center is louder than top (haven't put a percentage on that yet), and down is Full Tilt Bozo. I mean, it just rings....

{Alice mode:} "...curiouser and curiouser..."

[Trey]

Sounds like it switches the pups from parallel to series...

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

trey said:

Sounds like it switches the pups from parallel to series...

"Sounds like" is right, from the output it gives. But that ohms reading is totally wrong for even the two pups cut-and-seriesed. (Is that a word? )

[UnklMickey]

the saga continues here:

guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=wiring&thread=1133335814&post=1133335814